The Children’s Aid Society Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program has enjoyed over ten years of success and counting. While we never equate our program as a quick-fix to the issue of adolescent pregnancy, we do like to measure our success. In addition to the following article, the most up-to-date articles can be viewed on the Children’s Aid Society web site.

COALITION FOR EVIDENCE-BASED POLICY
A Nonprofit, Nonpartisan Organization

Two New Social Program Models Identified As Meeting "Top Tier" Evidence of Effectiveness
Latest Results of Coalition Initiative That Congress Is Reviewing

Background - the Top Tier Evidence initiative

Purpose:  Several recent Congressional actions seek to focus funds in certain federal social programs on models and strategies meeting "Top Tier" evidence of effectiveness - i.e., "that have been shown, in well-designed randomized controlled trials, to produce sizeable, sustained effects on important ... outcomes" [e.g., Public Laws 110-161 and 111-8].  To assist federal agencies, grantees, and others in implementing these provisions effectively, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Coalition has launched an initiative to identify models and strategies ("interventions") meeting this evidence standard.  Congress has expressed interest in this initiative, and has officially asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to monitor and assess the effort, and report on its validity.  If GAO's review is favorable, the project is well-positioned to become a uniquely authoritative - and potentially pivotal - resource for Congressional, federal agency, and state and local policymakers.  Here is a link to a 3-page Project Overview (plus appendices), discussing the initiative's purpose, history, review process, and other aspects.

Project status:  In 2008, the Coalition convened an Expert Panel for this initiative and launched the initiative's first phase, focused on interventions for children age 0-6.  In that phase, the initiative reviewed all 46 interventions for children 0-6 that were (i) nominated as a Top Tier candidate and/or (ii) listed in the strongest evidence category on one of the major websites of evidence-based programs.  The initiative identified two as meeting the Top Tier:  Nurse-Family Partnership and Success for All for grades K-2.  The current phase is focused on interventions for children and youth ages 7-18, and its initial results are reported below.  This phase is ongoing, and we expect it to identify additional Top Tier interventions in the future.  Future phases of the initiative will address other policy areas.

New results:  The initiative's Expert Panel has identified the following two interventions for children and youth ages 7-18 as meeting the Top Tier evidence standard:  

  Carrera Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program  (A comprehensive, year-round youth development program for economically disadvantaged teens).  See Carrera evidence summary here.

The Panel also added a new item to its Examples of Reasoning Used in the Panel's Top Tier Decisions (linked here, see example #4).

The Coalition is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, and has no affiliation with any programs or program models.  Funding for this project is provided by the MacArthur Foundation and the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation. An electronic copy of this email is posted here.

The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest non-sectarian agencies, serving more than 150,000 of New York’s neediest children and their families with a network of services that includes community schools, neighborhood centers, camps, adoption and foster care services, teen pregnancy prevention, education, health and recreation.