When to Administer

This evaluation system will help youth development professionals share the value of local youth development programs with legislators, parents, other agencies as well as internal stakeholders. In this time of shrinking resources, youth development programs must provide valid documentation to show the difference that the programs are making in the lives of youth we work with everyday.

Below are some important points to follow when administering the surveys.

• Pretest and Posttest. The pretest should be administered at the start of the program year or the beginning of the program. The survey is completed by the youth individually. It is important to emphasize there are no right or wrong answers. The posttest should be administered at the last program meeting of each year or at the end of the program. The program must meet at least five times for the survey to be valid.

• Names on the evaluation instruments. Youth must put their names on the evaluation survey and their names must be entered when their data is entered. The need to match Pretests andPosttests requires the use of names or identifying information. Note that all names are kept confidential and only accessible by the site entering the data and the stie administrator (who will not reveal any identifying information). Youth may choose not to complete a question on the survey. However, if they do not put their name on it and it is not entered with their survey online, then their information is useless as one will have no way of linking their pretest information with their posttest information.

• Questions about definitions . Although the simplest words have been selected for use on this survey, some youth may have a question about the meaning of a word. Please have a dictionary available when administering the survey. If a youth asks about the meaning of a word, please use a dictionary to describe the word. Do not interpret the meaning of the word yourself unless, after reading the dictionary’s definition, it still does not make sense to the youth.

• Attendance. During the year, it is very important to keep attendance of the youth in the program. An attendance sheet is included in the forms, click here to get a copy. Only those youth who completed more than half (and at least five total) of the sessions of the program should complete a posttest. Otherwise, the result could be biased and skewed.

• Pick one or two surveys that best fit your program activities and goals that may include: decision making, problems solving, critical thinking, goal setting, communication, a combination of skills (called Skills for Everyday Living), and leadership.

• Surveys may be used for free, but we request that you contact us, give full acknowledgement on the surveys and reports, provide an electronic copy of the data set when available (to be added to the national study with full acknowledgements of your contributions), and send us a copy of the report/article that is produced from the data.