scholarly journals From Then to Now: Emerging Directions for Youth Program Evaluation

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Arnold ◽  
Melissa Cater
Keyword(s):  
Program Evaluation ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Implementation Quality ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Youth Program ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
The Impact

Understanding the impact of youth development programs has been an important topic since the programs first began, and the past 25 years in particular have witnessed considerable advances in the evaluation of youth development programs. This article presents a brief history of youth development program evaluation, considering how it has changed over the years. From there, three contemporary trends related to youth program evaluation are examined: 1) a new evaluation focus, which is the emphasis on evaluating program quality; 2) organizational structures related to effective program evaluation, primarily in the area of program evaluability and evaluation capacity building; and 3) an emerging evaluation approach, involving youth in evaluating the programs that affect them. The article concludes with a call for programs to attend carefully to program implementation quality.

scholarly journals Sports as a passport to success: life skill integration in a positive youth development program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Hemphill ◽  
Barrie Gordon ◽  
PM Wright
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Daily Routines

© 2019, © 2019 Association for Physical Education. Background: Sport-based youth development (SBYD) programs aim to teach life skills to youth within a physical activity context. An explicit objective of most SBYD programs is that youth learn to apply, or transfer, life skills beyond the sports program. Limited research has been conducted on the cognitive processes that help youth understand how life skills apply within and beyond sports. Purpose: This study uses a conceptual framework on transfer of life skills to examine the role of life skills in an SBYD program. Research questions include: (1) how does the SBYD program integrate the teaching of life skills, (2) how do youth participants experience the life skills in the boxing program, and (3) how do youth participants perceive the life skills impact them beyond the program. Methodology: This research took place at three community boxing academies in New Zealand. The three academies were selected because they are affiliated with a boxing program that is committed to implementing a life skills framework called the Passport to Success. Forty-one youth (31 boys, 10 girls) across the three sites participated in focus groups interviews about their experience in the program. Additionally, observations of program implementation documented the daily routines of each boxing academy. Using a qualitative case study design, inductive analysis and constant comparative methods were used to identify emergent themes. Findings: Youth participants perceived life skills to be a foundational component of the boxing program. The life skills were presented to youth through the ‘Passport to Success’, a document featuring eight key life skills. The coaches focused on the Passport to Success in several ways, including setting an expectation that youth memorize the life skills to demonstrate their commitment. Several youth participants discussed learning valuable lessons around the life skills. Finally, youth were able to describe scenarios which demonstrated how the life skills connected with other areas of their lives. Conclusion: Life skills implementation was guided by the Passport to Success and an expectation that youth develop positive relationships in the gym. A routine strategy for memorizing the Passport to Success provided a clear example of youth learning the meaning of life skills in the context of sports. The youth participants demonstrated cognitive connections in their explanation of the value of life skills beyond the boxing program. Using the conceptual framework on transfer [Jacobs and Wright 2018. “Transfer of Life Skills in Sport-Based Youth Development Programs: A Conceptual Framework Bridging Learning to Application.” Quest 70 (1): 81–99] helps to explain the cognitive connections youth participants make between life skills in a sports program and their application beyond sports.

scholarly journals Sports as a passport to success: life skill integration in a positive youth development program

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
MA Hemphill ◽  
Barrie Gordon ◽  
PM Wright
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Life Skills ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Daily Routines

© 2019, © 2019 Association for Physical Education. Background: Sport-based youth development (SBYD) programs aim to teach life skills to youth within a physical activity context. An explicit objective of most SBYD programs is that youth learn to apply, or transfer, life skills beyond the sports program. Limited research has been conducted on the cognitive processes that help youth understand how life skills apply within and beyond sports. Purpose: This study uses a conceptual framework on transfer of life skills to examine the role of life skills in an SBYD program. Research questions include: (1) how does the SBYD program integrate the teaching of life skills, (2) how do youth participants experience the life skills in the boxing program, and (3) how do youth participants perceive the life skills impact them beyond the program. Methodology: This research took place at three community boxing academies in New Zealand. The three academies were selected because they are affiliated with a boxing program that is committed to implementing a life skills framework called the Passport to Success. Forty-one youth (31 boys, 10 girls) across the three sites participated in focus groups interviews about their experience in the program. Additionally, observations of program implementation documented the daily routines of each boxing academy. Using a qualitative case study design, inductive analysis and constant comparative methods were used to identify emergent themes. Findings: Youth participants perceived life skills to be a foundational component of the boxing program. The life skills were presented to youth through the ‘Passport to Success’, a document featuring eight key life skills. The coaches focused on the Passport to Success in several ways, including setting an expectation that youth memorize the life skills to demonstrate their commitment. Several youth participants discussed learning valuable lessons around the life skills. Finally, youth were able to describe scenarios which demonstrated how the life skills connected with other areas of their lives. Conclusion: Life skills implementation was guided by the Passport to Success and an expectation that youth develop positive relationships in the gym. A routine strategy for memorizing the Passport to Success provided a clear example of youth learning the meaning of life skills in the context of sports. The youth participants demonstrated cognitive connections in their explanation of the value of life skills beyond the boxing program. Using the conceptual framework on transfer [Jacobs and Wright 2018. “Transfer of Life Skills in Sport-Based Youth Development Programs: A Conceptual Framework Bridging Learning to Application.” Quest 70 (1): 81–99] helps to explain the cognitive connections youth participants make between life skills in a sports program and their application beyond sports.

