A case study of youth participatory evaluation in co-curricular service learning

Abstract

Abstract: This paper examines the practice of participatory evaluation through an exploratory single case study of the Evaluation Team of Books & Beyond, a cocurricular service-learning program of the Global Village Living-Learning Center at Indiana University. The paper, which is authored by three undergraduate members of the evaluation team and their faculty advisor, juxtaposes the process of conducting the evaluation and reporting the results with reflections from the Evaluation Team participants on conducting youth participatory action research, which offers a means of improving youth-serving programs and developing a greater understanding of why youth choose to participate in these programs. In their review of the implementation of their evaluation project, the team noted that the difficulties of getting past lessons learned to methodological rigor in service-learning evaluation are compounded by the realities of engaging in a student-faculty partnership in a co-curricular service-learning context.