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Reports and Publications ::
2001 Report
How the Recommendations Were Developed
The recommendations presented in this report are the product of three initiatives on the part of the Partnership:
- A nine-month long series of work group meetings and many public meetings and focus groups;
- Two surveys given to 3400 Arlington public school students to gather data on
their experiences, attitudes, and behaviors;
- The adoption and promotion of the Assets Framework for positive youth development, as described above.
Forming Work Groups
In the summer of 2000, the Partnership formed three work groups consisting of Partnership members and other
interested community members to build on information already gathered by the Task Force on Youth. Citizen members of
the Partnership chaired the work groups. Each work group focused on one of the three goal areas identified by the Task Force:
- school readiness and success;
- activities and opportunities for youth;
- health and mental health services for children and their families.
From July 2000 until April 2001 a total of 80 people worked intensively in these groups. They researched best practices
and local efforts in these areas. Next, they developed specific objectives, or steps toward achieving each goal. After breaking each
broad goal into specific objectives, the work groups identified data indicators that would measure progress in meeting each objective.
Public Meetings and Focus Groups
In October and November 2000, three public meetings (two in English and one in Spanish) and eight focus groups were held
to test these objectives with the larger community and invite input on strategies to achieve them. Approximately 200 people attended
these meetings. Based on this input and continued research, each work group came up with a set of specific recommendations or strategies
for the Schools, County, and all community members to achieve the objectives.
In July and August of 2001, the Partnership hosted an additional 21 focus groups with a diverse cross-section of Arlington
parents (8 groups) and teens (13 groups) to get their input on the proposed recommendations. These meetings were very lively and
invaluable in getting a reality check on the proposed recommendations. As a result of the focus group input, substantial changes
were made to the recommendations package presented in this report.
Gathering Data: Surveys
In addition to gathering professional and citizen input, the Partnership believes that collecting actual data on the
status of Arlington children and their families is an important step in developing recommendations. In June 2001, 3400 middle and
high school students in the Arlington Public Schools were given one of two surveys: the Search Institutes Profiles of Student Life
(Assets) Survey and the Centers for Disease Controls Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
The Profiles of Student Life Survey is based on the Assets approach to positive youth development, as described above. The Profiles of Student
Life Survey measures the level of assets that Arlington's young people have, along with measures of certain high-risk patterns. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey provides factual information on the risk behaviors of Arlington youth-including safety habits,
substance abuse, violence, sexual activity, and other areas of risk.
Both surveys are widely used, validated instruments. The results of
these surveys were recently made available in a
report presented to the community on October
16, 2001 in the The World According to Our Kids forum.
The Partnership has conducted an initial review of the survey data to further refine and prioritize the recommendations that
have been developed to date. The Partnership will continue to study the survey data and use it to inform the upcoming years community
dialogue and recommendations.
Assets as the Foundation
Finally, the recommendations put forward by the Partnership are designed to build assets for Arlington youth, and to give
everyone in the community a role in doing so.
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