Publications from 2020-2029

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March 1, 2022
Charles Smith

The Adult Rating of Youth (ARY) asks staff to rate children’s and youths’ optimal socioemotional behavioral skills based on behaviors displayed during program activities, as observed during several program offering sessions. ARY scores are good indicators of how children and youth are likely to perform in settings where they are well supported. Staff should observe each child or youth for at least four hours of program activities before using the ARY. The ARY can be used as a pre-test for program planning purposes and, also, as a post-test for assessing socio-emotional skill growth.

July 12, 2020
Charles Smith, Ph.D., Lucy Smith, Leanne Roy, and Stephen Peck, Ph.D.

This report describes the experiences and practices of Genesee Intermediate School District: Bridges to Success (GISD) Team Leads and direct staff serving children and families after substantially redesigning afterschool programming due to the COVID-19 crisis.

June 13, 2020
Stephen Peck, Ph.D. and Charles Smith, Ph.D.

This two-page information sheet explains youth profiles for SEL skills (low, moderate, and exemplary) as they relate to schemas, beliefs, and attention. Created as a supplement to QTurn’s impact report for the Newark Trust for Education Project (NTE) Parent Child Plus (PC+) program, this overview explains how various measurements are tied to key outcomes.

August 1, 2020
Charles Smith

A program quality assessment for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) and other community-based programs that transitioned virtual, socially distanced in-person, and blended service models. This manual includes: Tool Introduction, Protocol, Standards and Indicators, FAQ, Promising Practices, Method for Development, and Contributors.

April 1, 2020
Stephen C. Peck, Ph.D. and Charles Smith, Ph.D.

The Quality-Impact-Equity Design and Methods (QDM) Toolbox was used to: (a) reconfigure existing measures for Parenting Practice Quality and Child SEL Skill to maximize reliability and validity for measuring socio-emotional skills and learning (SEL); (b) produce holistic profiles of parent and child skill at each timepoint; and (c) apply pattern-centered analytics to estimate impact and equity effects of the PC+
program as implemented in Newark.

April 1, 2020
Stephen Peck, Ph.D. and Charles Smith, Ph.D.

This Executive Summary was developed to facilitate discussion and decision making. The detailed findings and method are available in the full report, Impact Evaluation for the Parent Child Plus Program, Newark Trust for Education (2020).

July 8, 2020
Charles Smith, Thoreson, Lucy Smith, Stephen Peck, and Sipes

The Management Practices Self-Assessment (MPSA) is a measurement instrument created to empower Michigan 21st CCLC Project Directors, who manage at least one program site. The MPSA provides Project Directors with the opportunity to check-in with themselves and their team by identifying practices and policies that are well-documented and working well, or that could be updated or improved, and areas where they need additional assistance to reach their full potential.

January 27, 2020
Charles Smith, Thoreson, Lucy Smith, Stephen Peck, and Sipes

The Management Practices Self-Assessment (MPSA) is a measurement instrument created to empower Michigan 21st CCLC Project Directors, who manage at least one program site. The MPSA provides Project Directors with the opportunity to check-in with themselves and their team by identifying practices and policies that are well-documented and working well, or that could be updated or improved, and areas where they need additional assistance to reach their full potential.

August 20, 2020
Charles Smith, Ph.D. and Stephen Peck, Ph.D.

A two-page overview explaining our parent practice measures featured in the client report for Newark Trust for Education.

August 1, 2021
Charles Smith

The concept of subjective-well-being (SWB) has traditionally been assessed using measures of happiness and satisfaction with life. Most of the measurement instruments developed to assess SWB use several items to assess each of several dimensions.

March 1, 2022
Charles Smith

QTurn’s Teacher Practices Instrument (TPI) is an observational rating measure designed to assess the quality of teacher (or staff) practices in school classrooms or out-of-school time (OST) programs, build a quality-focused organizational culture, develop improvement goals, identify staff training needs, and provide information about how specific aspects of instructional quality relate to specific aspects of children’s socioemotional skill growth. This measurement tool is applicable to all staff delivering school or OST instruction or other learning experiences and is focused on staff practices that are warm, responsive, scaffolded, and encouraging. Each of the 24 items on the TPI describes a staff practice used to promote the socio-emotional skill growth of children.

March 1, 2022
Charles Smith

The Youth Report of Socio-Emotional Skills (YRSS) asks children and youth about mental and behavioral aspects of their socio-emotional skills in general (i.e., beyond the out-of-school time program setting and into environments such as home and school). The YRSS can be used as a pre-test for program planning purposes and, also, as a post-test for assessing socio-emotional skill growth.