Evaluating Youth Success

During the month of February, YouthWorks Employment Coordinators are busy meeting with interns and their worksite mentors to review youth progress.  At this mid-point in our school year program, we take the opportunity to evaluate each intern’s development over the course of the internship and to make plans for the remainder of the program.

Earlier in the month, Employment Coordinators met with each youth individually to discuss her / his progress.  This one-on-one meeting enabled staff to identify each youth’s concerns, needs and goals for the rest of the internship.  Then staff meet with each youth and her / his worksite mentor to review progress since the baseline assessment and to establish plans and goals together.

At the mid-session evaluation, interns and worksite mentors discuss each youth’s mastery of key tasks and office technologies.  They also discuss intern growth along the six key work readiness competencies that are the focus of YouthWorks internships.  These competencies are:

  • Workplace Communication (ability to successfully communicate with coworkers)
  • Collaboration (ability to work effectively with team members on projects)
  • Adaptability (ability to adapt to the changing needs of the work environment)
  • Productivity (ability to finish assigned work duties successfully within an appropriate time frame)
  • Responsibility and Effort (ability to be punctual and put in effort at work)
  • Initiative (readiness and ability to take on new tasks).

“This mid-session process is great because it gives everyone the opportunity to come together to recognize each intern’s growth.  It also gives the mentor, youth and myself an opportunity to talk about the intern’s long-term goals.  In many cases, we are able to establish plans for the rest of the year that can help the intern to explore these goals,” says Employment Coordinator Jerome Anderson.