Youth

Effects of Student and Family Background Characteristics on Post-Secondary Education Access, Persistence, and Completion and Labour Market Outcomes in British Columbia

This project examines how a range of student, family, neighbourhood, and schooling characteristics are related to 1) access to college and university, 2) completion of a postsecondary education (PSE) credential, and 3) labour market outcomes of students originally enrolled at the K-12 level in British Columbia (B.C.). The study will also provide a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the barriers to PSE young people may face, especially those belonging to under-served groups. The intent is to provide evidence on how PSE experiences differ and contribute to later employment and labour market outcomes in order to support policies that aim to improve access to higher education, the completion of a PSE credential, and subsequent labour market outcomes. SRDC is using data from the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) including: B.C. K-12 enrollment data; enrollment records from all publicly funded colleges and universities in Canada through the Postsecondary Student Information System; trades registration through the Registered Apprenticeship Information System; and student and parental tax records from the Canada Revenue Agency’s T1 Family File (T1FF). Linking these datasets together through the ELMLP generates a longitudinal data file that can identify the relationship between socioeconomic and K-12 schooling background and PSE schooling and labour market experiences and outcomes of young people who attend school at the K-12 level across B.C.

Start-end date: November 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Strategic evaluation and learning support for the Future Skills Centre

Over the past four years, the Future Skills Centre (FSC) has supported the development, refinement, or expansion of approaches to developing skills for workers from a variety of backgrounds and in a variety of sectors. These innovation projects are required to mobilize knowledge and evidence among key stakeholders, institutions, and decision-makers for the purposes of improving policies and practices in Canada. SRDC is developing a mix of retrospective and prospective evaluation approaches for a subset of up to 18 of these projects, dependent on the timelines and stage of development of each project. These involve quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis using document and data review, interviews with project partners and their FSC liaisons, implementation evaluation, and theory of change or logic model development. SRDC’s learning and evaluation framework is designed to capture what has been learned from these projects for the future development of the skills ecosystem in Canada.

Start-end date: October 2022 - September 2023
Sponsor: Future Skills Centre

Barriers to training and employment for youth with disabilities: Research synthesis

This project is producing a research synthesis of findings from SRDC’s past and current research projects concerning skills gaps, learning needs, and systemic barriers to employment faced by youth with disabilities. Funded by Skills and Employment Branch (SEB) at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), the project involves creating a database of relevant SRDC projects that involve primary data collection, secondary analysis, and literature reviews of academic literature that have been undertaken by SRDC researchers in the past decade. The analysis of this database will equip ESDC’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) with a better understanding of the existing evidence of the barriers faced by youth with disabilities in Canada.

Start-end date: July 2022 - October 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Evaluation of the Increasing Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information project

Centre for Sexuality (C4S), in partnership with community stakeholders in Alberta, is co-creating and launching updated Relationship and Sexual Education (RSE) curricula, aimed at increasing access to sexual and reproductive health information, resources, and care in Alberta. SRDC is supporting the evaluation of the Increasing Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Information project, which encompasses four distinct population-specific strategies supporting equity-deserving groups in Alberta: youth, 2SLGBTQ+, Indigenous youth and communities, and people with developmental disabilities. Building on and tailoring C4S’s RSE program, C4S will work with communities (and community advisory committees) to develop responsive program and training materials, implement these, and evaluate associated project processes and outcomes. SRDC will provide developmental evaluation support, supporting the co-design and implementation of evaluation tools across all four strategies, and for the project as a whole.

Start-end date: June 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Centre for Sexuality

Enhancing employment services through development and assessment of Skills for Success training

With the involvement of several project partners, SRDC is developing assessment and training resources to support both transferable and sector-based Skills for Success (SFS) programming; designing and implementing targeted and intensive SFS training to address individuals and employer needs; and customizing assessment and training resources for underrepresented groups. This is being done through a two‑model system ranging from “lighter touch” general training and capacity building to more intensive development, customization, and pilot testing of new training resources. More specifically, the project broadens and deepens existing capacity-building efforts in the skills and employment training sector by scaling up the use of our SFS-aligned online measurement platform; testing new SFS measurement options, including self-report and objective assessment methodologies; developing, delivering, and evaluating new SFS curricula, training resources, and assessment tools; and disseminating findings, best practices, and lessons learned to continue building sectoral knowledge and capacity.

