Briefs: Implementing High-Quality Youth Programs

Posted by on June 29, 2009

From Child Trends: Implementing High-Quality Youth Programs

Three new Child Trends briefs present research findings and effective strategies to implement high-quality out-of-school time programs.  These briefs complete a six-part series on the drivers for implementing evidence-based practices in out-of-school time programs, available at http://www.childtrends.org/youthdevelopment.

How Program Administrators Can Support Out-Of-School Time Staff
Research on out-of-school time programs has found that effective program managers-referred to as facilitative administrators-promote high-quality implementation in multiple ways: by providing organizational leadership; selecting program staff; ensuring that staff receive training and supervision; and identifying and addressing implementation problems. This brief presents effective strategies for facilitative administration in out-of-school time programs.

http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_06_23_RB_FaciliteAdmin.pdf

Building Systems-Level Partnerships
Partnerships among out-of-school time programs, schools, and the community have been recognized as a feature of high-performing programs. In addition, systems-level partnerships can play critical roles when programs decide to implement new evidence-based practices or activities. This brief links research findings to effective strategies for building systems-level partnerships in out-of-school time programs.

http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_06_23_RB_SystemsPartners.pdf

Data-Driven Decision Making in Out-Of-School Time Programs
The use of high-quality data facilitates program management, reduces reliance on anecdotal information, and ensures that data are available for decision-making purposes. Both research and program experience have shown that decision-support data systems are effective tools for gathering high-quality data.  This brief offers recommendations and action steps to support the use of high-quality data to inform the implementation of evidence-based practices.

http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_06_23_RB_Decision-Support.pdf

RELATED WORK FROM CHILD TRENDS:
Strategies for the Effective Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in Out-of-School Time Programs, Part 1 (PowerPoint presentation PDF)

http://www.childtrends.org/Files//ProgImp1to3.pdf

Strategies for the Effective Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices in Out-of-School Time Programs, Part 2 (PowerPoint presentation PDF)

http://www.childtrends.org/Files//ProgImp4to6.pdf

Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center that studies children at all stages of development.