Expanding Impact in Afterschool Programs: Lessons from First Tee Youth Programming

Contributed photo.

Youth sports programs are one of many activities that young people participate in during out-of-school (OST) time. First Tee, a national OST youth development organization, introduces the game of golf to young people through a character and life skills curriculum during afterschool and summers. 

Youth-Nex researchers have been engaged in a collaborative co-design process with First Tee to understand the outcomes and impact of their model. Ashlee Sjogren, a research assistant professor at Youth-Nex, and her team have been conducting the pilot study on golf courses across the country last year. 

We checked in with Sjogren to learn more about the findings from the First Tee pilot, and how this project is an example of her work to expand the impact of OST programs. 

Q: What were some of the findings from this initial phase of work with First Tee, and how are you using them to plan for the next year?

A: In the pilot phase of this work, we visited 5 chapters to test measures and protocols. A key goal of our First Tee pilot testing was to ensure we were measuring the impact that youth and coaches are getting from this OST program. There seems be some initial promising findings of a “transfer of outcomes,” where youth report using the skills that they learn in First Tee outside of the program itself (e.g., in school, with peers). 

A variety of themes emerged from the pilot findings. For example, one of First Tee’s key commitments is goal setting, and youth in the pilot were able to articulate the ways that they’ve used these skills in their own golf play but also more broadly for school and college planning. Similarly, First Tee provides local and national opportunities, that youth report give them chances to practice their social skills in real-life networking opportunities. Some youth even noted that they were able to make connections from these opportunities that have been beneficial to their future endeavors. We plan to build on this and keep providing summaries and feedback to the First Tee chapters.

For next year, we made some updates to our measures and questions based on what we learned from the variability in responses. We also made quite a few changes in our processes by going digital, to make it easier on our participating First Tee chapter partners and families, since we are practically collecting data from youth on the golf course!

Q: Were there other ways you supported First Tee program impact this year?

A: Working with our national First Tee partners, I co-led an “impact class” at the First Tee national summit for any interested First Tee chapter. In this class, we covered a lot of aspects to consider relating to OST impact. 

One important point we focused on is who has access to the information that is being shared out. Traditionally, information is shared with board members and funders, but we wanted more First Tee program leaders to think about who has access to data, and who is helping them interpret that data. 

For First Tee, this could be their junior advisory boards of youth participants, or other community members, parents and families.  For youth, we may ask, do the findings resonate with their experience, and could they add additional context? For adults, this aspect of impact can support their connection to First Tee, not only for recruitment but awareness. 

Another aspect we focused on was thinking about natural measures of engagement that First Tee chapters may already be collecting, like retention from session to session. We also pushed them to think about youth social engagement and how participants are developing positive relationships. 

Q: You mentioned this class for First Tee chapters focused on impact. What are some of the additional aspects of impact that other OST programs should consider?

A: When I’m working with OST programs, a key piece I try to focus on is this idea of measuring impact more broadly. Often time when OST or community programs are measuring impact they jump right to student outcomes. But I encourage programs to start a little bit earlier to think about program quality. Because you can’t anticipate having meaningful impact on student outcomes, if an OST program isn’t delivering a quality program.

I encourage OST leaders to think about the measures of program quality and then move into thinking about participant engagement. Overall, I want to help broaden the scope or view of how OST programs are thinking about impact first before moving into making connections with short- and long-term outcomes, like academics.

Q: What other key take-aways on OST program impact can you share? 

A: In general, whenever I’m working with OST programs, I try to help them guide the outcomes they are measuring based of the program’s logic model and what the program is designed to impact. Often programs report small impacts, but it isn’t necessarily that the program is not successful. Instead, the program may not be designed to hit on that impact, so we are measuring the wrong outcomes.

Overall, I think it is really helpful that all levels of stakeholders understand developmental science, from board members to those working directly with youth—to understand how impacts are connected to their interactions with young people, and how programs can support developmentally appropriate practices to promote youth voice and choice.