Youth as Participants in Evaluation:

Strengthening Organizational Planning Through Youth-Adult Partnership

Shepherd Zeldin

Jessica Collura

Libby Bestul

November 14, 2012

Explore and Discuss

• Youth-adult partnership as a core practice for promoting positive youth development.

• Strategies for engaging youth in organizational evaluation and improvement.

• Practical and accessible resources for youth-adult partnership.

All materials are found at: http://fyi.uwex.edu/youthadultpartnership/

Our Methodology (Assumptions)

There is nothing as theoretical as good practice. (Camino, 1999)

There is nothing more practical than a good theory. (Lewin, 1951)

If you want to understand something, try to change it. (Bronfenbrenner, 1978)

Our Methodology (Integration of Research and Practice)

Historical analysis, case study.

U.S. / international comparative research (Portugal, Canada, Malaysia).

Evaluation of community organizations, local government, school reform, Extension initiatives.

We all want to part of something larger than ourselves; and we all

need to be welcomed into it.

“Healthy communities

inter-generate, not age

segregate.”

Everybody has a role and everybody

is needed.

President's Science Advisory Committee (1974)

Professionalism and bureaucratization

have sharply narrowed the range of

youth's contacts with adults outside of

leisure.... Paradoxically, what was once

done to protect youth from exploitation,

now serves to reinforce the 'outsider'

status of youth, to the point where they

deprive youth of experience important

to their growth and development.

In youth organizations, community coalitions, nonprofit and public boards, schools and after

school programs.

Youth-Adult Partnership

Communication &

Media

Research &

Evaluation

Service &

Philanthropy

Governance &

Policymaking

Training &

Outreach

Organizing &

Activism

Y-AP Promotes Positive Youth Development

o Young people gain knowledge, critical consciousness, and leadership skills, as well as the motivation and confidence to use them.

o Youth enter into community networks with exposure to diverse adults, and gain instrumental and emotional benefits.

o Most critical, developmentally, for vulnerable and

disconnected youth.

Collective Benefits of Y-AP:

Staff/ Volunteers: Greater confidence, commitment, and generativety.

Organizations: stronger boards of directors; more responsive to youth concerns; more effective outreach.

Communities: More people contributing to the common good; less age-related stereotypes; better use of age-related expertise and experience.

Quality Matters Design Features and Core Elements.

Y-AP is not a program; it is a core practice that cuts across organizations and community settings. The policy goal is two-fold:

o Embed the core elements of Y-AP into all youth programs.

o For sustainability, establish Y-AP as a public idea; an accepted way of thinking.

A couple of Bottom Lines

The Sticky Wall

• What is a key issue regarding youth-

adult partnership in organizational

planning and evaluation?

• What do you want to learn about

today?

What Makes Youth-Adult Partnership Sticky? Moving Beyond the Flavor of the Day

Part

ne

rsh

ip V

alu

es

Co

llect

ive

Act

ion

Organizations and Communities

Part

ne

rsh

ip S

tru

ctu

re

Culture of Partnership Building a

Build and Sustain A Culture of Partnership

Values

• Organizational leaders, by word and deed, establish Y-AP as a core priority.

• Participation consistent with interest, expertise, and time.

Structures

• Options for different ways to participate

• Scaffolding and support.

Collective Action

• Issue is important to both youth and adults.

“Thank God! A panel of experts!”

A Final Lesson from Research

Panels of experts are critical to good

policy and programs, but…

In community life, the magic bullet

is discussion about things that matter.

Those discussions require people

who want to bridge generations, are

willing to make the time to come

together, have the ability to reach

consensus, and consistently push toward

collective action.

Emphasize Collective Learning and Action

http://fyi.uwex.edu/youthadultpartnership or http://www.actforyouth.net/

Tools from Wisconsin and New York

Narrated PowerPoint: Involving Youth in Decision Making

Being Y-AP Savvy: A Primer on Creating Youth-Adult Partnerships

Challenges of Defining Y-AP

• Conceptual challenges and

inconsistent construct definition

• Insufficient understanding of core

elements that underlie effective Y-AP

Impacts on Practice

• Role confusion

• Lack of youth voice / tokenism

• Lack of adult participation

Defining Youth-Adult Partnerships

The practice of (a) multiple youth and multiple adults deliberating and acting together (b) in a collective fashion (c) over a sustained period of time (d) through shared work (e) intended to promote social justice, strengthen an organization and/or to affirmatively address a community issue. (Zeldin, Christens, Powers, 2012)

Quality Matters

Purpose of Y-AP Savvy

For good practice,

groups need to come

up with their own

understanding of

Y-AP based on their

organizational context

and purpose.

