Goal setting and progress evaluation in youth empowerment programs

Two methods for evaluating youth empowerment programs were compared by examining results obtained in two local programs that had adopted different strategies for collecting and recording information about goals and progress of individual youth. One of the programs used a traditional, open-ended, clinical style of service planning and progress tracking. The other program used pre-coded measurement procedures that invited direct participation of youth in goal setting and outcome evaluation. Data generated using the traditional open-ended approach appeared to be more sensitive to service availability than to desires and circumstances of youth and provide too little information to guide program improvement. The pre-coded measurement strategy that involved youth in goal setting and progress monitoring proved to be relatively more useful as a tool for evaluating and helping to improve comprehensive programs for multi-risk youth.