Use of Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) as a Method of Process Evaluation: Maximizing Limited Resources of Nonprofit Organizations

Past literature shows the progression of different phases of evaluation practice in nonprofit organizations. Pressure of outcome or impact evaluation started the beginning of the 21st century. The attempt to manage the weight of conducting outcome evaluation has raised many complications, inhibiting the nonprofit organization’s ability to learn and understand the proper role of evaluation and what it can provide to assist in improving programs. It, therefore, has led to a gap in which nonprofits miss what happens during implementation, a crucial part of process evaluation. Among nonprofit organizations in the areas of youth development and after-school programs, various types of models and frameworks have been proposed to understand how the program is doing. This study focused on whether the use of Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA), within the Youth Program Quality Improvement (YPQI) framework, could be used as a method of process evaluation. Qualitative data collection with three program supervisors took place at After School Matters (ASM). Based on the results, research showed some signs of process evaluation taking place as an integral part of program supervisor’s job responsibility