Start-end date: June 2022 - March 2024
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

EMC Skills Evolution

EMC Skills Evolution is a national, industry-driven initiative that will provide new insights for scaling up sectoral micro-credentials, through the identification, validation, prioritization, and building of occupational competency frameworks for the manufacturing and other sectors, providing a sharable roadmap for developing and deploying workforce capability growth through a competency-based micro-credential approach. Specifically, this project seeks to define and apply an industry-driven, multi-sector methodology to micro-credential development and adoption, enabling manufacturers and employers in other sectors to more rapidly upskill and reskill their workforce, as well as to more quickly onboard newly recruited workers and facilitate broader recognition of relevant skills and workforce mobility.

Start-end date: June 2022 - August 2023
Sponsor: Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium

Hunter/Harvester/Guardian (HHG) toolkit implementation

Building on the co-development of a responsive evaluation framework of hunter/harvester/guardian programs, SRDC and project partners MakeWay, Shari Fox, and four hunter/harvester/guardian programs – two in Northwest Territories and two in Nunavut – will work to implement the framework and co-designed toolkit. Throughout the year, SRDC will support both the overarching group evaluation of the toolkit’s implementation process, and will also provide support to individual HHG programs’ evaluations. Individual program evaluation support will include support for responsive methods to estimate the economic return on investment in HHG programs from individual, program, community, and societal perspectives. Through regular in-person and virtual gatherings, the project aims to continue strengthening an HHG evaluation community of practice, and understand how to improve the responsiveness of evaluation tools and resources available to HHG programs in the North.

Start-end date: March 2022 - March 2023
Sponsor: MakeWay Foundation

Mentor Canada: Organizational evaluation and performance measurement

SRDC will support Mentor Canada to develop an organizational performance monitoring and evaluation framework. Building on Mentor Canada’s strategic plan for 2022-2025, and its objective to broaden and deepen access to quality mentoring in Canada for youth, particularly equity-deserving groups, SRDC will work with Mentor Canada to design a responsive set of tools to monitor progress against key performance indicators.

Start-end date: March 2022 - March 2023
Sponsor: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Youth Engagement Initiative

BGC Canada’s Youth Engagement Initiative is creating spaces and opportunities – both in-person and online – that support youth facing barriers to reach their potential, while ensuring that they are not further marginalized by the ongoing impact of the pandemic. The project, funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, has three components: it enhances and expands the Raise the Grade program (supported by RBC Future Launch) with academic supports, career discovery, mentoring, and other activities at 40+ BGC Clubs across Canada; it expands BGC Canada’s COVID-response pan-Canadian virtual programming, including support for young Canadians in accessing Club-based virtual programs and services; and it is developing and launching a Youth Hub, a multi-purpose platform for Club staff and youth that will enhance program access, quality, and youth member experience. As evaluation partner, SRDC will assess the successes and opportunities of the Youth Engagement Initiative to support access to services, skills development, and other supports, while developing insights into how the combined in-person and online programming plays a role in expanding and deepening youth engagement.

Start-end date: January 2022 - October 2023
Sponsor: BGC Canada (formerly Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada)

