Panel: Evaluations of Programs to Reduce Pregnancies Among at-Risk Adolescents
(Family and Child Policy)

Friday, November 7, 2014: 10:15 AM-11:45 AM
Nambe (Convention Center)

*Names in bold indicate Presenter

Panel Organizers:  Heather Koball, Urban Institute
Panel Chairs:  Lyscha Marcynyszyn, Committee for Children
Discussants:  Matthew Stagner, Mathematica Policy Research

This panel brings together evaluations of several programs that aim to improve the long-term outcomes of at-risk adolescents. The programs highlighted in this session have a specific focus on reducing pregnancy and improving sexual and reproductive health among at-risk adolescents. They include experimental evaluations and in depth qualitative studies of programs that range from after school programs, to school based curriculum, to intensive programs for highly vulnerable youth. The first presentation will describe the results of the program evaluations, completed at Mathematica Policy Research, that are part of the federally-funded Evaluation of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Approaches. This presentation will provide an overview of the latest evaluation results for a range of teen pregnancy programs, including school-based curriculum to intensive programs designed for highly vulnerable youth. This evaluation includes multiple large, cross-state, experimental evaluations of programs to reduce teen pregnancy. The second presentation describes the evaluation of an intensive and comprehensive program that has been implemented in Washington DC, the Latin American Youth Center’s (LAYC’s) Promotores Pathway Model. The Promotores program aims to provide at-risk, minority youth with intensive mentoring with an emphasis on reducing pregnancy. More broadly, the program focuses on improving the long term educational and employment outcomes for these teens. The experimental evaluation results show that adolescents in the treatment group have lower pregnancy rates than those in the control group. The third presentation describes a qualitative evaluation of the Teen ACTION program in New York City. The Teen ACTION program is an intensive and comprehensive after school program for at-risk teens living in high poverty areas of NYC. This program focuses on involving students in community-based activities and reflection for teens about the activities to improve their leadership skills and developmental trajectories. In addition, Teen ACTION partners with Planned Parenthood to offer in-depth education and discussion about sexual and reproductive health for teens in the program. The evaluation included focus groups and one-on-one in depth interviews with teen program participants and interviews with program staff. The evaluation includes findings about the elements of the sexual and reproductive health components that teens found most and least useful. The discussant for this session will be Dr. Matt Stagner, Vice President at Mathematica Policy Research. Dr. Stagner has been involved in evaluations of programs that aim to reduce teen pregnancy throughout his career. Earlier in his career he was a project officer at the Department of Health and Human Services overseeing the large, experimental evaluation of abstinence only programs. He currently directs a large scale evaluation of pregnancy prevention programs at Mathematica Dr. Lyscha Marcynyszyn, Research Scientist, for the Committee for Children will act as the chair. The Committee for Children is a non-profit organization that is committed to improving the social and academic outcomes of children through developing appropriate curriculum for schools. Dr. Marcynyszyn’s brings a background in human development and psychology to this work.
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