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Activity
If you are currently in a partnership with one or more youth-serving organizations
(including a school) and have goals related to learning, this chart can be used as
the basis for discussion among you and your collaborative partners about whether
and how your current efforts may strengthen learning outcomes for the youth you care
about.
Directions
1. Take the large categories and definitions in this chart and put each of them
in a five point scale. For example:
| Focused
on discrete needs |
|
Focused
on whole youth
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
| Targeted
for at risk youth |
|
Focused
on all youth
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
| Deficit-oriented |
|
Strengths-based/
Prosocial and Developmental
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
| Generic,
standardized programming |
|
Responsive
to specific youth and neighborhoods
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
Organization-centered/
Adult-Centered |
|
Youth-centered
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
| Expands
access to information |
|
Expands
funds of knowledge
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
2. Convene members of your collaborative group and, working individually, have them
circle the number that best describes your collaborative work along each of the six
dimensions.
3. As an entire group, discuss each partner's response and the rationale for each.
For example, if one of your partners gave your partnership a "4" on "youth-centered,"
what specifically does this partner believe you are doing that is "youth-centered"?
Is there consensus among your partners about this score? Consider charting responses
and rationales for each score where the entire group can review the results.
4. Once all partners have reported their scores and rationales, consider the following:
- Are there things your collaborative
currently does that should be built on and strengthened?
- Are there aspects of your work
that need more attention for it to resemble aspects of high impact programs?
- Overall, does this set of continua
capture what you think is important to youths' learning?
- Where are points of consensus
in your group? Where are points of divergence?
- What steps can you take as a
group to come to consensus on your approach relative to youths' learning?
If you do not have a collaboration
with another organization, consider using the exercise "Mapping Your Theory of Action," in the Summer, 1998 issue of
New Designs [V14-2]. This exercise asks you to identify your indicators of
success--in this case, you can select your indicators related to learning. Then,
per the instructions in the exercise, indicate which activities you provide day-to-day
that you believe will help you reach those indicators, why you think your current
activities are related to learning outcomes, and whether your rationale seems fair.
On this latter point, you can use selected items in the chart above on school-community
collaboration as one possible gauge for whether your assumptions are fair, and as
a basis for further discussion in your organization. For example:
- Do you provide a range of supports
beyond academic supports?
- Do you provide generic supports
related to learning or do you try to tailor your supports to the specific needs and
strengths of youth?
- If not, on what basis do you
claim that your approach enhances youths' opportunities to learn?
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