Skills for Success Implementation Guidance Development

The launch of Skills for Success in May 2021 leverages the core strength of the Essential Skills framework while tightening the alignment with modern labour market needs, with a greater focus on a range of socio-emotional skills. This project’s main objective is to produce a document outlining key principles and emerging practices to guide the implementation of Skills for Success, reflecting the Government of Canada’s commitment to create and update training programs, resources, and assessment materials, facilitate training participation of vulnerable groups, and build the capacity of stakeholders who serve these populations. Our approach will combine environmental scan and literature review with the involvement of an expert advisory panel representing training and sectoral organizations with nation-wide networks, to develop three broad kinds of content: i) identification of learning needs for underrepresented groups (e.g., Indigenous people, racialized Canadians, persons with disabilities) and key sectors; ii) guiding principles for the design of tailored training and assessment tools to align with identified learner and sectoral needs; and iii) implementation examples and approaches from early adopters of Skills for Success. These will be synthesized into a final report to facilitate tool customization and program implementation aligned with the unique learning needs of groups underrepresented in the labour market, as well as the job performance needs of major sectors of the Canadian economy.

Start-end date: December 2021 - September 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Plan My Path Plus: Piloting New Approaches to Increase Young Albertans' Access to PSE

The Alberta Government is developing a new tool called Plan My Path (PMP), a website designed to guide students in their postsecondary choices, with the goal to increase the proportion of the province’s high school students achieving success in accessing postsecondary education (PSE). The government will roll out PMP in 2023 as an ongoing service to high school students but wants to know how best to implement this tool to yield optimal outcomes for young people. SRDC is advising on the design of PMP, and testing potentially replicable additional features such as workshops on the tool and the coverage of PSE application fees, that could enhance take-up and use of the tool and hence its efficacy among Grade 12 students. The intent of this is that providing postsecondary education application assistance to youth in their Grade 12 year will improve their transition rates to PSE. The initial participants to receive this assistance will be youth attending high schools with low transition rates to PSE. SRDC will coordinate this PMP Plus demonstration project to pilot the additional features during 2023-24 to determine the impact these additional features have on the success of PMP, to guide the province on the optimal longer-term strategy for the delivery of the program.

Start-end date: December 2021 - March 2025
Sponsor: Alberta Advanced Education

Improving student success in Surrey School District (Phase 2)

SRDC is undertaking qualitative fieldwork, working with the school district’s own data and with Statistics Canada’s Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform to undertake a study focused on understanding student transitions and success within the Surrey School District education system. The aim is to develop key indicators in partnership with the district and answer questions with respect to student transitions through the K-12 system in Surrey, including the needs of those who leave education prematurely, to the extent the data allow.

Start-end date: July 2021 - June 2022
Sponsor: Surrey Schools

Safe, stable, long-term: Supporting LGBTQ2S+ youth along the housing continuum

LGBTQ2S+ youth face distinct barriers when it comes to securing long-term, stable housing, including discrimination and violence as well as a lack of tailored housing options and services. Yet, the literature on the subject is underdeveloped: data on LGBTQ2S+ housing and employment is limited, with the National Housing Strategy (2018) pointing to significant gaps in housing research on the needs of LGBTQ2S+ youth. This project aims to address these gaps, guided by the following research question: what are the barriers and facilitators of access to stable, safe, and long-term housing for LGBTQ2S+ youth? To address this question, we are bringing together a cross-sectoral team of experienced stakeholders in the field, including the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness (COH) and MENTOR Canada, to engage in a three-phased project of research. The first phase will include a literature review, environmental scan, and analysis of existing datasets to provide an overview of the existing housing environment for LGBTQ2S+ youth. Phase 2 focuses on qualitative data collection with LGBTQ2S+ youth with experiences of housing instability and housing service providers working with LGBTQ2S+ youth. Phase 3 runs parallel to phases 1 and 2, and involves the development of an advisory group to ensure that methodologies and findings are grounded in community contexts, and that results are shared back effectively and inclusively with communities on an ongoing basis.

Start-end date: June 2021 - September 2022
Sponsor: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Synthesizing the evidence for Integrated Youth Services

Integrated Youth Services (IYS) is a pan-Canadian movement to build youth-focused mental health, substance use, and related services that aim to provide the right care at the right time, by the right provider for young people aged 12-25 in Canada. The rapidly growing suite of IYS projects constitutes the largest and most ambitious movement currently underway to reform mental health services across the country. SRDC has been engaged by the Bell-Graham Boeckh Foundation Partnership to synthesize what is currently known about IYS in Canada regarding current reach, implementation processes, and impact. The resulting report, which will include an overview document, will establish a baseline of the current state of IYS development in Canada and identify gaps in the evidence. Collecting and documenting learnings and best practices will help to increase awareness of the evidence for IYS and support future efforts to improve the quality and scale of this model of care, thus enhancing impact.

