Date: Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Youth Focused Evaluation Topical Interest Group is for Evaluation About Youth, for Youth, and with Youth. The Youth Focused Evaluation TIG aims to collaboratively create learning spaces for all evaluators and researchers (adult and youth) that focus on the practices and outcomes of positive youth development and participatory approaches across informal and formal contexts. The YFE-TIG speaks to youth and adult evaluators’ and researchers’ unique needs by promoting the development and use of responsive tools and methods leading to practical and transformative outcomes for young people. The YFE-TIG helps youth and adult evaluators and researchers develop effective practices in professional development, program quality, measurement, ethics, youth participation, and amplifying youth voice and power. Ultimately, we want to support more profound youth-informed or youth-led evaluation and decision-making.
My name is Dr. Nicole Tirado-Strayer and I work for a nonpartisan research organization called WestEd. The youth-centered evaluations I lead involve partnering with young people to make sense of data about their own schools and communities. I evaluate school mental health initiatives, and students’ voices are essential to ensuring that schools provide the mental and behavioral health supports that all students need. Instead of asking students to simply respond to data, we invite them to interrogate it, contextualize it, and present conclusions directly to decision-makers. In this post, I will describe our tips for engaging youth, based on ourYouth Engagement Cohort, that move youth from data reviewers to system influencers.
Through facilitate and structured Data Walks, youth rotate through data stations featuring data on things like school demographics, suspension patterns, chronic absenteeism, service availability, and school climate. Rather than asking, “What does this number mean?” we ask:
This simple shift—from passive consumption to critical inquiry—changes the way youth engage with the data. Youth immediately notice patterns adults often miss, and question assumptions embedded in the data itself.
Why it’s useful: It builds evaluation literacy while centering equity and lived experience.
By creating behavioral health asset maps, youth identify school, community, and online supports, then use red/yellow/green dots to indicate how easy each resource is to find, get, and use. This “Find It, Get It, Use It” framework is important! A support may technically exist—but if students don’t know about it or can’t access it, does it function as a support?
Why it’s useful: Asset mapping surfaces accessibility barriers without framing youth solely as recipients of services. It shifts the conversation from “What’s wrong?” to “What’s working—and for whom?”
Involved youth in making sense of the data and providing recommendations. For example, host a participatory process where youth review findings, reflect on themes, draw connections, and decide which data points matter most and how to communicate them clearly. We do this through our Youth Voice Panel, which also presents findings directly to school, community, and district leaders in a moderated conversation. Adults then engage in collective action planning based on youth insights.
Why it’s useful: The evaluation loop closes publicly. Youth see their analysis shape next steps.
Youth-led evaluation does not mean unstructured evaluation. The clarity of agendas, norms, and step-by-step facilitation creates the psychological safety necessary for authentic participation. When youth know what to expect—and when adults truly listen—their contributions become strategic, not symbolic.
When we design processes that build capacity, share power, and connect insight to action, youth don’t just participate in evaluation—they transform it.
The five-session Youth Engagement Cohort series described in this blog was collaboratively designed and developed by Jenny Betz, Alexis Grant, and Cynthia Huynh.
The American Evaluation Association is hosting YFE TIG Week with our colleagues in the Youth Focused Evaluation Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our YFE TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.