Building Quality Improvement Systems: Lessons from Three Emerging Efforts in the Youth-Serving Sector

Quality is fast becoming a policy priority in states and localities around the country. As a result, formal and informal networks of youth organizations are seeking and developing strategies to help them assess and improve performance. This report takes a close look at efforts underway in three networks and provides a preliminary framework for thinking about key questions when planning any kind of program quality improvement work in the youth-serving sector

Pay It Forward: Guidance for Mentoring Junior Scholars

Based on interviews with William T. Grant Scholars Program mentors and mentees in the social, behavioral, and health sciences, explores building mentoring relationships, mentoring across differences, supporting career development, and managing conflict

Building Citywide Systems for Quality: A Guide and Case Studies for Afterschool Leaders

This guide is intended to help cities strengthen and sustain quality afterschool programs by using an emerging practice known as a quality improvement system (QIS). The guide explains how to start building a QIS or how to further develop existing efforts and features case studies of six communities' QIS

Measuring Youth Program Quality: A Guide to Assessment Tools

Thanks to growing interest in the subject of youth program quality, many tools are now available to help organizations and systems assess and improve quality. Given the size and diversity of the youth-serving sector, it is unrealistic to expect that any one tool or process will fit all programs or circumstances. This report compares the purpose, history, structure, methodology, content and technical properties of nine different program observation tools

Moving it Forward: The Power of Mentoring, and How Universities Can Confront Institutional Barriers Facing Junior Researchers of Color

While there are numerous barriers to career advancement for scholars of color, the Foundation believes that many of these can be mitigated through strong mentoring relationships that address issues of difference. But the power of effective mentoring will only be realized when the institutions in which these relationships exist begin to change. The guide, which was developed in collaboration with the Forum for Youth Investment is derived from interviews with grantees and consultants who participated in the Foundation's mentoring program for junior researchers of color

Pay it Forward: Guidance for Mentoring Junior Scholars - Updated Edition, September 2017

Having a good mentor early in a scholarly career can mean the difference between success and failure. It is striking that such an important activity in the training of new scholars has had few established definitions of effective practice. Many who take on the responsibility of mentoring do so without a primer, drawing on informal resources and personal mentoring experiences. We hope this resource helps change that, by addressing many of the common questions and dilemmas mentors face and identifying specific strategies and resources that can help you develop your own mentoring skills.The guide addresses four themes: 1) building and maintaining mentoring relationships, 2) mentoring across difference, 3) supporting career development, and 4) managing conflict within mentoring relationships. While the experiences and reflections of individuals connected to the William T. Grant Foundation's Scholars Program are woven throughout the guide, the strategiesand resources included here are relevant for any mentor or advisor, particularly those working in academic settings with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows