Abstract
A recent report, 4-H Critical Indicators of Youth Development Outcomes for Mission Mandates, outlines a nationwide evaluation of youth program quality and impact of three new programming initiatives. The plan is presented as a model for youth development impact and organizational change. Discussion focuses on the three components of the plan, including evaluation context, framework for assessing program quality and outcomes, and implementation issues critical to successful evaluation.
Highlights
Community-based youth programs demonstrate their social value and funding merit with evidence for program quality and impact (Eccles & Gootman, 2002)
The prospect of improving program quality and impact and increasing funding support led National 4-H Headquarters to embrace that challenge. 4-H developed a long-term strategy for multi-state collaboration that focuses on National Mission Mandates (MM) in science, engineering, and technology (SET), citizenship, and healthy living
4-H mission mandates were congruent with the mission of the larger organization, the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES, 2007)
Summary
Community-based youth programs demonstrate their social value and funding merit with evidence for program quality and impact (Eccles & Gootman, 2002). Evaluation of quality and impact is a daunting task for local programs, but cumulating evidence across networked youth organizations is even more so. The report is part of a broader federal effort to support state and local 4-H professionals who will organize, implement, and evaluate MM programs across diverse populations and settings. The purpose of this article is to summarize the rubrics and recommendations of that report (Silliman, 2007) which may be relevant across a variety of networked youth organizations. This discussion focuses on the evaluation context, framework for selecting and identifying indicators, and recommendations for implementing a multi-state evaluation
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