scholarly journals Breaking it Down: Defining the Framework & Evaluating the Impact of a Peer Education Program

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Burke Blackburn ◽  
Imaani Greene ◽  
Shintele Malloy ◽  
Rima Himelstein ◽  
Alexandra Hanlon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Peer Education ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Program ◽  
Community Based Programs ◽  
The Impact

Evaluation in the field of youth development continues to evolve.  Youth development programs vary significantly in their focus, setting and outcomes.  Community-based programs seeking to create or strengthen their evaluation methods and tools may have difficulty identifying what to measure and how to capture anticipated outcomes.  This article focuses on a youth development program combining service learning and peer education, serving urban adolescents ages 14 to 19.  The purposes of this study are: 1) to illustrate a strategy used to clarify and align core activities, anticipated outcomes and evaluation tools, and 2) to provide an overview of the updated data collection instruments created by the program. 

scholarly journals The Project P.A.T.H.S. in Hong Kong—Lessons Learned and Implications for Positive Youth Development Programs

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. L. Shek ◽  
Rachel C. F. Sun
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Program Implementation ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Long Run

The Project P.A.T.H.S. is a positive youth development program which attempts to promote holistic development of junior secondary schools in Hong Kong. It is ground breaking in terms of the number of schools participating in the project and financial resources injected into the project. Based on the experiences gained from the implementation of the project and evaluation data collected from 2005 to 2011, several issues pertinent to the development of positive youth development programs in the Chinese culture are discussed. These issues include complexity of program development, importance of training, identification of factors governing program implementation, need for evaluation, and promotion of sustainability of the program in the long run.

scholarly journals Process Management in Football Youth Development Program

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Serdar Samur
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Process Management ◽  
Development Program ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Sports Clubs ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
Living Organisms

In our age, businesses are accepted as living organisms. Businesses that are aware of this change have begun to transition from a result-oriented work system to process management, closely following customer expectations in order to exist in the future as well. The largest expense that sports clubs incur involves transfer spending, because the most talented footballer, who would influence team success, is recruited from outside the club. Today, many sports clubs are incorporated and need to create their own economic resources that would not only ensure their survival but also their success and continuity. This resource can be achieved by means of the footballers who participate in the youth development programs conducted by the club’ football academy. The standards of football are on the rise, and so are the expectations of all those involved, with qualified footballers demanding astronomical wages. Sport clubs need to increase their profits by using the resources that are being developed in their respective football academies. If a given footballer attains a high standard by performing well during training and making it to the first string team, the club has to save on the transfer budget. The aim of this study is to determine how club football schools and academies manage in accordance with process management within the system approach. This study incorporated the qualitative research method and case study technique. Data was collected with the help of the interview technique and examined using content analysis. In this research, it was found that youth development programs should be managed by employing three main processes: covering education in sports schools, practicing with competitor teams, and transitioning to professionalism. If these processes are applied across football academies, it would lead to the emergence of economically qualified footballers. Youth Development Programs, as a part of the system of process management within the framework of organizational structures of sports clubs, will prove to be an ideal form of structuring.

scholarly journals Development of a Positive Youth Development Program: Helping Parents to Improve Their Parenting Skills

2006 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 388-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T.L. Shek ◽  
Britta M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Parenting Skills ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Program ◽  
Chinese Parents

