Youth engagement in the self-assessment follows a two-stage process: 1) completion of Youth Feedback Form in Youth Reflection Group(s), followed by 2) participation of selected youth representatives in the Self-Assessment Committee. In the first stage, one or more groups of youth convene to fill out the Youth Feedback Form below that captures youth experiences and perceptions regarding key standards contained in the main Self-Assessment Form. In the second stage, two or more youth representatives selected from within the youth reflection groups participate in the Self-Assessment Committee to present the views, opinions, and suggestions that arose from their group reflections, as it relates to the standards in the Self-Assessment Form.
Stage One
Youth Reflection Group participants will complete the Youth Feedback Form, which captures youth experiences and perceptions of key standards. Remind youth that 1-2 of them will also be included in the Assessment Committee, so they should take notes on scores and comments. The questions are directly related to many of the standards in the full Assessment Form but have been re-worded to better gather youth perceptions. We advise that program staff do not observe or attend this meeting to reduce any pressure youth may feel to answer questions a certain way.
To provide a transparent and fair process, we also suggest that YSOs release an open call for youth who may be interested in participating in the Assessment process. We encourage YSOs to consider youth that represent diverse skills, ages, disability status, gender, and time involved in the program. If the open call does not provide sufficient diversity, the YSO may need to intentionally recruit additional youth to ensure the reflection group represents the breadth of program participants.
Below are a few ways that the facilitator can lead this activity:
1Stage Two
Two or more youth representatives from the Youth Reflection Groups will participate in the Assessment committee and present the views, opinions, suggestions that arose from the group reflections. The Youth Feedback Form scores do not match the performance levels in the primary Assessment Form and will not be included in committee scoring; rather they should be used to help inform program staff’s understanding of youth participants’ perception of the program. Therefore, anecdotes from the reflection groups can be as important if not more important than the overall score.