11-12-1997 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 nor, how can cities evaluate and innesota communities reap >e che 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 ternary pre- , ention, 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 strategies are implemented as it is a set of handy cools and techniques for collecting information. An evaluator always asks, "How io I know what I am saying about my program ;s true and will be accepted by others as mac?" In setting up an evaluation of youth programs. activities, and events, che goal is not to prove chat all youth have been saved from engaging in ail possible negative activities. Instead. che goal s to develop a chain of evidence chat a reason- able person would accept as demonstrating suc- cess. For example. research may demonstrate that teaching independent Living skills co nomeiess youth reduces their likelihood of comrrutnng crimes or becoming victims of crime. To effec- :iveiv evaivace such a program. che vouch .irould be able to demonstrate chew have learned ivmg skills. The evaluation does not have to Jemonscrate chat youth who have completed :fie independent Living skills program are less :evolved in crime. Previous research has already -stablished that connecnon. Thus. a demonstra- :inn of etfecnve teaching and learning indicates chat the vouch pamcipanng in the program are _lisp less vulnerable to crime. As cities become more involved in vouch 'rogt'amman_, as cnniary sponsors and coilabo- By Edward 0 Siegel 26 Ifl 19 17 13 33 z 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 62 mprove programs? rarors, conducting a thoughtful evaluation will both measure success and determine areas need- ing improvement. There are several simple guidelines co 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 tirnes, lack of child care? Was staff well prepared? Were ocher par - ticipants eager and supportive? Finding out the usefi l 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 dimculc to obtain than ocher types of data 't is by far che most impor- tant. Reliable outcome data cells what was di- rectly accomplished as a result of participating in che 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 objecnve format. This means auesnons should have well defined choices for answers. tests shouid be multiple choice. and opinion items should have defined scales. Limit open ended comments. Warren com- ments are interesting, but for the most part they should be supplemental to che evaivanve daca rather than che mam body of data. Open ended comments are obviously more subjective and difficult to measure. Keep materials brief. Evaluation macenais should be bnef and sail cover :he coon success-