Start-end date: April 2021 - November 2021
Sponsor: Graham Boeckh Foundation

Literature review on promising practices in online youth development programming

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many programs to shift to online delivery, including the Pathways to Education (Pathways) program run by Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre. This program provides academic, social, financial, and one-to-one supports to high-school students living in low-income neighbourhoods in Ottawa’s west end. While there are challenges and limitations to online delivery of such supports, there may also be advantages in terms of program accessibility. To inform future Pathways program planning, SRDC will conduct a targeted scoping review of academic and gray literature on promising practices using online tools for engaging and supporting low-income and racialized youth outside of school. In keeping with the mandate of the Pathways program, the focus will be not only on academic support and tutoring but also social emotional learning/skills development and positive youth development more broadly. The project goal is to provide an overview of promising practices in online youth programming, both as a summary of evidence as well as key principles to guide future programming.

Start-end date: April 2021 - June 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

The Two-Eyed Seeing Network

While Indigenous youth could provide a significant source of local labour to industry in BC, they are often disengaged, not well networked, and left out of conversations about the future of skills and training. Focusing on sectors with high future demand (clean technology; clean energy; natural resource extraction and processing; marine shipping; the built environment; and manufacturing), the Two-Eyed Seeing Network will work to bridge the gaps between the needs of industry and the potential Indigenous workforce of tomorrow. The network includes participation from Indigenous communities, Industry leaders, workforce and social development organizations, and education and training providers all working together to establish a viable pathway to future work for Indigenous youth that meets the needs of, and is relevant to, both Industry and Indigenous communities. Network partners will work to determine the critical elements to bridge gaps, remove barriers, and engage communities in workforce development, to enable successful labour force participation for Indigenous youth.

Start-end date: April 2021 - May 2023
Sponsor: Construction Foundation of BC

Connecting the Dots

This project aims to develop, implement, and evaluate an integrated, accessible, and adaptive training and support system, serving as an online one-stop shop of educational tools, materials, and community resources for apprentices in the construction trades. The goal is to empower apprentices to take a proactive role in addressing multiple levels of challenges during apprenticeship training. As part of the project, SRDC is designing and implementing a cohesive evaluation framework and data collection tools that not only track the progress of participating apprentices but also collect input and feedback from trades instructors, employers, unions, and other stakeholders to inform current and future products, tools, and services. The project contributes to facilitate the entry, retention, and advancement of underrepresented groups in the trades through an innovative, self-directed approach to online learning and interaction. It is designed to provide equal opportunity and access for groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the trades, such as women, newcomers, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, youth, and low-skilled and displaced workers. Findings, best practices, and lessons learned from this project will be shared to support larger-scale expansion of this technology-driven approach to skills development within and beyond the construction sector.

Start-end date: March 2021 - February 2026
Sponsor: SkillPlan

Youth Program Navigator Pilot

SRDC is conducting ethnographic studies on targeted youth facing barriers using a variety of qualitative research methods (observations, interviews, conversations) to learn how ESDC Youth Employment and Skills Strategy (YESS) funded programs may better connect to hardest-to-reach youth. While YESS is intended to help young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience, and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market, this project is concerned with optimal outreach to youth who face additional barriers to accessing services. Policy makers recognize the need to identify potential touchpoints in youths’ daily lives for YESS outreach. The project draws on SRDC’s prior experience working with vulnerable youth and knowledge of the youth ecosystem and understanding of vulnerable communities. Deliverables include reporting on results of the ethnographic study and a collaborative workshop to apply study results and develop program delivery recommendations.

