09-24-1997 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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H E A L T H Y Y O U T H / H E A L T H Y C I T I E S Measuring Success On any given day, we are inundated with the difficulties facing our youth. Often, the common response is to get tough. But do hard line tactics work and, if not, how can cities evaluate and improve programs? Minnesota communities realize the situation facing youth first hand and are addressing it through a number of prevention strategies. Prevention strategies can be grouped into three, broad categories: primary prevention, aimed at the general public; secondary prevention, aimed at individuals exhib- iting high risk characteristics; and tertiary pre- vention, aimed at those individuals who have already entered the criminal justice system. The biggest question for all of these emerging tech- niques is, "Do they work ?" Evaluation can help answer this question. Evaluation is as much a way of thinking about how strategnes are implemented as it is a set of handy tools and techniques for collecting information. An evaluator always asks, "How do I know what I am saying about my program is true and will be accepted by others as true ?" In setting up an evaluation of youth programs, activities, and events, the goal is not to prove that all youth have been saved from engaging in all possible negative activities. Instead, the goal IS to develop a chain of evidence that a reason- able person would accept as demonstrating suc- cess. For example, research may demonstrate that teaching independent living skills to homeless youth reduces their likelihood of committing crimes or becoming victims of crime. To effec- . nvely evaluate such a program, the youth ihould he able to demonstrate they have learned living skills. The evaluation does not have to demonstrate that youth who have completed :he independent living skills program are less involved in crime. Previous research has already established that connection. Thus, a demonstra- non of effective teaching and learning indicates that the youth participating in the program are also less vulnerable to crime. As cities become more involved in youth programming, as primary sponsors and collabo- 1 797 By Edward C. Siegel 49 43 d'°, Cities have varying degrees of responsibility and involve- ment with issues and con- cerns affecting children and families. A 1996 National League of Cities survey asked respondents to report the three areas their city was most connected to dur- ing the previous year. Page 79 rators, conducting a thoughtful evaluation will both measure success and determine areas need- ing improvement. There are several simple guidelines to consider when evaluating youth programs: Determine basic demographics. It will be im- portant to figure out whether the program is reaching the group of originally targeted youth. Funders especially want to know who receives services. Get feedback. What did the participating youth enjoy about the program? What could have been done differently or better? What as- pects made it difficult to participate; e.g., lack of transportation, meeting times, lack of child care? Was staff well prepared? Were other par- ticipants eager and supportive? Finding out the useful and not -so- useful components of a pro- gram, event, or activity is vital information. Good feedback data provides the clues needed for improvement. Outcome data is crucial. Although outcome data may be far more difficult to obtain than other types of data, it is by far the most impor- tant. Reliable outcome data tells what was di- rectly accomplished as a result of participating in the program, activity, or event. Some examples of outcome data include test results, records of goal accomplishments, and school records. Be objective. Always collect information, feedback, and data in an objective format. This means questions should have well defined choices for answers, tests should be multiple choice, and opinion items should have defined scales. Limit open ended comments. Written com- ments are interesting, but for the most part they should be supplemental to the evaluative data rather than the main body of data. Open ended comments are obviously more subjective and difficult to measure. Keep materials brief. Evaluation materials should be brief and still cover the topic success-