A April 2020 Child Trends PDF that highlights the importance of including racial equity in positive youth development approaches. The PDF contains examples of programs and initiatives that showcase ways embedding racial equity looks like in programs.
A CYFAR webinar and presentation providing original social justice dialogues for youth as an activity with a facilitator. Presenters demonstrate what an appropriate dialogue activity looks like, and the benefits of having dialogues about social justice and equity. This webinar and presentation aids youth to develop communication skills surrounding social justice topics and provides opportunity for youth to become engaged citizens.
Program quality is not just outcomes but also a point of service quality, or what’s happening within interactions. Components of good program quality can include youth engagement, supportive relationships, critical thinking, and physical and emotional safety. All of these components can serve as intermediate developmental outcomes.
This video explains the importance of a community or school review board in order to protect the people involved in research from harm and experimenters from any legal issues. The review board must know what kind of data will be collected, how information will remain confidential, and how consent will be obtained. Consent can be collected passively or actively and is especially important when working with children.
Youth should be involved throughout the entire process in a collaborative relationship with adults. They can engage by helping think of research questions, issues, focus groups, and observation. It is key to make sure youth aren’t just saying what they do and don’t like but actually making decisions. Adults can help in this process by building their youth engagement skills through exposure to youth culture.
When entering into a new setting the best way to get results is to start with respect, and engagement in the evaluation can be a good way to do this. Key people who know the community can be good people to ask who should be part of the evaluation. People that live and have a commitment to the community know the ways something can be done better than a research team, and they want to feel empowered and part of the process to develop a meaningful outcome and understand its impact.
When a program is evidence-based, it has been through an experimental design, shown to work, and evaluated at a rigorous level. A research-based program means the incorporated content of a program is supported by current research. Model programs are listed on a website called Blueprints shown with the best evidence of effectiveness, but qualifications can vary by website.
Evaluation is key to knowing, especially for participants, that differences are being made in terms of program quality and outcomes. Funders want to make sure they are putting their money to good use in a sustainable program. Evidence of change being made also helps the program tell its story and get its message across.
When reporting results identify the audience and what they need to know in order to make a decision by using bullet points and putting findings within the context of similar findings. Usually a less biased person that is an advocate for the program that the audience will listen to is a better choice than the researcher who conducted the study. Some general rules when conveying results: simple is always better, pictures help clarify, and use multiple perspectives.
Outcomes can occur at different levels; activities, participants, and system wide outcomes. Process evaluation looks at what went on in the program that is helping achieve the outcomes. Outcome evaluation looks at what is expected to change in the participants when going through the program and why.