increasing youth opportunities

events, research, resources

Using Research-Based Tools to Measure Youth Outcomes (continued)

We've also reserved a new domain name - Toolfind.org - that will become the portal through which users will enter the Directory (for the time being, you should still visit the Directory at http://www.uwmb.org/ostdirectory.) A new addition to the Directory is material developed for our workshop on "Finding a Tool That Fits."

Eight UWMB affiliates participating in our project to support their implementation of a research-based tool have now identified the tool they want to use. The project is nicely organized into three groups of agencies, each using the same tool. One group will be using the Youth Outcomes Toolkit published by the National Research Center in Boulder, Colorado. Another will participate in a pilot project organized by NIOST (the National Institute on Out of School Time) to introduce the Afterschool Program Assessment System that combines an outcome measurement tool with a program quality assessment method. A third group, of Salvation Army afterschool sites, will be using Social Skills Rating System and The Study of After School Activities Survey. Through this project we will be learning about the fit between tools and programs as well as the resources agencies need to fully implement and sustain the new tools.