Search Publications | The Evaluation Exchange | FINE Network | OST Database

The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.

A Profile of the Evaluation of 4-H Youth Development Program—national

Program Description

Overview	The 4-H Youth Development Program (4-H) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Cooperative Extension System's (CES) nationwide K–12th grade youth program. 4-H's mission is to empower youth to reach their full potential through working and learning in partnership with caring adults. The four H's stand for: Head (clearer thinking and decision making, knowledge useful throughout life), Heart (greater loyalty, strong personal values, positive self concept, concern for others), Hands (larger service, workforce preparedness, useful skills, science and technology literacy), and Health (better living, healthy lifestyles). Major categories of 4-H programs' educational content are: Citizenship and Civic Education, Communications and Expressive Arts, Consumer and Family Sciences, Environmental Education and Earth Sciences, Personal Development and Leadership, Plants and Animals, and Science and Technology. Programs provide opportunities, relationships, and support to help youth acquire the necessary life skills to meet the challenges of adolescence and adulthood. Programs are conducted in the United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Micronesia, and Northern Mariana Islands.
Start Date	1902
Scope	national

Type	after school, weekend, summer/vacation, comprehensive services
Location	urban, suburban, rural
Setting	community-based organization facilities, faith-based organization facilities, private facilities, private schools, public schools, and recreation centers
Participants	kindergarten through high school students
Number of Sites/Grantees	in 2003 in 3,051 counties there are 89,636 clubs, 102,594 special interest groups, 145,582 school enrichment units, and 5,899 school-aged child care programs
Number Served	7,090,920 youth nationwide in 2003
Components	4-H offers a variety of youth programs, including the following: Clubs – The most common types of clubs are community and project clubs. A community or neighborhood club is associated with a geographical area known to local people (e.g., a town, a suburban community, etc.) and continues from year to year. These clubs offer a wide variety of projects to participants. They often include a wide age range of youth and can have from six to over 100 members. In a project club, members meet regularly to learn about a special area of interest, such as gardening, dairy, horses, rocketry, pets, and babysitting. Project clubs may be in a neighborhood of a few families or a city block, or an entire county. Both types of 4-H after school clubs are conducted during out-of-school time in cooperation with community partners. Special Interest Groups – These groups are involved in intensive, short-term projects that are often related to the needs of the community. Such activities include seminars, classes, retreats, field trips, and day camps. School Enrichment – In some states, 4-H clubs are a part of the school's program. In many others, 4-H works with schools to provide 4-H educational materials and projects for teachers and volunteers to use in classes. These programs supplement the school curriculum, providing students with a learn-by-doing process in science and other subjects. Individual Study Programs – Youth in rural areas or other locations where it is difficult to meet with a 4-H club can enroll as individual members, and can obtain materials to work on projects with parents or other adults. Individual members also take part in special interest groups, events/activities, and community service projects with 4-H club members. Instructional TV Programs – 4-H television programs related to learning activities are offered in some states. They use videotapes accompanied by educational materials. School-Age Child Care (SACC) Programs – 4-H SACC programs may include one or more sessions and involve teaching or other activities led by 4-H staff, volunteers, or SACC staff in a school-age child care setting. Summer Camps – Many 4-H programs have overnight or day camp programs. Some states have 4-H camping facilities. Dates, times, locations, and costs vary.
Funding Level	approximately $581 million annually ($96 million from the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service [CSREES], $385 million from state and local governments, and $100 million from private sector contributions)
Funding Sources	CSREES; county, state, and federal public sources; private sector partners through their local and state 4-H foundations, and the National 4-H Council
Other	4-H began as a way to involve rural youth in practical, hands-on education in agriculture- and home-economics-related subjects relevant to their everyday lives when 70% of the U.S. population lived on farms. By 2002, 55% of 4-H participants were from communities larger than 10,000.

