Chapter 1: Taking Stock: Investing in Measuring Our Work in Out-of-School Time

Why is it necessary to evaluate our work? Central to the act of evaluating a program is the intention to want to know how to improve and the capacity to understand how to make sense of the evaluation findings. Nevertheless, the idea of evaluation creates some anxiety and stress. However, when we can play a part in framing what we need to know from an evaluation, the whole experience becomes demystified. Evaluations serve to let us know whether a program is meeting the needs of those served, achieving desired results or which elements of our program are leading to success or challenges. Including program staff in setting the evaluation goals helps ensure that the findings are directly related to our curiosities and that the evaluation informs how our work affected outcomes. Also, evaluations contribute to building the knowledge base of structures, processes and practices useful to moving the out-of-school time (OST) field forward in terms of highlighting the quality of services offered and their contribution to youth success. This chapter explores the benefits of carrying out evaluations of what we do. Interspersed within the narrative presented here of the benefits of evaluation of OST are illustrations and reflections on lessons learned based on years of conducting field evaluations.