Out-of-school time (OST) programs offer a unique opportunity to provide educational supports to high-risk children and youths. The authors describe the utility of applying principles of risk and resilience to the development and evaluation of an OST program. Academic outcomes among participants at the Bridge Project, an OST program located in…

Ninety-three clients were interviewed for their reactions to a community mental health outreach program. The results indicate that for the majority this typical program met their perceived needs. (Author)

Presents, in light-hearted way, a few rules of evaluation practice wisdom that, if followed, would result in more rigorous and useful evaluations of human services programs. Although none of the ideas is totally original, it is suggested that as a group they provide handy checklist for practitioners who are developing or assessing evaluation…

A brief analysis of the War on Poverty, Medicare, and the Family Assistance Plan shows that political factors influenced their design and their fate more than need or effectiveness. The author suggests that social workers have a role in promoting the wiser and wider use of research data for determining social policy. (Author)

Accountability is an issue of high visibility, high priority, and great controversy in the social work profession today. The authors try to show what accountability is about, where the profession falls short, and what might be done. (Authors)

Evaluating program outcome provides the verification that planners and policy-makers need to decide a program's future. Evaluating program process leads to the discovery of facts that explain outcomes, make goals specific, and improve delivery of services. (Author)

Multiple funding creates special management problems for the administrator of a human service agency. This article presents a useful analytic technique adapted from business practice that can help the administrator draw up and balance a unified budget. Such a budget also affords reliable overview of the agency's financial status. (Author)

This article discusses the issue of whether the high dropout rate at community mental health centers is a serious problem. The authors suggest that it might actually reflect staff rather than client dissatisfaction with the services offered. Presented at the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Montreal, August, 1974. (Author/BW)

Describes an evaluation of an innovative site-based service program, the Growth and Achievement Program (GAP). Results show that GAP clients had significantly higher gain scores than did the comparison group and were less likely to rely on public financial assistance as their primary source of income. (RJM)

Discusses components of a consumer feedback system and methods for the systematic collection of information. The system used by the "Teaching-Family Model" approach to residential treatment illustrates the successful implementation of feedback. (Author)

The purpose of this article is to describe one agency's effort to obtain feedback by devision a low-cost follow-up mail survey. The article also attempts to determine how the results of this survey could be translated into more effective treatment than is currently being provided. (Author)

Examines how welfare workers in one county view separation of services in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program in a public welfare agency. Analyzes how workers perceive the quality of their interactions with clients and the clients' satisfaction with services. (Author)

Discusses the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 which provides for subsidized adoption. Examines subsidized adoption from the perspectives of social policy and practice and draws on empirical findings to identify issues that need to be addressed. (Author)

Reports findings of qualitative, exploratory study that examined outcomes for 20 women who had successfully completed the Family Rehabilitation Program in New York City and identifies client characteristics associated with successful drug rehabilitation and practice interventions that support retention in drug treatment. (Author/FC)