Evaluating Youth Programs

The 2007-08 Evaluation Fellows Program (EFP) [http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/evaluationfellows/ Evaluation Fellows web site] has identified three key issues facing the evaluation of out-of-school time programs:

--What are REASONABLE OUTCOMES for OST programs to achieve?
--What are HIGH QUALITY, EFFECTIVE OST programs, and what can an OST program do to maximize the chances of youth achieving these youth outcomes?
--How can program providers who aren't professional evaluators find TOOLS and MEASURES of positive youth outcomes and program quality?

They have also developed this list of helpful links:

--By far the best web site for all three of these evaluation questions of OST programs is the Harvard Family Research Project web page at http://www.hfrp.org/

Members of EFP 2007-08 (pilot year) put together these pieces for learning about some of the key issues related to evaluation of OST youth programs:

--How can we measure OST youth program quality? See how United Way is measuring it.
--What tools exist to measure youth outcomes in OST programs?
--What about unintended outcomes that result from an after-school youth program? How can these be measured and accounted for?
--What does cultural competency look like in these programs and how can this be measured?
--How did 4-H use research and evaluation literature to help inform their civic engagement practice?
--How can evaluation be used to assess current statewide efforts to advance the field of after-school youth programs? See for example, [http://www.mncost.org Minnesota Commission on Out-Of-School-Time] ?
--How can leaders of after-school youth programs and organizations that fund after-school youth programs come together to learn about evaluation and improve youth programs [http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/evaluationfellows Evaluation Fellows web page] )?

Other foundational resources were: [WILL INSERT OUR READING LIST]