Amy Corron, United Way of Greater Houston Roger Durand, University of Houston and Durand Research and Marketing Associates, LLC** Julie Johnson, Communities in Schools Kevin Kebede, Alief YMCA Jennifer Key, Alief Independent School District Joseph Le, formerly of Joint City/County Commission Linda Lykos, YMCA of Greater Houston Cheryl McCallum, Children’s Museum of Houston Katherine von Haefen, United Way of Greater Houston ** Presenter

 The Houston’s Kids program  Evaluation methodology  Goals and evaluation results  Findings: Digging deeper  Discussion and conclusions – implications for program managers and evaluators  Helpful resources

 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita – program impetus  Developing the assets (Search Institute) of at-risk children  The collaborating partners: The Alief Independent School district; The Children’s Museum of Houston; Communities in Schools; the Joint City-County Commission on children; the United Way of Greater Houston; the YMCA of Greater Houston; and America’s Promise.  Elements of the program  The goals of Houston’s Kids ( ) and “success standards”

 Process and outcomes assessments  Multiple evaluation designs; multiple measurement tools; multiple observations  Evaluation research subjects– program participants; matched sample of nonparticipating children and youth; parents of participants; program staff; collaborating partners’ staff; employers of participants; program “alums”  Relatively unique feature: merging of school records; program attendance data; surveys; and qualitative evidence.

 The Search Institute developmental assets  Goal 1: Program participants will seek positive social relationships (adults and peers); will be prepared for success in their relationships; and have improved self-image.  Goal 2: Participants will be prepared for success in school  Goal 3: Participants in the employment program will be pared for success in the job market  Evidence showed all goals were achieved

 Program effects are not constant throughout but can be improved with process evaluations and management  Unless randomness (including unreliability) of measures are taken into account, a program’s true impact will likely be mis-identified.  Improved performance comes from identifying those not reached by a program.  (See accompanying tables).

 The out-of-school time program worked well for at-risk children and youth  Effective collaboration was a key  Improving outcomes 1: Variable effects and mid-course corrections  Avoiding flawed findings: Taking into account randomness (including unreliability) of measure is essential.  Improving outcomes 2: Identifying participants who are “resisters” and “backsliders”

 We will be happy to share designs, measurement tools, designs, analysis procedures and…  Contact: ◦ Roger Durand, Ph.D. ◦ 3507 E. Plum Street ◦ Pearland, TX ◦