and Northfield HCI are leading
the charge to make information
available for the benefit of the OST
community.
“Sprockets is about
supporting programs
to do their best work
and provide access to
resources that allow
them to do that,” Skold
explains. Sprockets collects data on
three levels: participation,
outcomes, and quality.
Evaluation tools are key to
collecting and understanding
data at hand. Sprockets uses
the Survey of Academic
to Move Systems Change
and Youth Outcomes, or
“How many youth
SAYO, for youth outcome data, and
YPQA, or Youth Program Quality
are participating in
Assessment, for quality data. SAYO
out-of-school time
measures eight outcome areas that
research suggests are linked to
(OST) programs in
long-term positive development
Saint Paul?” When Saint
and academic and life success for
Paul Mayor Chris Coleman posed the
youth. The YPQA was developed
question, there wasn’t an easy answer.
to not only assess program quality
The lack of an answer was a key factor
features, but to create customized
in the creation of Sprockets, a network
action plans to enhance youth
of afterschool and summer programs in programs. The YPQA focuses on key
Saint Paul.
areas of quality at the point where
staff and youth interact: a safe and
Sprockets tracks program
supportive environment, youth/adult
participation, program quality,
and peer interactions, and youth
and youth outcomes to provide a
engagement. CitySpan database
comprehensive set of data for OST
technology, administered by the
in Saint Paul. Similar efforts are
Wilder Foundation, is used to track
underway in Northfield, Minnesota
program participation and allows
under the leadership of the
Sprockets to keep the data organized
Northfield Healthy Communities
and accessible.
Initiative. Erik Skold of Sprockets
Northfield HCI has established
and Zach Pruitt of Northfield
a homegrown, creative approach
Healthy Communities Initiative
to data measurement. In addition
are two individuals at the forefront
to using SAYO to measure youth
of this new, all-hands-on-deck
outcomes, the group relies heavily
approach to building coordinated
on individual organizations to
effective systems. With the lack of
track attendance in CitySpan. Data
readily available data, Sprockets
Using Data
9
[Youthprise] Newsflash
is tracked across programs - from
city-based, school-based, and
nonprofit programs. According
to Pruitt, “it doesn’t matter which
program they are going to, rather
how many different touches they’re
having with our network.” Once
youth participants in Northfield
OST programs have reached a
certain threshold for attendance
(typically thirty times a year), HCI
examines academic data provided
from the school district. They also
administer evaluations among
frequent attendees to OST programs
that measure program safety,
effectiveness, and staff/youth respect,
along with questions regarding
young people’s engagement in the
community and future goals.
DATApower
only has
if it’s used, Pruitt asserts. One way
Northfield HCI has used data is to
track participants in the TORCH
program, an initiative that focuses on
raising graduation rates for Latino
students. If, for example, a student
who had been a regular attendee
stops attending a program, it is
possible to run queries on contacts
with other programs and on academic
performance. This shared data “makes
sure kids aren’t falling through the
cracks.” Skold echoes this sentiment,
as well as stressing the ways in which
data can be used to improve existing
programs: “If you see that your
attendance is dipping on Tuesday,
and you want to engage youth in
more leadership opportunities
because your leadership and
engagement SAYO quality scores
are low, you can create a leadership
opportunity on Tuesdays and kill two
birds with one stone.”
Skold points to a data cycle
Sprockets is putting in place. First,
resources are needed to begin
data collection. Then, with these
resources, data is procured. Once
organizations have data, they can
produce a quality improvement
plan. Then resources are required to
implement that plan. After that, the
cycle repeats itself. Skold stresses,
“The repeat part is very important.
Out-of-school time is not static, there
is always room for improvement.”
Article Co-Author:
Alyssa Roach
Development Innovator
If you see that your
attendance is dipping on
Tuesday, and you want
to engage youth in more
leadership opportunities,
you can create a
leadership opportunity
on Tuesdays and kill two
birds with one stone.
Article Co-Author:
Karen Kingsley
Director of Public Policy & Communications
Young People
Studying Young People:
A new approach to research
Ask any parent, teacher or other invested
individual about the future of primary education in
America and the conversation will inevitably veer
towards standardized testing. Education in our school
systems often consists of an unspoken “teach, learn,
test, and forget” process. Students learn content taught
by teachers only to be tested on the material. After
testing, many students find that the information is no
longer useful. Learning is understood as a mechanical
process used to pass tests, get good grades and advance
in school; it is gutted of wonder, of complexity, of
relationship. We lack a genuine, holistic approach that
seeks to nourish lives devoted to seeking knowledge,
building wisdom or fulfilling purpose.
Whether positive or negative, it seems as though
everyone has an opinion on what needs to be done in the
classroom in order to build healthy individuals, and what
should be measured. The only issue is that most young
people are in the classroom for seven hours or less each day,
essentially leaving over half the day unaccounted for.
This isn’t a new problem. Educational experts
and research professionals across the country have
devoted themselves to finding “non-academic indicators”
of success for young people. They argue that student
success is the result of much more than test scores and
attendance sheets. Their work has been pivotal in many
new initiatives geared towards building non-academic
skills in and outside the cl \