Start-end date: February 2021 - June 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Evaluation of the Family Capacity Advocate program

The Family Capacity Advocate program delivered by the Britannia Woods Community House (BWCH) supports families who have a loved one from the ages of 12-25 that are involved in some capacity with the justice system and/or engaged in criminal activity. BWCH is a community-based agency that focuses on providing responsive supports for children, youth, and families who live in fixed and low-income communities, through an equitable and strength-based lens. The Family Capacity Advocate supports siblings, parents, and caregivers using a holistic, coordinated, and equitable approach. Services include counselling, mentorship, crisis intervention, and resource navigation support. SRDC is supporting BWCH in planning and conducting an implementation and outcome evaluation of this new program. SRDC is conducting qualitative key informant interviews, and developing data collection tools and an information management system. Evaluation-capacity building is an important focus of this work, as SRDC and BWCH work together to plan a sustainable approach to ongoing program evaluation efforts.

Start-end date: January 2021 - December 2021
Sponsor: Youturn Youth Support Services + Britannia Woods Community House

Embedding Evaluation into the SmartICE Technology Production and Employment Readiness Program at the Northern Production Centre

The Technology Production and Employment Readiness Program at the SmartICE Northern Production Centre (NPC) in Nain, Nunatsiavut, offers young Inuit (between the ages of 18-30 years old) a paid, six-week training and employment opportunity. Trainees learn to assemble and test the SmartBUOY, a stationary sea-ice thickness sensor intended for use across Labrador, Inuit Nunangat, and the circumpolar-arctic. In this project, SRDC is working closely with SmartICE to integrate evaluation into regular program activities at the NPC to minimize intrusiveness for staff and trainees and ensure sustainability over the long term. The goal is to consistently collect and track implementation and individual-level outcome data. SRDC will also work with SmartICE and its partners to identify and develop a plan to assess meso- or community-level outcomes of interest, including social, cultural, community, economic, and environmental outcomes. Community stakeholders will be engaged in this process to ensure that the selected outcomes are meaningful and that the evaluation approach is acceptable and appropriate for Nain.

Start-end date: January 2021 - September 2021
Sponsor: SmartICE + Social Enterprise Research

‘Hash It Out’: Community-based research on IRER youth cannabis and mental health

The purpose of this project is to explore the relationship between cannabis use and mental health and wellness from the perspectives of youth within immigrant, refugee, ethnocultural, and racialized (IRER) communities in Ottawa. SRDC is partnering with the Centre for Resilience and Social Development and Dr. Saida Abdi (University of Minnesota School of Social Work) to carry out this work. The project is based on a participatory, community-driven approach. A youth research coordinator is leading the research team, and IRER youth are engaged as co-researchers. The project is aligned with an experience-based co-design methodology, which includes conducting qualitative interviews and focus groups, and hosting community engagement events. Through this research, people with multiple perspectives – youth, family/supports, and service providers – are brought together to share their experiences and identify solutions for action and policy change.

Start-end date: January 2021 - March 2022
Sponsor: Centre for Resilience and Social Development

Indigenous Students' Access to Post-Secondary Education in B.C.

The project examines the descriptive characteristics of Indigenous students in high school in British Columbia and accessing post-secondary education (PSE) to better understand academic pathways and transitions from kindergarten through to PSE. The results are intended to contribute evidence for policy development to support current and future generations of Indigenous learners to access higher education. Two specific research questions are addressed: What are the trends in access to PSE among Indigenous students in BC? and How is access to PSE related to a range of student and educational background factors, such as individual student characteristics; scores on standardized tests for reading, writing, and numeracy administered in Grades 4 and 7; participation in special programs; school characteristics and district; course choices; and academic performance. The main data source is BC linked administrative data.