Evaluation

Overview	The purposes of the evaluation are to: examine the initiative's short-term and long-term effects on participating students, their parents, and participating agencies and institutions; examine the experience of participating nonprofit organizations and schools as they implement the initiative; and identify the project-level practices and policies most closely linked to probable long-term success and thus relevant to organizations and schools that want to initiate or improve school-based after school services. The The National 4-H Impact Assessment Project brought together the 4-H system nationwide to focus on why it exists and what participants gain. It brought to the forefront the necessity for impact data to be continually collected on both national and state levels. Led by University of Arizona staff and on behalf of state 4-H program leaders, the evaluation process began in 1997 with USDA funding. The goals were to: establish a baseline measure of 4-H outcomes and generate defensible data to share with local, state, and national level decision-makers; foster additional impact initiatives by collaborating with states on targeted projects; encourage every county and state to collect, analyze, and report 4-H impact data; and build an infrastructure to make impact assessment an ongoing, continuous part of 4-H. A number of states have used this study as a springboard for their own endeavors. Missouri, Kansas, and Arizona replicated the study. Montana and Idaho conducted studies comparing 4-H participants to nonparticipants and found evidence that 4-H participation makes a significant difference. For example, Idaho reported that 4-H members are more likely to succeed in school, be leaders in their communities, and less likely to be involved in negative behavior. Other western states are considering replication of the Montana and Idaho studies.
Evaluator	The National 4-H Impact Assessment Project
Evaluations Profiled	National 4-H Impact Assessment Project: Prepared & Engaged Youth Serving American Communities
Evaluations Planned	State level evaluations are being carried out using the national survey instruments.
Report Availability	University of Arizona Institute for Children, Youth, and Families. (2003). National 4-H Impact Assessment Project: Prepared & engaged youth serving American communities. Tucson, AZ: Author. Available at www.national4-hheadquarters.gov/impact.htm.

Contacts

Evaluation	Dr. William L. Peterson Project Director, National 4-H Impact Assessment Project The University of Arizona 301 Forbes Hall Tucson, AZ 85721 Tel: 520-621-7205 Email: bpeters@ag.arizona.edu
Program	Mary McPhail Gray Deputy Administrator Families 4-H and Nutrition Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service U.S. Department of Agriculture 4329 Waterfront Center Waterfront Center Room 4330 800 9th St., SW Washington, DC 20024 Tel: 202-720-2908 Fax: 202-690-2469 Email: mgray@csrees.usda.gov National 4-H Council 7100 Connecticut Avenue Chevy Chase, MD 20815 Tel: 301-961-2820 Email: info@fourhcouncil.edu
Profile Updated	May 10, 2004

Evaluation: National 4-H Impact Assessment Project: Prepared & Engaged Youth Serving American Communities

Evaluation Description

Evaluation Purpose	To help answer the question: What positive youth outcomes result from the presence of critical elements in a 4-H experience?
Evaluation Design	Non-Experimental: The evaluation focused on fourth through twelfth graders who participated in selected 4-H delivery modes (after school programs, clubs, school enrichment units, and special interest groups). For after school programs, states with the highest enrollment from each region were asked to collect surveys. For clubs, special interest groups, and school enrichment units, three states were randomly selected from each of the four geographic regions of the country (Western, Eastern, Southern, and Central). State program leaders then randomly selected counties to participate, and in turn county program leaders randomly selected groups/programs to participate. The numbers of surveys to be completed by each county and state were determined proportionately (i.e., states with greater enrollment numbers were asked to collect more surveys). Counties received evaluation packets that included the survey instruments and instructions on how to make the process interactive and fun. A total of 2,467 youth and 471 adult surveys were collected, which was well below the initial goal of 8,000 youth and 800 adult surveys. Despite this, evaluators felt the sample was sufficient to perform statistical analyses and to draw conclusions about the program. Difficulties encountered with data collection included: obtaining parental consent, access to students in school enrichment programs, lack of identity with 4-H—particularly with “one-shot” or school enrichment programs (e.g., when adults and youth didn't consider themselves to be in 4-H and therefore were reluctant to complete surveys); lack of accurate enrollment data; confusion for some sites regarding ES-237 reporting categories (ES-237 is the annual statistical report providing 4-H participant demographics which is required by federal regulations to be completed by each county, complied into a state report, and submitted to the National 4-H Office); and the time and energy needed for local agents to complete evaluation tasks. The deadline for states to turn in surveys was extended to obtain numbers of completed surveys closer to the target. Of programs completing youth surveys, about 37% were clubs, 25% were special interest groups, 22% were school enrichment units, and 17% were after school childcare programs. However, evaluators found that the majority of youth participated in a variety of 4-H activities and were not limited to the delivery mode where they completed surveys. The youth who responded to the survey were on average 11–12 years old and in the sixth grade. The majority of the youth surveyed had friends who were mostly the same ethnic background (58%), although many had ethnically mixed groups of friends (35%). Most of the youth surveyed lived with two parents (73%), although one quarter reported other living arrangements, such as living with one parent and one stepparent, with only their mother, or with their grandparents. On average, the surveyed youth had been in some kind of 4-H program for about one to two years, with responses ranging from less than six months to over six years. Adults surveyed were those involved in 4-H, which included county agents, local extension staff members, volunteers, adults who visit classrooms doing 4-H school programs, and volunteer parents who led 4-H club meetings. Of the 471 adults who completed surveys, 84% were parents of a child who participated in 4-H. Almost 56% were adult volunteers with 4-H and 13% were staff members with 4-H responsibilities. Almost half (46%) were involved as children in 4-H. Most adult respondents had two or more children in school in grades K–12. Youth and adult survey respondents were mostly female (59% of youth and 78% of adults) and white (78% of youth and 87% of adults). More than half of the youth and adults surveyed reported living in rural areas (56.9% of youth and 54% of adults), although 11% of youth and 10% of adults reported living in metropolitan cities with over 50,000 people, and 15% of youth and 8% of adults reported living in cities with between 10,000 and 50,000 people. Different conditions of the program were compared, including participant characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, years in 4-H, and residence) and program characteristics (region and delivery mode) for each section of the survey. Statistical comparisons of survey responses were provided for these conditions. For the comparisons of conditions, only the statistically significant variables related to these conditions are discussed in the findings.
Data Collection Methods	Surveys/Questionnaires: Youth and adults associated with 4-H were surveyed to gather data on their perceptions of program impacts. Surveys were divided into six components related to eight critical elements identified by the Critical Elements Work Group, who reviewed youth development literature to create a list of program characteristics most likely to engender positive youth outcomes when incorporated into youth programming. The survey components consisted of a series of statements, to which the respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement (from strongly agree to strongly disagree). These components included the following: (1) Adults in 4-H – whether youth found the adults that work with them in 4-H (i.e., staff and volunteers) to be helpful, supportive, and caring; (2) Feelings About 4-H – whether youth felt emotionally and physically safe in 4-H; (3) Learning in 4-H – what youth thought they had learned in 4-H; (4) Helping Others – how youth thought that 4-H gave them opportunities to help others; (5) Planning and Decision Making in 4-H – youth's perceptions of opportunities for decision making roles in 4-H; and (6) Belonging in 4-H – whether youth felt that 4-H provided an inclusive environment.
Data Collection Timeframe	Surveys were administered in 1999–2000.

Findings:
Formative/Process Findings

Activity Implementation	The majority of youth (88%) and adults (97%) surveyed agreed that youth in 4-H often try new or different things. Eighty-four percent of youth and 98% of adults surveyed agreed that youth in 4-H explore their own interests. The majority of adults (98%) surveyed agreed that youth in 4-H often teach others. Seventy-seven percent of youth surveyed agreed that they often help others learn in 4-H.
Program Context/Infrastructure	Of those surveyed, 88% of youth and 99% of adults agreed with the statement that 4-H rewards youth for being successful. In terms of feelings that 4-H created an inclusive, safe environment, 94% of youth and 98% of adults surveyed agreed that it was safe for youth to try new things; 77% of youth and 90% of adults agreed that youth can try new things without worrying about making mistakes; 84% of youth and 92% of adults disagreed that youth often feel embarrassed or put-down; and 93% of youth and 99% of adults agreed that youth feel safe when they do 4-H activities. The majority of youth and adults surveyed felt that youth's peer relationships in 4-H were strong. Specifically, 88% of youth and 97% of adults agreed that youth can count on others in their 4-H group for help; 67% of youth and 72% of adults agreed that youth's best friends are in 4-H; 86% of youth and 87% of adults agreed that youth get to know everyone in 4-H; 85% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that 4-H youth care about each other; 84% of youth and 95% of adults agreed that both boys and girls in 4-H treat each other with respect; 87% of youth and 95% of adults agreed that youth can work out differences peacefully in 4-H; and 88% of youth and 96% of adults disagreed that people in 4-H are rude. The majority of those surveyed felt that 4-H fostered a sense of belonging for all kinds of youth, regardless of gender or other factors. In particular, 89% of youth and 97% of adults agreed that youth feel like they belong in 4-H; 97% each of youth and adults agreed that all kinds of youth are welcome in 4-H; 94% of youth and 99% of adults agreed that both girls and boys can be leaders in 4-H; and 92% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that boys and girls have equal chances to do everything in 4-H..
Satisfaction	The majority of youth (94%) and adults (99%) surveyed agreed that youth feel good during 4-H activities. In the open-ended survey responses, many youth noted that they enjoyed being engaged in fun activities, meeting new people and making friends, traveling, and participating in the 4-H fair. Younger youth participants were more positive about their 4-H experiences overall than older youth. Age differences were significant on all six components of the survey (p<.01 for each). The 13–14-year-old group had the lowest scores in many of these areas; this is also the adolescent age during which 4-H participation declines most precipitously. Overall, girls were more satisfied with their participation in 4-H than boys, as evidenced by their tendency to report higher ratings overall, and in every section of the survey (p<.01 for each section). Youth from the Eastern and Western regions tended to rate program components higher than did youth from other regions; these differences were significant in the areas of Adults in 4-H (p<.01), Feelings About 4-H (p<.01), Learning in 4-H (p<.05), Helping Others (p<.01), and Belonging in 4-H (p<.01). For Planning and Decision Making in 4-H, the Western region's youth ratings were significantly higher (p<.05) than the other regions'. In addition, adults' responses in two areas—Adults in 4-H and Feelings About 4-H-were significantly higher (p<.01) in the Southern and Eastern regions. These differences may be due to the fact that 4-H programs differ greatly, not only by delivery mode and program content, but also by policies, practices, and traditions of the various states. In general, the longer that survey respondents reported being in 4-H, the higher the ratings in the areas of Learning in 4-H (youth and adult responses), Helping Others (youth responses), Feelings About 4-H (adult responses), Learning in 4-H (adult responses), and Belonging in 4-H (adult responses). These differences were significant (p<.01 for youth responses and p<.05 for adult responses). Little difference in survey responses was attributable to participants' ethnicity, although Caucasian youth reported significantly higher ratings than other youth on Adults in 4-H (p<.01) and Helping Others (p<.05). These differences might be explained by the fact that participation in 4-H by minority groups is disproportionately concentrated in school enrichment, which frequently uses classroom teachers as presenters of 4-H curricula. Youth from more rural areas had slightly higher survey ratings for the Belonging in 4-H category than those from more populated areas. These differences were significant (p<.05). In general, survey ratings by both youth and adults in after school programs tended to be lower than for other modes of service delivery. Differences in ratings by program type were significant for Adults in 4-H (youth responses, p<.05, and adult responses, p<.01), Feelings About 4-H (adult responses, p<.01), Learning in 4-H (youth and adult responses, p<.05), Helping Others (youth responses, p<.01), Planning and Decision Making in 4-H (adult responses, p<.05), and Belonging in 4-H (youth responses, p<05).
Staffing/Training	When surveyed about adults' relationships with youth in 4-H, 86% each of youth and adults agreed that adults in 4-H always listen to what youth have to say; 84% of youth and 93% of adults agreed that youth felt comfortable going to adults in 4-H for advice; 82% of youth and 86% of adults disagreed that adults in 4-H expect too much of youth; 63% of youth and 85% of adults disagreed that adults in 4-H do not see problems from youth's point of view; 72% of youth and 80% of adults disagreed that adults in 4-H do not include youth in big decisions.