Y-AP Savvy Assumptions

• The simple questions are the most

important (and the hardest) to

answer.

– This is true for people new to Y-AP and people experienced with Y-AP.

• The power is in the discussion.

Y-AP Savvy Structure

• Six chapters – each of which

focuses on one essential

question.

• Within each chapter:

– “Necessary Knowledge”

– “Tools”

Y-AP Savvy Helps stakeholders

1. Acquire core knowledge about Y-AP.

2. Establish one’s point of view about Y-AP.

3. Build group consensus on key design and implementation issues re: Y-AP.

4. Identify the “best practices” that will be central to the Y-AP initiative.

Essential Questions

1) What are the quality ingredients for quality Y-AP in our organization?

2) Why is Y-AP important for our organization?

3) Where should Y-AP occur within our organization?

4) How do we build a culture of partnership in our organization?

5) How do we manage organizational change towards Y-AP?

6) How can quality Y-AP be sustained?

Essential Questions

• Review the essential questions

outlined in the handout.

• Discuss what question you believe

would be the most challenging to

answer. Why do you think this

question would be the most

challenging to answer?

Exploring Y-AP Savvy Tools

Tool #2: Defining Quality

Youth-Adult Partnerships

– Respond to the three questions on the handout.

– Then, in small groups discuss your answers.

Final Tips for Using Y-AP Savvy

• Complete the chapters and tools over

time.

• Develop a personal perspective and

share it with colleagues.

• Adapt the tools as necessary.

• Use the tools for ongoing

organizational improvement.

Participatory Research

Broaden the Frame:

From Adults to

Youth-Adult Partnership

The Basic Question:

Why and How to Involve Youth in

Evaluation Efforts?

Resource and Tool Kit Youth-Adult Partnerships in Evaluation

Youth - Adult Partnership in Evaluation (Y-AP/E): A Resource Guide for Translating Research into Practice

Youth and Adult Leaders for Program Excellence (YALPE): A Practical Guide for Program Assessment and Action Planning

http://fyi.uwex.edu/youthadultpartnership or http://www.actforyouth.net/

Purpose of Resource Guide

• To facilitate the implementation of Y-AP/E – Efficiently

– Quality

• To identify the most critical ‘leverage points’ and best practices that have emerged from the literature.

• To avoid ‘recreating the wheel.’

How Was Y-AP/E Created?

• Literature review: Collection of

articles

• Coding of articles

• Analysis of main themes

• Identification of ‘leverage points’:

What is really, really, most important

to understand and do in order to

implement Y-AP/E with quality?

Leverage Points and Tip Sheets

1. Understand the fundamentals of evaluation research.

2. Prepare for the most significant challenges of Y-AP/E.

3. Make a case for the significance of Y-AP/E.

4. Create an organizational culture for Y-AP/E.

5. Maximize the relevance and utilization of evaluation.

Discussion of Key Leverage Points

Additional Resources in Y-AP/E

• Practical and engaging data analysis strategies.

• The Short List – recommended reading for field practitioners.

• Annotated Literature Review: essential articles & reports

• Literature that involves research in school setting.

• Literature that cites the benefits of youth involvement.

Youth and Adult Leaders for Program Excellence (YALPE)

A Practical Guide for Program

Assessment and Action

• Promoting program quality and

improvement

• Communicating accomplishments to

community stakeholders and funders

• Training program volunteers and

community coalitions

The YALPE Process

The tool kit can be used sequentially, through

various phases of action:

• Preparing to conduct a program assessment,

collecting and compiling data, analyzing data, sharing

the results with others

The tool kit may also be used piecemeal, as

appropriate to your group, for each phase of

action:

• YALPE includes surveys, tip sheets, facilitation ideas,

learning activities, templates for data entry and

analysis, templates for preparing written reports.

“I’ve got it too Omar… a strange feeling like we’ve just been going in circles.”

Age-Related Stereotypes and Isolation are Exhausting

“The cost of not involving young

people in shared decision making

will likely come back to haunt us as

a civil society and a golden

opportunity to move toward a fuller

and more inclusive wisdom will

have been missed.”

Mary McAlesse, President of

UNESCO (2012)