Start-end date: November 2020 - June 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Environmental scan of research on digital literacy among youth in the area of substance use (cannabis)

Qualitative research has found that youth in search of cannabis related information online often find conflicting or confusing information. With youth increasingly using online resources as their main source of information, there is a need to ensure that youth are supported in developing their critical thinking and appraisal skills so that they can judge whether a resource is credible. SRDC is conducting an evidence review and summary of digital literacy research and resources related to substance use, particularly cannabis. The results of this review will support the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction in making recommendations for programs or resources targeted at youth that can improve their digital literacy when encountering online information about cannabis.

Start-end date: November 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction

Evaluation of Inspire Arctic Accelerator

The Inspire Arctic Accelerator (IAA) is an entrepreneurship and future skills-building program that offers training to youth aged 18-30, supporting them in achieving employment, entrepreneurship, and education. The program aims to address the challenge of supporting young Arctic Canadians facing barriers to employment through future skills related upskilling and entrepreneurial skills-building. To do this, IAA provides a training model that ensures a culturally aligned, localized, sustainable approach, informed by local and national labour market information, and in collaboration with an ecosystem of local businesses, leaders, and entrepreneurs across Nunavut, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. With recent funding from ESDC to support IAA over a three-year period, Small Economy Works (SEW) has engaged SRDC to provide evaluation support and expertise, focusing on the first cohort of participants. Specifically, SRDC will develop an evaluation plan in collaboration with SEW and local implementation staff, support SEW to develop any necessary data management system/infrastructure to support project evaluation, and report on any evaluation findings during the contract period.

Start-end date: November 2020 - February 2022
Sponsor: Small Economy Works

Evaluation of the Girls' Fund

Since 2006, the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Girls’ Fund has supported dynamic programs and networks for girls aged 9-13, investing in programming where girls can develop critical thinking, leadership, and relationship-building skills. In its most recent grant cycle, the Canadian Women’s Foundation selected 19 organizations to run multi-year funded projects, with a particular emphasis on programming for girls facing multiple barriers. These include girls programming, mentorship programs, and national or regional networks.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation is interested in leveraging strategic learning to support grantees’ projects, as well as maximize impact at individual, program, and sector levels. In partnership with the Foundation and grantees, SRDC is designing and implementing an evaluation strategy for the Girls’ Fund, grounded in an intersectional feminist, anti-oppression, and participatory approach. This will include developing and deploying youth surveys, conducting interviews with grantees, reviewing grantee program reports, authoring annual issues briefs, and supporting knowledge mobilization and capacity development.

Start-end date: October 2020 - August 2024
Sponsor: Canadian Women’s Foundation

Skills Compass

Young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) are at risk of becoming socially excluded, with low income and lacking the skills to improve their economic situation. Indigenous youth, and youth who are newcomers to Canada, may face additional barriers to becoming engaged in employment or education. Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is leading a pilot project to address potential barriers faced by Indigenous and newcomer NEET youth through a pre-employment training program, wraparound supports, and employment placements. SRDC as the evaluation partner is responsible for developing the evaluation framework and data collection instruments, measuring outputs and outcomes, integrative data analysis, reporting findings, and participating in knowledge mobilization.

Start-end date: October 2020 - March 2023
Sponsor: Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan)

Supporting Vulnerable Children and Youth During COVID-19 Through Safe and Accessible Digital Programming

The Boys and Girls Club of Canada is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for children and youth where they can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, build positive relationships, and develop confidence and lifeskills. With the pandemic shifting programming online, Clubs are faced with the need to ensure that child and youth safety is prioritized, and any risks mitigated. Sixty Clubs across Canada have been funded to receive training and monitoring supports for virtual program delivery, to conduct outreach and ensure families have access to online programming. SRDC as the evaluation partner will be tracking the numbers of children/families accessing virtual programs, outcomes of the online contacts, and any challenges faced along the way. Findings from the evaluation of virtual programming at participating Clubs will support a national initiative led by BGCC and the Canadian Teachers’ Federation to curate resources and identify best practices in online safety for vulnerable youth.

