Using Evidence To Improve Youth Outcomes

Programs, Practices, & Policies

More and more, funding sources for youth programs, including federal funding and private foundations, require the use of “evidence-based” programs. What that means in actual practice varies greatly. The many different types of evidence-based programs, practices, and policies have a range of supporting evidence, depth of evidence, foci, and training and implementation requirements. For example, if just one study indicates that a specific program might be effective at promoting a select set of outcomes how can you determine if that program will impact the outcomes you intend it to impact with a different population or with a different setting? This site can help you make sense of the many factors and decision points involved in planning for, selecting, implementing & adapting, monitoring & evaluating, and sustaining an evidence-based program. Throughout this site, the term “evidence-based programs” is broadly construed to include similar terms, such as “evidence-based practices,” “evidence-based treatment,” “evidence-based strategies,” and other “evidence-based approaches.” We also want to acknowledge the continuum of evidence and not de-emphasize the value of practice-based evidence which starts with innovative and promising strategies already occurring in a given setting.