Evaluating Civic Youth Work: Illustrative Evaluation Designs and Methodologies for Complex Youth Program Evaluations

Evaluating Civic Youth Work: Illustrative Evaluation Designs and Methodologies for Complex Youth Program Evaluations

by RossVeLureRoholt (Editor), Michael Baizerman (Editor)

Synopsis

Youth civic engagement efforts have become common across the globe. With the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, many have turned to civic engagement methodologies to create opportunities for young people to have a voice in decisions that affect them. With the dissemination of youth civic engagement practice, there is a need to evaluate these efforts to satisfy funders, stakeholders, and participants. As a social innovation, youth civic engagement efforts present unique issues to evaluation and invite innovative and participatory evaluation designs. This volume brings together experienced evaluators, evaluation and youth civic engagement scholars, and civic youth workers to inform evaluation designs for youth civic engagement practice and programs. The book uses the US Center for Disease Control's framework for evaluation process, and explores issues, questions, and choices an evaluator can make when designing an evaluation of youth civic engagement practices. The heart of the book includes case studies written by professional evaluators, evaluation and youth scholars, and youth workers to define issues for each stage and provide guidance for others who want to design a robust, rigorous, and responsive evaluation for youth civic engagement initiatives and practices. The final chapters of the book provide straightforward and clear guidance for beginning to intermediate evaluators when designing and conducting evaluation studies.

$31.77

Quantity

10 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 200
Publisher: OUP USA
Published: 16 Aug 2018

ISBN 10: 0190883839
ISBN 13: 9780190883836

Media Reviews

Evaluation of youth programs and youth work is not new. However, illuminating the inner workings of the process-and in a way that also lifts up the voice(s) of youth work and youth work practitioners-is indeed inspiring and timely. This collection of evaluation stories is a must-read for any student of youth studies, for youth work practitioners, and for those who are in the powerful-but-often-distant practice position of judging the results presented in evaluation reports.

-Dana Fusco, PhD, Professor and Chair, Teacher Education, School of Health Sciences and Professional Programs, CUNY-York College


Complexity is the 21st-century paradigm for everything that matters. By understanding and engaging system interconnections, dynamic intersections, and nonlinear interactions, this book demonstrates how innovations in civic youth work can be informed by new directions in evaluation. The result is nothing less than reality-based, theory-driven, and empirically-generated guidance for making a difference in the lives of young people. Say goodbye to simplistic, linear, mechanistic modeling. Say hello to engaging and evaluating civic youth initiatives through rapid responsiveness, ongoing adaptation, and sustainable resilience. Say hello to the future, not just of youth programming and evaluation, but all programming and evaluation that engages seriously with the complexities and challenges of the 21st century. How very appropriate that youth work leads the way forward.

Michael Quinn Patton, Author of Developmental Evaluation: Applying Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use


Author Bio
Michael Baizerman, PhD, MS, MS, is Professor and Director, Youth Studies, School of Social Work, University of Minnesota, and Adjunct Professor of Youth Development Leadership, University of Minnesota. He has taught in Youth Studies since 1972 and also carried out community-consultation on youthwork and youth studies locally and internationally. He has published widely in youthwork and youth studies and extensively in program evaluation. Ross VeLure Roholt, PhD, MSW, is Assistant Professor, Youth Studies, School of Social Work, and University of Minnesota. Before joining the Youth Studies faculty, Dr. VeLure Roholt worked for two years in Belfast, Northern Ireland on issues around youth civic engagement and youthwork practice. He has consulted both locally and internationally on youthwork practice,especially in Jordan, Israel, and Palestine territories. Currently he is developing a youthwork practice, Civic Youthwork, and also continues to consult with youth organizations and groups in Jordan and Morocco around this youthwork practice.