A Formative Evaluation and Evaluability Assessment of a Juvenile Corrections Executive Leadership Training

This project proposes a formative evaluation and evaluability assessment of a leadership training program for juvenile facility superintendents and other juvenile corrections personnel. The project will first produce a rigorous formative evaluation to provide feedback to stakeholders about program functioning and short-term outcomes, and refine the training curriculum and process. Second, the project will conduct an evaluability assessment to determine whether an outcome evaluation of the program would be justified, feasible, and useful; and, if so, the project will, as a third objective, develop a rigorous outcome evaluation plan to determine the long-term impact of the training.

The ultimate goal is to assist facility leadership and staff to help youths in their custody; and improve critical outcomes for youths, families, and communities. The formative evaluation will include an environmental scan to review documentation; interviews with key training stakeholders, such as developers, trainers, and trainees; and observations of training sessions. The evaluability assessment will use the Evaluation Decision Support Tool (EDST) to assess all components of the training program to determine whether to proceed with an outcome evaluation. Descriptive analyses on quantitative data will be conducted, and qualitative data will be analyzed by developing a coding scheme based on the interview data to determine major themes.

Results of the project will be disseminated to project partners and juvenile corrections professionals, and to the academic and policy communities through academic and professional publications. Research findings will also be presented at conferences.

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, and complies with Part 200 Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF.