Youth Development

College Community Connections Program: Multiyear, Multisite Evaluation

In 2006, Metis was hired to conduct a multiyear, multisite evaluation of the Teagle Foundation’s College-Community Connections Program, which seeks to broaden the educational experiences and college aspirations of disadvantaged youth in New York City. The program provides funding to facilitate partnerships between community organizations and higher-education institutions, to provide participating high school students with college academic experiences, and to provide opportunities for college faculty and students to work with these youth.

Metis’s evaluation focused on the implementation of the partnerships, on pedagogical models, and on the foundation’s ability to replicate the program. Metis collaborated with the foundation on articulating evaluation questions of interest to the foundation and on the data sources and respondent groups that make up the evaluation design and work plan. Evaluation activities included surveys of participating high school students, college students, and staff; reviews of participating students’ work; focus groups; and site visits to the ten programs being evaluated.