Measuring youth development outcomes for community program evaluation and quality improvement: findings from Dissemination of the Rochester Evaluation of Asset Development for Youth (READY) tool.
OBJECTIVE
The Rochester Evaluation of Asset Development for Youth (READY) is a brief program-controlled evaluation and quality improvement tool used for assessment of four developmental assets for youth: caring adult relationships, basic social skills, decision making, and constructive use of leisure time. This article reports on the early implementation and combined benchmark data generated from the use of the READY tool by community-based youth-serving agencies in Rochester, New York.


METHODS
Nine youth-serving agencies used the 40-item READY tool in 2002-2003. In addition to individual program evaluation and quality improvement, a combined dataset was developed and analyzed to establish community benchmarks. Program leaders' qualitative feedback on their experience with the READY tool is also reviewed.


RESULTS
1,070 youth participated. Those youth who reported feeling more connected to the programs in which they participated and having more active and frequent participation had consistently higher scores on measured outcomes. Overall, most agencies required some technical assistance to first field READY. Most agencies successfully used their own data to address program quality improvement, and reported being happy with their ability to do so.


CONCLUSIONS
READY is a promising tool for measuring community-based program-attributable positive developmental outcomes for youth.
Sabaratnam
Premini
P
Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York 14642, USA.
Klein
Jonathan D
JD
D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods*; D003657:Decision Making; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009518:New York; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D011635:Public Health Administration; D011998:Recreation