NCJ Number
74173
Date Published
1977
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The management system used by the Institutional Services Division of the Michigan Office of Child and Youth Services and based on the continual evaluation of juvenile clients is described.
Abstract
The article is based on the principles that (1) evaluation is inseparable from the management process, (2) evaluation efforts must achieve and maintain continuity of procedure and instrument, (3) evaluations must focus on client objectives and outcomes, and (4) objectives and measurement must be renegotiated regularly. The institutional evaluation consists of three types of instruments: (1) pre-post measures (tests taken by juveniles at their intake and again prior to release), (2) process measures (evaluations of inmate behavior on a weekly basis), and (3) outcome measures (evaluations by community care workers at 3 to 12 months after the juvenile's release). All of the above measures are combined and summarized into regular 6 month reports. Feedback is then discussed and processed in individual management conferences at each treatment center. Out of these conferences come ideas for deleting, adding, or modifying goals or measurements to make them more useful to management. The conferences also generate action plans to solve emerging problems. In a final meeting of all the division managers each spring, the goals and measurement procedures for the year ahead are negotiated; they become the focus for the next go-around of evaluation activity. For example, when recent evaluation indicated that length of stay is unrelated to outcome success and that age of release is related to successful outcome, the program changed its objective and is currently trying to reduce the percentage of juveniles released after 11 months.