Girl Scouts of the USA

Question
Since 2004, GSUSA has asked the Improve Group to conduct comprehensive, cross-site evaluations of three consecutive programs: Girl Scouting in Detention Centers (GSDC), P.A.V.E. the Way (Project Anti-Violence Education) and Uniquely ME! Each of these programs has its individual focus while aligning to the overall GSUSA goals of strengthening girls’ ability to discover, connect and take action. GSDC, a United States Department of Justice-funded program, specifically provides programming to girls who reside in detention centers or other juvenile corrections settings. P.A.V.E. the Way (P.A.V.E.), also a United States Department of Justice-funded program, provides anti-violence programming for girls focused on at least one of the following topics: Crime prevention, bullying prevention and intervention, internet safety and gang prevention. The Uniquely ME! program was created in collaboration by Unilever and its Doveâ Self-Esteem Fund and GSUSA to foster positive self-esteem among girls. The evaluations for GSDC, P.A.V.E. and Uniquely ME! were conducted to assess the impact of these programs on girls’ knowledge, attitude and behavior, as well as to identify programmatic characteristics, fidelity of implementation and best practices.

Process
The evaluations of GSDC, P.A.V.E. and Uniquely ME! were conducted similarly using a Success Case Study method combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data for each program was collected through a program characteristic rubric, and girl and adult staff or volunteer post or post/retrospective-pretest surveys. Qualitative data was collected through open-ended survey questions as well as girl and staff interviews or focus groups, session observations and program material reviews during site visits to individual Girl Scout councils. For each evaluation project, the data collected during site visits were summarized and presented in holistic Success Case Studies, while data collected through girl and staff surveys were analyzed and presented in a formal report for GSUSA.

Outcome
To date, the evaluations of GSDC and P.A.V.E. 2006 are completed. The P.A.V.E. 2007 and Uniquely ME! evaluations are still in the data collection phase. The results of both GSDC and P.A.V.E. 2006 found that these programs positively impacted their girl participants in many areas such as self-awareness, self-worth, and expression; their ability to build an understanding of healthy relationships with peers and adults; and their ability to manage anger, solve problems and help others. The Success Case Studies identified a number of best practices by the most successful councils which were disseminated to program managers around the country for future program development. Findings collected from these evaluations have also been and will be presented at professional conferences such as the American Evaluation Association conference 2006 and 2007. Most importantly, the evaluations of these programs have begun to fill the gap in knowledge of how GSUSA girl-centered programming can improve the lives of girls in the United States and overseas.