A QUALITATIVE EVALUATION OF SCHOOL-BASED FAMILY RESOURCE AND YOUTH SERVICE CENTERS

As part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act, school-based Family Reso urce/Youth Service Centers were commissioned to address those poverty- related issues that attenuate children and youths' coming to school pr epared to learn. The centers had flexible mandates and were to adapt t heir service profiles to local urban, suburban and rural communities. A variety of grounded, inductive qualitative strategies were employed ill an implementation evaluation that yielded profiles or domains of p rogram elements, and descriptions of implementation strategies and imp act on participants. These program descriptors were considered accurat e by program personnel, formed the basis for training new program coor dinators, and have served as reliable predictors of educational outcom es for program participants, thus affirming the utility of the qualita tive evaluation approaches.