2001
Exemplary
Program
Evaluations
Exemplary
Program
Evaluations
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| State: | Utah | |||
| Project name: | Youth and Families with Promise | |||
| Participants: | Youth and their families are referred from school administrators, Juvenile Courts, community and religious organizations or from parents | |||
| Number involved: | Approximately 500 students last year (in 22 counties) although only 381 students included in evaluation since they must be in the program for a minimum of 6 months for inclusion | |||
| Program: |  |
Two level mentoring program (young adult individual mentors and grandparent age couple or individual mentors). Mentors establish a relationship with the identified youth and their family through providing motivation and tutoring relating to reading and academic skills and also participating with them in structured recreation, community service, and 4-H. |
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Young adult mentors use Connect curriculum developed based upon Search Institute's Developmental Assets for 1:1 work between youth and mentor. Grandmentors use Strengthening Families Ties curriculum with youth and families. | |||
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Youth, parents, and mentors participate in monthly group activities using the Family Night Out program curriculum developed by Washington State Extension. | |||
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Youth and mentors participate in service projects about every quarter. | |||
| Where: | Program is implemented through the county Extension office, which houses the site coordinator. Actual programs take place at many places including schools. | |||
| When: | Program runs on a school year calendar. Mentors are supposed to meet with youth on a weekly basis and with the family on a monthly basis. | |||
| Who: |
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Program is administered under the direction of Utah Sate University Extension with paid and volunteer staff in each county in collaboration with a local advisory board. | ||
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Young-adult mentors are recruited from students attending one of Utah's universities, colleges, or technical schools. Grandmentors are recruited from the family's religious congregation or from community volunteer organizations. | |||
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Improve academic performance | |||
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Increase interpersonal competence | |||
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Strengthen family bonds | |||
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| Methods & Tools | |||||||||
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A retrospective pre- and posttest was developed for this project for parents, youth, and mentors | ||||||||
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Mentors complete a monthly report indicating how often they met with their mentee, what they did, and if they did focus on an asset, which one it was | ||||||||
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Instruments were developed for individual interviews with youth and for focus groups with parents, grandmentors, and young adult mentors | ||||||||
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Pre and post questionnaires (completed by youth, parents, and teachers) assesses youth's attitudes about school, interpersonal skills, family relationships, self-reported changes in academic skills, problem behaviors and healthy behaviors | ||||||||
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If parents do not complete the survey, site coordinator goes to their home to assist them in its completion | ||||||||
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Individual interviews with selected youth | ||||||||
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Focus group interviews with parents and mentors | ||||||||
| Analysis | |||||||||
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Paired t-tests to determine change between self-reports pre and post | ||||||||
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Based on mentor's monthly reporting, each mentee is either considered a "high" dosage or a "low" dosage group. Analyses are conducted on each separately | ||||||||
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Focus groups and individual interviews are entered into NUD*IST and themes are grouped and analyzed. | ||||||||
| Results | |||||||||
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High dosage group has shown statistically significant change in 20 out of the 21 variables | ||||||||
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Low dosage group has shown statistically significant change in 7 out of the 21 variables | ||||||||
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Focus group and individual interviews provide support for the quantitative findings while also providing more information on the process and meaning of the program for youth, parents, and mentors | ||||||||
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To assess program effectiveness | |||
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Program planning | |||
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Program modification | |||
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Documentation in grant proposal writing | |||
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Reports to collaborators and funders | |||
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Marketing to potential funders | |||
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Marketing to the community | |||
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For support to replicate program in other places | |||
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| Tom
Lee Email: toml@ext.usu.edu |
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Retrospective pre- and posttest for parents | |||
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Retrospective pre- and posttest for youth | |||
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Retrospective pre- and posttest for mentors | |||
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Mentor monthly reporting form | |||
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Interview questions for youth | |||
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Focus group questions for parents | |||
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Focus group questions for grandmentors | |||
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Focus group questions for young adult mentors | |||