Start-end date: September 2020 - March 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

CreateAction: Inclusive Social Innovation

CreateAction: Inclusive Social Innovation — This project is evaluating the role that six-month work experience opportunities in the social innovation, social finance, and social enterprise sectors can play in supporting youth who are either not in employment, education, or training (NEET). The project is being led by the Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet) in partnership with SRDC and the National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC). The project aims to recruit
100 Indigenous youth, new immigrants, young people living in poverty, those who identify as LGBTQ2S+, young people with disabilities, racialized youth, youth in rural/remote communities, and official language minority youth. SRDC is supporting the project design, coordinating tailored supports to participants, and leading the project’s evaluation activities. The evaluation is examining how the placement opportunities facilitate the transition of young people to secure employment in the labour market through the development of skills, workplace experience, professional networks, and tailored wraparound supports. It is also examining how hosting the youth placements will support the capacity and sustainability of innovative social purpose organizations across Canada to hire youth facing barriers from the communities they serve, connect to regional Social Innovation and Social Finance ecosystems, and leverage investments of the Investment Readiness Program and Social Finance Fund.

Start-end date: August 2020 - March 2023
Sponsor: Canadian Community Economic Development Network (CCEDNet)

Soft Skills as a Workforce Development Strategy for Opportunity Youth — Scoping Report and Service Delivery Model

Shifts in the economy are changing the landscape of skills needed for employment success, and among employers, there is growing recognition of the need for soft skills in the workforce. With more than a quarter of a million young people in Canada facing multiple barriers to finding sustained employment, there is demand for innovative approaches that equip youth with the right skills for employment success. However, to date, there has been little systematic research on effective approaches for operationalizing soft skills development within employment settings, particularly for opportunity youth (i.e., youth who are not in school or employment).

The goal of the proposed project is to better define and contextualize employment-specific soft skills and to synthesize promising approaches used by leading employers and employment support programs serving opportunity youth in Canada. Based on a review of research literature and leading practice-based evidence, SRDC will develop a service delivery model that describes specific strategies, approaches, and recommendations for embedding soft skills development within existing employment and employment support programs. The model and accompanying resource guide will be validated by employers, employment support providers, and youth. Overall, findings from this project will help to emphasize and contextualize the need for soft skills and provide recommendations for ways to operationalize soft skills development for opportunity youth.

Start-end date: May 2020 - December 2021
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Employment Supports for Youth with Barriers to Employment

BC’s health research funding agency – the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research – has commissioned SRDC to conduct a targeted evidence synthesis on best practices for employment supports – pre-employment and ongoing – for youth aged 14 to 29 with mental health and/or substance use issues. This includes an environmental scan and literature review to document and collate what is known about best and promising practices in the field and the overall landscape of current activity in Canada and three international jurisdictions. Phase 2 will consist of a knowledge synthesis and articulating implications for policy and service delivery in BC. Through a cross-Ministry Working Group on Children and Youth with Special Needs, this work will inform policy development and service delivery planning to better support youth and their families in BC.

Start-end date: May 2020 - January 2021
Sponsor: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

Implementing a Virtual Recruitment and Assessment Centre for the Unionized Construction Industry

This project will develop a recruitment strategy integrating sectoral needs analysis, behavioural insights, and social marketing to reach underrepresented groups and increase their awareness, knowledge, and connection to the building trades. A social media based messaging strategy informed by how each of the targeted groups perceives benefits and barriers to entering the trades will connect prospective candidates to an innovative online assessment and matching platform which will help users determine their suitability, connect directly to a Building Trades union, and transition into the apprenticeship system with essential skills tutoring. Unions will help to inform the recruitment strategy and refine the assessment and matching process to ensure candidates have the skills and mentor/support networks to succeed. Phase II of the project will focus on optimization of user pathways and enhanced functionality and content of learning resources. As well, this phase will focus on customizing components to be more responsive to local conditions, recruitment challenges, and union-specific skills needs. Evidence on the effectiveness of these enhancements will be generated through a mixed methods approach, which will include both implementation research and an outcomes study to evaluate the success of the initiative.

