Recipient Organization
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
1680 MADISON AVENUE
WOOSTER,OH 44691
Performing Department
Extension
Non Technical Summary
Pathways for Appalachian Youth Success (PAYS) is an afterschool mentoring program that will be provided by OSU Extension at elementary and middle schools in Adams and Vinton Counties, once weekly during the school year with family and summer engagement activities throughout summer. Youth will develop a Personal Success Portfolio demonstrating skill development and career pathway exploration. PAYS will focus on at-risk, rural youth living in poverty in grades 2-8 with the goal of providing the opportunity to create a positive relationship with a caring adult/ teen and improve their ability to thrive.The mentoring experience will be delivered by OSU staff with support from 4-H volunteers serving as adult and teen mentors. Delivery in a safe, inclusive environment with caring adults will fill the need of an adult mentor outside of the family structure. Curriculum is age and ability appropriate, allowing participants to experience accomplishment, inclusion, and hope while building technology skills and accessibility. Lack of transportation is a barrier many rural youths and their families face and will be offset through transportation vouchers and alternative bussing.PAYS will be evaluated utilizing a range of tools to provide a comprehensive view of targeted outcomes utilizing responses from mentees, mentors, parents, teachers and program staff. Youth participants will become members of the county 4-H program with the mentor serving as a project helper. The 4-H program will provide additional benefits and opportunities for rural youth success beyond the mentoring relationship they have developed with adult and teen mentors.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Goals for the PAYS (Pathways for Appalachian Youth Success) project include:Youth will experience positive relationships with adult role models that will support and promote educational pathways.Youth are paired with an adult or older teen mentor in a 1 to 3 ratio to complete 4-H project work and activities.Youth participate in weekly afterschool activities facilitated by caring adults/teens.Youth participate in quarterly in and out of school experiences off-site with their mentor.Provide youth and families who are living in poverty with limited access to extracurricular activities an opportunity to explore alternate education and career pathways.Provide gas vouchers or alternate transportation for families without the means to transport children other than school bussing.Recruit youth and families who are disconnected from their school and child's education with the assistance of school staff.Youth will develop Personal Success Portfolios that demonstrate their growth in skills and career exploration pathways.Hold parent engagement events twice annually to showcase youth achievements and interests.Encourage youth to become caring, capable, contributing citizens.Youth recognize the value of mentoring and indicate a desire to serve as mentors to younger youth.Youth demonstrate confidence in their decision making, problem solving, and goal setting skills as evidenced by their accomplishments documented in their success portfolio.Teachers report an increase in decision making, problems solving, and goal setting skills for youth are program participants by the end of the school year.
Project Methods
Mentees will meet weekly during the school year with their mentor during afterschool, participate in offsite events with their mentor, engage in summer activities (including camps, career experiences and facilitated summer engagement events) and develop a Personal Success Portfolio that will build skills and career exploration. These activities coupled with evaluation instruments for mentees, parents, mentors, and mentees' teachers will help us document the change in trajectory for youth as a result of the mentoring experience. Short-term indicators will measure confidence in decision making and problem solving with youth showing a growth in STEM skills and acquisition. Mentees will understand the importance of education, belonging at school and cooperating with others and how it directly relates to the workforce. Youth will demonstrate this growth at school (evidenced by teacher assessments) and reflect their journey through the Personal Success Portfolio completed in partnership with their mentor and parents. The ultimate indicator of mentoring success can be measured by the number of youths that were once mentees indicating a desire to serve as a mentor in future to another youth in the community.Desired Short-term resultsYouth experience positive developmental relationships with caring adults/ teens that multiply opportunities for thriving.Youth show an increase in resiliency skills.Youth identify a passion, aspiration, or skill they want to pursue after high school to create an alternative future to poverty.Youth demonstrate an increase in critical thinking skills and decision-making skills that lead to career success.Youth can describe the importance of adult/ teen mentors as positive role models in their lives.Desired Long-term resultsYouth develop plans for STEM related career opportunities.Youth recognize the value of mentoring and want to serve as a mentor to others in the future.Programming is sustained by community partners and school district administrations.Data Types to be utilized The program will be collecting quantitative and qualitative data from five primary sources - 1) participating youth, 2) parents and caregivers, 3) teachers, 4) mentors and program staff.Youth-level dataPre and Post program surveys: These will be collected via paper and entered by program staff into Qualtrics or directly into Qualtrics by students using mobile devices. Three instruments will be used:Youth Resilience Measure-Revised (CYRM-R): Common MeasuresSkills for Everyday Living - Youth: Common MeasuresPAYS Program Evaluation - Youth. This is an assessment of the program from the participant's perspective including questions about their confidence in learning, interest in STEM activities and understanding of potential career pathways.Personal Success Portfolio: This document is created by youth participants to demonstrate a growth in skills and their potential career exploration pathway.Focus groups: Program staff will facilitate mid-year discussions with youth participants on resiliency skills, STEM concepts and pathways to success.Demographic data (demographic instrument - age, gender, grade, ethnicity, race, parent involvement in military)Parent/Caregiver level dataPost PAYS Program Evaluation - Parent: To be collected at program sponsored family events via paper and entered by program staff into Qualtrics. This is an assessment of the impact of the program on the participants from the perspective of their parents or caregivers, including the development and understanding of the youth's Success Plan.Demographic data (age, gender, ethnicity, race, involvement in military)Teacher level dataPost PAYS Program Evaluation - Teacher: To be collected in Qualtrics via unique survey links distributed via email. This is an assessment of the impact of the program on the participants from the perspective of their primary classroom teacher.Mentor level dataPost PAYS Program Evaluation - Mentor: To be collected in Qualtrics via unique survey links distributed via email. This is an assessment of the impact of the program on the participants from the perspective of their mentor.Program level dataOutput data (number of schools, sessions, participants, family events, trips)Program Quality-Youth and Staff: Common Measures