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So You Want to Evaluate a Community-Based Youth Program?: Strategies for Success
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| Presenter(s):
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| Lynne Borden,
University of Arizona,
bordenl@ag.arizona.edu
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| Joyce Serido,
University of Arizona,
jserido@email.arizona.edu
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| Christine Bracamonte Wiggs,
University of Arizona,
cbmonte@email.arizona.edu
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| Abstract:
Evaluating community-based youth programs is an expanding and evolving science. The need for high quality data to ensure that programs are meeting the needs of the young people is critical. Valid and reliable data is essential to program’s long term success. Thus, evaluation practices must rise to the occasion and provide this much needed data. There are many challenges when evaluating youth programs, youth programs have voluntary participation, diversity of age, and often exist for differing lengths of time. A Participatory Action Research (PAR) model provides a set of strategies that can assist in this work. PAR can be defined as “a participatory, democratic, practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview (p. Reason & Bradbury, 2001, p. 1). Given that youth development programs are often fluid with unique challenges; it is important to see young people as active participants in the evaluation process.
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Learning-by-Doing Evaluation with Youth Professionals
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| Presenter(s):
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| Ben Silliman,
North Carolina State University,
ben_silliman@ncsu.edu
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| Abstract:
This paper describes the process and outcomes used in an evaluation study of a 4-H district public speaking contest. A utilization-focused evaluation process engaged 13 4-H professionals in planning and implementing the evaluation and using reports for accountability and marketing. Working with an evaluator (the author), youth professionals contributed critical insights on the content, format, and timing of evaluation, recruited data collectors and gained parent consent, managed data collection, and helped in dissemination of evaluation results. As a result, over 90% of presentation contest participants completed the survey and 100% of randomly selected youth completed in-depth interviews. Participating youth reported improvements in confidence, subject knowledge, and life skills that were subsequently applied to 4-H, school, and community settings. Collaborators reported gains in confidence and skills for evaluation as well as insights on programming and marketing of youth programs. Discussion focuses on evaluation capacity-building and use of results to improve youth programs.
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Understanding, Evaluating and Elevating Youth Development Practice
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| Presenter(s):
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| Kate Walker,
University of Minnesota,
kcwalker@umn.edu
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| Abstract:
In the field of youth development, there has been increased attention to determining how best to equip those who work with young people. A number of efforts aim to clarify and come to consensus around the essential knowledge and core competencies that are central to youth work practice. Recent research suggests that a central element of youth worker competence resides in their abilities to appraise and respond to the dilemmas of daily practice (Larson & Walker, 2008). To understand how practitioners are effective, we must understand how they deal with the conflicts, challenges and crises of everyday practice. This study explores and assesses how novice and experienced practitioners approach these dilemmas. To evaluate practitioner training and practice, evaluators need to be able to assess effective reasoning and responses to practitioner dilemmas. This paper describes our applied research efforts aimed at conceptualizing and developing a measure of youth development practitioner reasoning.
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