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Pathways to Success Summative Evaluation Report

NCJ Number
185249
Date Published
October 2000
Length
156 pages
Annotation
This report presents the findings of the national summative evaluation of the Pathways to Success Demonstration Project, which is a special-emphasis juvenile delinquency prevention program.
Abstract
The project was designed to accomplish two key objectives. One objective is to provide at-risk youth with a variety of age-appropriate programs in vocational, entrepreneurial, recreational, and arts education fields that allow them to build on existing strengths and develop new skills during non-school hours. The second objective is to provide and promote coordinated, collaborative prevention efforts that target at-risk youth. The national evaluation involved both a formative evaluation and a summative evaluation. The formative evaluation was conducted during the second program year (1996-97) and was designed to collect information on program implementation and operations at each of the four participating sites to document key program characteristics and to help interpret the summative evaluation results. The summative evaluation was conducted during the third program year (1997-98) and was designed to assess whether the Pathways programs had a positive effect on the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of program participants. Although the four continually funded Pathways sites shared the same delinquency prevention goals they used different implementation strategies, served different target populations, provided different types of activities, and emphasized different expected program outcomes. The summative evaluation found that the majority of participants maintained or showed improvement in their program-related skills (e.g., communication with adults and peers, cooperation with others, completing tasks, and participating in sessions) by the end of the program. Also, most program participants (50 percent or more) either maintained or achieved favorable attitude and behavior scores by the end of the program period. In addition, many of the participants showed noticeable improvement in their grade-point average during the program period and expressed a greater interest in and increased commitment to school. Lessons learned thus far are also noted. Extensive exhibits and appended program materials