HP4S: Social Program Evaluation of Big Brother/Big Sister - Essay Example

Measurable Outcomes that Would be Representative of the Program Objectives of the Big Brother/Big Sister Program Measurable OutcomesThat Would Be Representative of the Program Objectives of the Big Brother/Big Sister ProgramBig Brothers Big sisters as a community-based organization were established mainly to provide mentorship programs to youths aged between 6 and 18 years, by matching them with young-adults who are well-educated mainly college graduate volunteer mentors. The main objectives of the program are to mold the youth’s behaviors for them to grow morally upright free from drug, and alcohol usage.

The other objective is to ensure that these youths build strong relationships with their parents and avoid involving themselves in violent behaviors as well as improving their performances in schools.In order for the organization to realize whether these set objectives are being met, it usually carries out a regular evaluation. It is also common that some of the outcomes from the evaluation process are measurable while others are not. Enumerated hereunder are some of the measurable outcomes that would be representative of Big Brother Big sisters program objectives:Illegal drug usage: an outcome that reveals a reduction or non-existence of drug and alcohol usage will be one of the measurable outcomes that reflect big brother big sisters program objectives.

For instance, an evaluation conducted by Big Brothers Big sister in between 1991 and 1993 revealed that out of those evaluated, 46% were loess likely to have began using illegal drugs of which 6.2 % rate for intervention against 11.5% for controls (Big Brothers Big Sisters, 2012).Alcohol usage among youths is another measurable objective (Big Brothers Big Sisters, 2012). In this case, a result that portrays non-usage or reduction in alcohol usage among the youths will also conform to the Big Brothers Big sisters program objective.

An outcome contrary to this would not be a representative of the program’s objectives. Big Brothers Big sisters also strive towards ensuring that youths are mentored to avoid engaging in violent acts like hitting someone. This is also a measurable result that can be established. In connection with this, an outcome that shows few or non incidences of youths hitting someone is in conformity with the program’s objective. For instance, the evaluation conducted by Big brothers Big sisters revealed 32% fewer incidences of youths mentored hitting someone (1.

8 incidences per individual against 2.7) (Big Brothers Big Sisters, 2012).The other measurable outcome with regard to Big Brothers Big sisters program objective is to ascertain whether the youths mentored skips schooling or have improved in their school attendance (Big Brothers Big Sisters, 2012). In this case, an evaluation outcome that shows few incidences or improvement in school attendance among the youths mentored would be representative of its program’s objectives. This is so because one of the objectives of the organization is to ensure that youths are mentored to avoid skipping going to school.

For instance, the evaluation carried out by Big brothers big sisters fewer days of skipping school among the youths that have been put under its program. Big Brothers Big sisters other objective is to help improve performance and lower the number of school drop outs among youths in schools. Therefore, any outcome that would show an improvement in youth’s performance and reduction in school drop outs would be a true representative of the programs objectives. For instance, a 2009 study showed Hispanic high school student’s national drop out at 17.

6% (Big Brothers Big sisters, 2011). Therefore, an outcome that would show a reduction of this rate after subjective the students to mentorship through Big Brothers Big sisters would be satisfying.Finally, a measurable outcome that would reveal a stronger relationship being built between the youths and parents will be a representative of the Big Brothers Big sisters objective (Programs for Teens (n.d). This is because one of its objectives is to see that youths become respectful and build a closer relationship with their parents.

ReferencesBig Brothers Big Sisters (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.9iILI3NGKhK6F/b.5962335/k.BE16/Home.htmBig Brothers Big Sisters (2012). Social Programs that Work. Retrieved from: http://evidencebasedprograms.org/wordpress/?page_id=117Programs for Teens (n.d). Program: Big Brothers/Big Sisters: Child Trends. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.