Assess
Now that you’ve prepared for your CQI cycle, it’s time to use your Club’s data to ASSESS your Club. It’s important to gather as much data as possible for the assessment to be effective. This page will help you gather data about your Club or Youth Center from the following areas:
- Quality Practice
- Attendance and Participation
- Youth Outcomes
- Club Experiences
For more information on each data category, download the Data Buckets description document.
Quality Practice (Youth Program Quality Assessment)
Quality practice data assesses your Club’s use of quality after-school practices such as staff interactions, incorporating youth voice, and creating a youth-centered learning environment. Boys & Girls Clubs of America has partnered with the Forum for Youth Investment and the Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality to provide training, tools and resources for using the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA), a research-validated measure for youth program quality.
We recommend that your Club considers adopting the YPQA. However, you may already use another program quality assessment due to a local partnership, grant requirement, or preference. To make sure that the tool you use will meet the Commitment to Program Quality Membership Requirement, make sure it aligns with this guidance.
BGCA also offers an introductory program quality assessment called the Club Programming Standards Assessment (CPSA). Learn how to use the CPSA in this video and access more resources on BGCA.net.
The information provided in this section will support the Youth Program Quality Assessment Tool (YPQA).
Note: this video makes reference to Weikart’s Scores Reporter for inputting completed assessments. BGCA no longer supports use of Scores Reporter, instead all Club organizations should use the BGCA Assessment Tools app located on myBGCA.net. Learn more below.
Youth Program Quality Assessment tool (YPQA)
YPQA is a research-validated tool designed to measure the quality of youth programs and identify staff training needs. Please download the assessment below and participate in the PQA Basics training course to learn more about using this assessment in your program.
PQA Basics Course
PQA Basics walks you through YPQA and helps you record clear objective notes based on your observations. You will also learn how to use your notes to “fit and score” the assessment tool. Any Club staff who will be using the YPQA to either observe or be observed should complete PQA Basics. We offer it in two modalities, a self-guided course online or as a live virtual instructor led training. We recommend that organization Quality Leads complete the live virtual version of PQA Basics, while the self-guided SLU version is appropriate for frontline staff.
Dates for the live virtual instructor led training are available in the Prepare tab of the CQI Toolkit. To access the self-guided online course please log into Spillett Leadership University (SLU). Go to the search bar in the top left hand corner of the home page and search: PQA Basics. From there you can register for the course and launch it to participate. If you are already logged into SLU please click the link below to be taken directly to the course:
PQA Basics CourseSelf vs. External Assessment
The Youth PQA has two methods of administration: Self Assessment and External Assessments. Both play an important role in collecting key program quality data. Use the Self vs. External Assessment document to deepen your understanding of the process.
PQA Planning for Self-Assessment
These following tips help you recruit your assessment team and develop a plan to conduct self-assessments.
Youth PQA Staff Training Materials
Staff should be trained on YPQA before starting the self-assessment. YPQA is designed to help Clubs work as a team to improve practices. Below you will find materials to support a one-hour training on YPQA Basics.
Staff Training on Youth Program Quality Assessment
Self Assessment Start Date
Consensus Meeting
When conducting self-assessments, it is essential to get a variety of staff involved in the process. After staff watch a variety of program activities and all data has been collected, the site leader guides the team in scoring a single, Club -wide PQA. This scoring process can last three hours or more and may be divided among several shorter meetings. During the scoring meetings, the team will pool and review all anecdotal records and go through the PQA item by item, selecting an anecdote, and agreeing on a score for each. The Consensus meeting Agenda and Power Point Deck will guide you through that process.
Consensus Meeting
BGCA Assessment Tools on myBGCA.net
If you use either the Weikart Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) or BGCA’s Club Programming Standards Assessment (CPSA), you can enter your completed assessments into the Assessment Tools app on myBGCA.net. This online database lets you enter, store and compare program quality data over time, which in turn helps you track your Club or Youth Center’s progress. Completed assessments will also include suggestions for training.
Your BGCA.net credentials get you access to myBGCA.net and to the Assessment Tools app. For assistance with myBGCA.net, contact Support@mybgca.net.
*For Club Directors Academy and Indiana Lilly Grant Awardees ONLY* Scores Reporter Information
CDA and Indiana Lilly Grant participants will continue to use Weikart’s Scores Reporter site until further notice. All other Club organizations should use the BGCA Assessment Tools portal.
CDA attendees: Contact Penney Ainsworth for instructions or email Quality@bgca.org.
Indiana Lilly Grant: Contact your organization’s Quality Lead for instructions.
BGCA Assessment Tools Tutorial Videos
Below are a series of videos to help you navigate the BGCA Assessment Tools app. For additional support, contact the Help Desk, found in the top right corner of each page within the app.
Your BGCA.net credentials get you access to myBGCA.net and to the Assessment Tools app. For assistance with myBGCA.net, contact Support@mybgca.net.
Attendance Participation
Attendance and participation data is any information that tells you who is coming to your Club and how often. Examples include, attendance logs or database tracking of attendance, program participation, and demographic information.
Gather Attendance & Participation Data
Youth Outcomes
Youth Outcomes data reflects information Clubs collect to measure the success of key program indicators, such as school attendance, literacy measures, learned skills etc. Examples of tools that measure Youth Outcomes are the NYOI: Academic Success, Good Character & Citizenship and Healthy Lifestyles measures, Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), academic information from schools, social-emotional learning measures, Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes- Youth Survey (SAYO-Y), Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes- Staff Survey (SAYO-S), program pre/post-tests, etc.
Club Experiences
Club experience data represents information that speaks to how participants, members, parents and other stakeholders experience your Club and the programs and activities within it. Examples are NYOI Club Experience data, Pulse Checks, program surveys, focus groups, parent surveys, Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes- Youth Survey (SAYO-Y), etc.
Pulse Check Guide
This guide explains how to collect real-time feedback about your Club Experience. It shows you how to conduct quick, easy and inexpensive pulse checks. Do these in between annual administrations of the NYOI surveys. Download the full Pulse Checks Guide below, and visit BGCA.net for more information on Polls, Listening Sessions and Learning Checks.
We suggest using listening sessions and parent surveys for pulse checks. Listening sessions provide a safe environment for members to express excitement, concerns and make recommendations. Parent surveys give you information about parents’ needs and interests, along with their feelings about their child’s Club Experience. BGCA now offers a Parent and Caregiver Survey, learn more on BGCA.net.
CQI Training Series
Need more information on the YPQA? Not sure what to do with your Scores Reporter account? Could you use some thought partnership in deciding what data to collect during your Assess phase?
Check out our CQI Training Series!
Our training series is designed to help Clubs move through CQI from launch to celebration, based on best-practice timelines for quality improvement. Click the CQI Training Series page to view training descriptions and upcoming opportunities.