Additional Reading and Resources for Evaluating Your Mentoring Program

1. Additional Reading and Resources for Evaluating Your Mentoring Program
CYFERnet Website (Children, Youth and Families at Risk Program) — This website provides access to a
wealth of downloadable templates, tools, and articles on the topic of program evaluation. This is an
excellent resource for learning about evaluating youth‐serving programs in general and for finding
specific evaluation plans and instruments.
Available online at: http://www.cyfernet.org/index.php?c=6
Evaluating Mentoring Programs (Public/Private Ventures, 2009) — Written by Dr. jean Grossman, one
of the nation’s most prominent mentoring researchers, this brief outlines many of the common
opportunities and challenges in evaluating mentoring programs. It includes an excellent discussion on
aligning indicators with program goals and logic models, as well as an in‐depth explanation of many of
the common data analysis errors that can negatively impact a program’s measured results.
Available online at: http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/303_publication.pdf
The Evaluation Exchange (Harvard Family Research Project) — This periodical features well‐written and
interesting articles about program evaluation, with an emphasis on evaluating out‐of‐school‐time and
educational programs. The full archives of each issue are available for free download.
Available online at: http://www.hfrp.org/evaluation/the‐evaluation‐exchange
Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness (Dr. Michael Karcher, UT‐San Antonio, updated
2006) — Adolescents’ level of “connectedness” to family, school, friends, and self has been found to
contribute to academic performance but also predict violence and substance use. Fortunately,
connectedness appears malleable to school‐based interventions, such as mentoring. This site is intended
to serve researchers and educators by making the Hemingway scales, examples of real‐world
applications, and the underlying research available for download.
Available online at: http://adolescentconnectedness.com/
Measurement Tools for Evaluating Out‐of‐School Time Programs: An Evaluation Resource (Harvard
Family Research Project, updated 2008) — This resource provides a listing of many evaluation tools used
in previous research projects of out‐of‐school‐time programs. This is a good resource for mentoring
programs hoping to find innovative instruments that have been tested in the field already.
Available online at: http://www.hfrp.org/content/download/1090/48595/file/OST‐Snapshot6Updated.pdf
Measuring the Quality of Mentor Youth Relationships: A Tool for Mentoring Programs (National
Mentoring Center, revised 2007) — This resource provides programs with a simple youth survey that
measures the closeness of their relationship with their mentor. This can be an excellent tool for showing
that your program is making valuable mentoring connections, and can also be administered at various
points to see which mentoring pairs may need extra support or training.
Available online at: http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/212

2. Outcome‐Based Evaluation: A Training Toolkit for Programs of Faith (FASTEN, no date provided) —
This toolkit was developed for youth‐serving faith‐based organizations, but will be useful to any
mentoring program that wants to learn more about evaluation. It guides program directors through a
logical process of identifying program goals, establishing measurement indicators, and collecting data to
determine how successful the program was in achieving its targets. The toolkit focuses on a hypothetical
example that can be adapted to assess real‐life programs.
Available online at: http://www.urbanministry.org/files/outcome‐based%20evaluation.pdf
The Program Manager's Guide to Evaluation (Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, no date
provided) — This online guide provides an excellent overview of the evaluation process and how to plan
for an evaluation that meets both program and stakeholder needs.
Available online at:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/other_resrch/pm_guide_eval/reports/pmguide/pmguide_toc.html
Redefining Your Success: The Role of Adolescent Connectedness in Demonstrating Mentoring Impact
(National Mentoring Center, 2009) — This Fact Sheet explores the concept of “connectedness” and
shows how it is a critical intermediary outcome for a youth mentoring program. Any program hoping to
strengthen the relationships between mentees and their family, peers, schools, and communities can
benefit from a deeper understanding of connectedness theory—and how to measure changes in this
trait over time.
Available online at: http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/292
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide (Kellogg Foundation updated 2004) — This
guidebook can help any nonprofit determine how program activities lead to desired outcomes,
articulating these relationships in the form of a logic model. This is a critical step in any planning or
evaluation efforts for a youth‐serving program.
Available online at: http://www.wkkf.org/knowledge‐center/resources/2010/Logic‐Model‐
Development‐Guide.aspx
W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook (Kellogg Foundation updated 2004) — This excellent
resource covers the spectrum of evaluation: determining which outcomes to measure, setting an
evaluation budget, locating and hiring a professional evaluator, interpreting and reporting results to
stakeholders, and everything in between. It is especially helpful in helping programs create a logic model
illustrating how their services lead to outcomes.
Available online at: http://www.wkkf.org/knowledge‐center/resources/2010/W‐K‐Kellogg‐Foundation‐
Evaluation‐Handbook.aspx
What’s Working: Tools for Evaluating Your Mentoring Program (Search Institute, 2001) This resource
offers tools for conducting and scoring mentor and mentee surveys, focus groups, and interviews. It also
offers advice on planning an evaluation and interpreting and acting on results to increase program
effectiveness.
Available online at: http://www.search‐institute.org/forms/free‐e‐product‐downloads