The Project P.A.T.H.S. (Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programs) is a positive youth development program that attempts to promote holistic development in adolescents in Hong Kong. In the Tier 2 Program of this project, social workers are expected to develop positive youth development programs for adolescents having greater psychosocial needs. They are required to submit proposals that will be evaluated in terms of whether the proposals are evidence based, and appropriate evaluation mechanisms are included. With reference to the literature on parental control processes that Chinese parents may be loose in their behavioral control and they tend to overemphasize academic excellence, it is argued that improvement of the parenting skills of parents of Chinese adolescents is an important area to be addressed. To facilitate social workers to prepare the related proposals, a sample proposal on how to improve the parenting skills of Chinese parents is described, including its conceptual framework, proposed program, and evaluation plan. It is argued that this supportive approach (i.e., preparation of a sample proposal) can help social workers to develop quality proposals on positive youth development programs in Hong Kong.

From experienced to novice: a reflective account on the changing role of front-line implementer to program trainer in Project P.A.T.H.S.

2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-199
Author(s):  
Florence K.Y. Wu ◽  
Daniel T.L. Shek
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Teaching Role ◽  
Systematic Training

Abstract Although training plays an important role in the successful implementation of positive youth development programs, research on training and trainers in this field is grossly neglected. In this paper, a trainer of a positive youth development program in Hong Kong (Project P.A.T.H.S.; Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social Programmes) reflected about her transition from the role of a teacher (and program implementer) to the role of a trainer. Based on the reflection, the transformations involved, including self-perception, teaching role and teaching strategies, were highlighted. The issue of how previous experience influenced training in the context of positive youth development was also discussed. It is suggested that involvement of front-line practitioners in the training of positive youth development programs is workable, although systematic training for the novice trainers may be needed.

scholarly journals Mapping Out Your Success: Using Mind Maps to Evaluate Youth Development Programs

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-108
Author(s):  
Mary Sara Wells ◽  
Skye G. Arthur-Banning
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Role Models ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Poor Response ◽  
Primary Component ◽  
Pictorial Representation ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Mind Maps ◽  
The Impact

A primary component of any youth program is documenting and promoting the results through evaluation. Frequently, however, administrators in youth development programs struggle to find meaningful ways of evaluating the impacts they have on the lives of youth. It is often difficult to capture the unique benefits these programs offer to participants, especially when traditional methods such as focus groups and interviews may be too time consuming and questionnaires may yield poor response rates. This article presents a creative form of evaluation targeted at demonstrating the success of programs in outcomes that are historically more difficult to measure. A “mind map” is designed to be a pictorial representation of the impact of programs in areas such as connections to community organization and adult role models. Employing this technique can enable administrators in youth development programs to demonstrate to stakeholders the benefits they provide in a non-traditional, but highly effective, way.

scholarly journals Lesson Study Model of 4-H Professional Development: Data-Driven Improvements to Educator Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-154
Author(s):  
Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty ◽  
Steven M. Worker ◽  
Martin H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
School Based ◽  
Development Data ◽  
State Programs

Educator professional development in the 4-H Youth Development Program needs improvement. Lesson study, an iterative and educator-centered approach to professional development, has proven to be effective in school-based settings; however, research on the model in youth development programs is limited. The present study investigated the use of lesson study with professional Cooperative Extension staff, adult 4-H volunteers, and teenage 4-H volunteers in different 4-H contexts in three state programs. Findings revealed improvements in educators’ data-driven decision-making, content knowledge, lesson planning and implementation, and social connections across all contexts. To work effectively within the 4-H context, however, some adaptations to the model were necessary.

Evaluation of a Positive Youth Development Program in Hong Kong: A Replication

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 808-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia M. S. Ma ◽  
Daniel T. L. Shek ◽  
Hildie Leung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Programs ◽  
Youth Development Program ◽  
Tier 1

Objectives:In this study, we used the one-group pretest–posttest design to examine changes in students after joining a positive youth development program (Project PATHS) in Hong Kong, with 9,226 successfully matched junior high school students joining the Tier 1 and/or Tier 2 program(s).Method:Program participants completed the validated outcome measures on positive youth development, life satisfaction, and thriving before and after joining the program(s).Results:Students showed positive changes after joining the Tier 1 and/or Tier 2 program(s). The present findings replicated and converged with the findings of the previous two studies.Conclusion:The present study illustrates the role of positive youth development programs in promoting adolescent development and highlights the importance of replication in intervention research in positive youth development programs in youth services. The contributions and limitations of this series of studies are discussed.

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