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National Evaluation of Up2Us Coach: Program Year 2016-17
Year Published: 2018
A national evaluation of the Up2Us Coach program by the American Institutes for Research found that youth who participated in the sports-focused youth development program made significant improvement from the beginning of the year to the end of the year in fitness, nutritional habits, and high-impact attributes that contribute to healthy decision-making, including positive identity, situational awareness, discipline, social confidence, and overall well-being. Greatest gains were seen among young people who had the lowest baseline level scores.
Program Name: Up2Us Coach
Program Description:
Up2Us Sports delivers sports-based youth development programs to communities across the country, with the mission of “inspiring youth to achieve their potential by providing them coaches who are trained in positive youth development.” Up2Us Coach, one of the organization’s three program, places trained coaches in community-based organizations serving low-income, urban youth. The program aims to support physical and mental well-being, build social and emotional skills, and provide mentorship to youth.
Scope of the Evaluation: National
Program Type: Summer, Afterschool
Grade level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Program Demographics:
Regarding race and ethnicity, among youth participating in the Up2Us Coach evaluation, 58 percent identified as African American, 24 percent identified as Hispanic, and 7 percent identified as Caucasian. More than half of the program participants were male (55 percent).
Program Website: https://www.up2us.org/
Evaluator: Jarjoura, G. R. & Meckes, J., American Institutes for Research.
Evaluation Methods:
For this study, data was collected from multiple sources provided by Up2Us Sports, including the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) to measure change in fitness levels and pre- and post-test surveys to measure change in high-impact attributes (HIAs), such as self-awareness, positive identity, positive social connections, well-being, and discipline, and nutritional habits over the course of the program. Researchers also used a matched comparison group to examine differences between participants and their non-participating peers.
Evaluation Type: Quasi-experimental;Non-experimental
Summary of Outcomes:
The study found that youth who participated in the program made significant improvement from the beginning of the year to the end of the year in fitness, nutritional habits, and high-impact attributes that contribute to healthy decision-making, including, but not limited to, positive identity, situational awareness, discipline, social confidence, and overall well-being. In regards to fitness improvements, the average change in PACER scores from baseline to endline was statistically significant among youth who participated in the program, with the greatest improvement among those who initially ranked the lowest in fitness ability at baseline. Further, it was found that a significant percentage of youth in the Up2Us Coach program moved from below the Healthy Fitness Zone standards to meeting the standards, movement that was not seen with a comparison group of students. These differences in change between the Up2Us Coach group and the comparison group were statistically significant.
The study also examined the program’s impact on the development of high-impact attributes (HIAs) that contribute to healthy decision making. Overall, middle and high school youth participating in the program showed significant improvement on all eight scales—self-awareness, positive identity, situational awareness, future focus, discipline, social confidence, pro-social connections, and well-being. For elementary school participants, there was a statistically significant improvement from baseline to endline on all five HIAs measured— positive identity, discipline, social confidence, pro-social connections, and well-being. Improvement was greatest among those who initially ranked in the lowest quartile at baseline, with 78 percent of those students reporting improvement.
Finally, it was found that elementary, middle, and high school youth made significant improvements in nutritional habits.
Associated Evaluation:
Date Added: June 9, 2022
