Recruitment, Retention, and Partnership Challenges in Rigorous Out-of-School-Time Evaluation Designs

• In Event: The Unique Challenges of Conducting Evaluations of Out-of-School-Time Programs: Lessons Learned From the Field

Abstract

This presentation will describe challenges partnering with OST organizations in rigorous evaluations, including recruiting and retaining programs. It will offer practical advice in establishing partnerships and describe strategies such as clarifying responsibilities, agreeing on evaluation goals (and dealing with conflicting goals), creating communication routines, and providing opportunities for feedback. Then the author will outline recruitment and retention challenges common to OST settings, including difficulties in reaching program staff, issues related to inconsistent program funding, participant concerns about randomization, attrition in control and treatment groups, and crossover/contamination among sites that are part of the same community-based organization. Finally she will present suggestions for addressing recruitment and retention challenges in rigorous OST evaluations, and ideas for making the evaluation work for OST providers and evaluators. She will describe how these issues are being addressed in the context of an experimental evaluation of an afterschool program to build math identity in elementary-grade students.

Author

• Andrea D. Beesley, IMPAQ International