Summative/Outcome Findings

Academic	According to open-ended survey responses, the 4-H experience allowed some students to finish schoolwork and improve their grades.
Family	According to open-ended survey responses, the 4-H experience allowed some students to spend more quality time with their families.
Youth Development	Eighty-seven percent of youth and 99% of adults reported that adults in 4-H helped youth to feel that they could make a difference. Eighty-four percent of youth and 93% of adults reported that youth in 4-H learned how to find information about topics that interested them. The majority of those surveyed reported that 4-H taught youth to help others. Specifically, 90% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth to help other people; 87% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that 4-H showed youth ways to help people in their community; 89% of youth and 97% of adults agreed that 4-H showed youth that volunteering is important; 88% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth to be involved in their communities; and 89% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that youth in 4-H helped out in important ways. Ninety percent of youth and 97% of adults agreed that 4-H helped youth to accept differences in others. The majority of those surveyed agreed that 4-H helped youth develop decision-making and planning skills. Specifically, 87% of youth and 97% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth that they could make their own decisions; 84% of youth and 97% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth to do things on their own; 81% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that 4-H helped children set goals; 86% of youth and 95% of adults agreed that 4-H helped youth develop a plan to reach their goals; 90% of youth and 98% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth to be responsible for their actions; 85% of youth and 94% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth to think through all choices when making a decision; 83% of youth and 94% of adults agreed that 4-H taught youth that they could solve problems on their own; and 83% of youth and 99% of adults agreed that 4-H helped youth become leaders. Of the 1,505 youth who responded to the open-ended question, “How has 4-H changed your life?” 92% made positive remarks. The comments focused on several outcomes of the 4-H experience, including: knowledge and skills, self/well-being, friends, self-responsibility, relationships, engagement, community service, and leadership. In their response to the open-ended question, “How has 4-H changed your life?” many youth described specific knowledge and skills related to their projects such as raising and caring for animals, cooking, sewing, babysitting, arts and crafts, and agriculture and plants. Broader life skills such as decision making and problem solving were also mentioned, although less frequently. Survey responses to the question, “How has 4-H changed your life?” indicated that many youth felt changed in fundamental, personal ways, claiming they were nicer or better people, less shy, more confident, etc. Many surveyed youth credited 4-H for improved relationships with friends, family, and others. They mentioned learning such things as getting along and working with others, and used words like respect, patience, and teamwork. Several youth mentioned specifically that 4-H exposes them to people from diverse backgrounds. Of the 8% of surveyed youth who did not write a positive statement about 4-H's impact on their lives, about 3% were considered neutral in that they did not clearly indicate a value (e.g., “Have to get up early to feed animals” or “I'm not in 4-H”). The remaining 5% made clearly negative statements, a few of which contained suggestions for improvement (e.g., “Please change management”), while others hinted at deeper problems (e.g., “I have learned that 4-H is as unfair as school and other club activities”). Some negative statements also included some seemingly positive notions (e.g., “4-H hasn't really changed my life, expect [sic] to help me learn more about myself from the true colors program”).

A Profile of the Evaluation of 4-H Youth Development Program—national

Profile Information