When Youth Collaborate: Testing and Building Youth-Friendly Evaluation Methods.

摘要

Youth participatory evaluation (YPE) is a type of assessment that involves young people in analyzing the effectiveness of the programs designed to serve them. The main purpose of this study is to examine YPE methods from perspectives of the youth. A series of participatory workshops was conducted with 15 high school students at Grant Union High School in Sacramento. Through testing three different methods---including visual, written, and combined methods---this study uncovered that these three methods contributed to the youth reflecting on their experiences individually and collectively. The students learned the process of conducting participatory evaluation and YPE methods. Most importantly, they became motivated enough to apply these skills to lead a student-led workshop. The youth participants were able to increase their agency and overcome challenges such as lack of skills through getting support and resources by working with their peers and the adult facilitator being present in the research processes. Furthermore, this study found the significance of ongoing monitoring and usefulness of the Kawakita Jiro (KJ) method as a record keeping tool in participatory action research. Based on the analysis of the process and outcomes of using the three method, this study identified seven different elements comprising methods that lead to conducting more effective YPE and developed a future curriculum, tools, and guidelines that support further implementation of YPE.