An Introduction to the 4-H Common Measures Suzanne Le Menestrel, Ph.D. National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA Jill Walahoski, Ph.D. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Walmart Grantees Training May 3, 2013

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. 4-H Common Measures  Project Goals  Overview of the Tools  Development Process  Benefits  Timeline

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Goals for Common Measures  Provide state 4-H programs with resources to assist in the planning of local, state-wide, and regional evaluations  Identify a common core of child/youth outcomes and indicators that are included in the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Plan of Work system  Identify a common core of outcomes, indicators and measures to create a standard survey tool that will be used by National 4-H Council grantees

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Overview of the Tools  Eight Surveys designed to assess the outcomes found on the National 4-H Logic Models  4 th and 8 th Grade Universal Measures  4 th and 8 th Grade Citizenship Measures  4 th and 8 th Grade Healthy Living Measures  4 th and 8 th Grade 4-H Science Measures 

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Overview of the Tools  Intended for use by 4-H programs  Unique Program Evaluation  Annual Cross-Sectional Sample “State of 4-H Youth”  Needs Assessment  Benchmark Local Data against National Samples  Paper and Pencil and Web-Based  Voluntary (Unless Grant Designated)

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Development Process  Started with National 4-H Logic Model  Representatives from three national mission mandate teams, state leader regional representatives, 4-H National Headquarters, and National 4-H Council met on March 5-6, 2012  Teams identified common outcomes and indicators for Healthy Living, Science, Citizenship, and “Overarching” (Youth development, 21 st century skills, etc.)

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Development Process  Meeting held on May 1-3, 2012 to develop items. Included representatives from the March meeting as well as Extension evaluators  Items were identified/adapted for all outcome areas for both 4 th and 8 th grade  Survey modules for Healthy Living, Citizenship, Science and “Overarching” outcomes pilot tested during the summer of 2012 in LA, MT, WV, NE, and VA with diverse groups of about Hers; included facilitator input

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. General Benefits-Why Common Measures? (Payne & McDonald, 2012)  Secure and maintain scarce or limited funding  Develop or impact legislation/policy  Increase accountability to funders and participants  Assist in decision making  Improve quality of program evaluations

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Benefits to the 4-H System  Writing impact statements for county, state and federal reports  Easy ability to populate other reports that you are already doing  Ability to describe 4-H consistently and simply  Friendly, feasible and brief  Open access to the product-free and readily available  Measures applicable to a broad range of programs

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Healthy Living Outcomes  Choose food consistent with dietary guidelines  Improve physical activity practices  Avoid and prevent negative risk behaviors  Assess and regulate emotions & behaviors  Establish & maintain healthy relationships

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Timeline  Print Versions of the Tools – Currently Available  Online Platform, Phase One – May  Training for the Tools and the Platform – May-Ongoing  Year One Implementation Assessment – Feb – Dec, 2013

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. On-line System Features Currently Available  On-line data entry (by respondent or designated individual)  Send survey link to participants via  Select items from full set of common measures  Export data into Comma Separated Value (CSV) spreadsheet format—can open in Excel or other programs

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Protecting Data Integrity  On-line system will require designated administrator  Designated administrator (either appointed by LGU or National 4-H Council) can determine access  First round of LGU access will be later in May

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Coming Soon…  Additional features added to the on-line system  Implementation Toolkit  Recommendations for Administration and Analysis  IRB Supporting Materials  Recommendations for Reporting Findings

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Questions?

Head. Heart. Hands. Health. Contact Information Suzanne Le Menestrel, Jill Walahoski,