Start-end date: April 2020 - September 2023
Sponsor: Future Skills Centre

Empowering Youth for Post-secondary Education Preparedness

This is a project intended to research and consolidate information about best practices to empower youth from lower-income families to be active participants in their own preparation for post-secondary education (PSE). SRDC is undertaking an international literature review of best practices for youth empowerment approaches and a Pan-Canadian environmental scan of existing community programs, services, and supports. As one product, SRDC is generating an inventory of current interventions for PSE preparedness for youth from low-income families, including interventions that address non-financial barriers to PSE.

Start-end date: January 2020 - July 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Raise the Grade Phase 3

Since its launch in 2012, the Raise the Grade (RTG) program from Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) has provided youth ages 12-18 across Canada with academic support, career discovery, mentoring, and interest-based activities in dedicated RTG Tech Centres, all within the safe and supportive Boys and Girls Club environment. Now in 46 Clubs, RTG promotes academic engagement among young people, and aims to increase their rate of high school completion and participation in post-secondary education. With funding from RBC Future Launch and ESDC, BGCC has once again partnered with SRDC in a third project phase. This phase will see RTG expanded into five new communities and an even larger, highly trained community of RTG mentors. In addition to analysis of program implementation and youth outcomes, this utilization-focused evaluation builds on learnings from prior phases to develop and pilot enhancements to core program components through an innovative, Club-led Incubator model approach.

Start-end date: December 2019 - October 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Literature Review on effective labour market programs and services to assist youth and social assistance recipients to integrate into the labour market

ESDC has commissioned SRDC to undertake literature reviews of labour market programs that have been shown to be effective for integrating youth and social assistance recipients into the labour market. The focus is on recent (last five years) activation programs in Canada and OECD countries.

Start-end date: November 2019 - July 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Evaluation Planning and Design: Assessing the Effectiveness of the Government of Canada's Outbound Mobility Pilot

Announced in Budget 2019 as part of the International Education Strategy, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) is piloting a program to encourage participation of underrepresented groups in outbound international student experiences. The pilot program aims to test and evaluate innovative approaches to reduce barriers to studying and working abroad. SRDC is providing advice and recommendations to ESDC in the form of a comprehensive evaluation framework and plan for rigorously evaluating the five-year pilot.

Start-end date: November 2019 - March 2020
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Building Capacity for Performance Measurement among Literacy and Essential Skills Practitioners

Following the completion of a comprehensive review and development of measurement options for Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) initiatives, SRDC is working with the Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) to build an online platform to operationalize the recommendations and best practices in designing performance measurement instruments. This platform will represent a standardized and actionable navigation pathway to help LES practitioners and stakeholders choose and customize instruments aligned with their unique training objectives and service delivery contexts. With supports from OLES, we will engage with service delivery organizations to pilot-test the beta version of the platform, troubleshooting issues, and compiling user guides. The process will be done with a point of view toward long-term sustainability, ensuring that the platform can ultimately support the broader performance measurement strategy of the LES sector.

Start-end date: November 2019 - December 2021
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Survey tool to evaluate Actua’s Artificial Intelligence Teacher Training Activities

Actua’s Teacher Training is designed to equip educators with the toolsets, skillsets, and mindsets to deliver transformative STEM education to youth, including integrating coding and digital skills and Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the classroom. Although Actua has supported educators through workshops and training opportunities for years, completing a full suite of teacher support represents a strategic growth area for Actua. Actua has engaged SRDC to evaluate the AI teacher training package, from the perspectives of network members and teachers, for launch in January 2020. Teachers are important influencers in youth participation in STEM and through Actua’s AI Teacher Training Program, Actua is hoping to broaden their reach and create deeper impact with students across Canada.

Start-end date: September 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Actua

Follow-up survey of Willingness to Pay (Choices) study participants

This project extends SRDC’s previous study on Willingness to Borrow for post-secondary education (PSE) – a project funded by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario and the now-defunct Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. The original fieldwork used an innovative, laboratory experiment design to assess receptivity to various types of PSE financing among Canadian students in their final year of high school. The experiment took place during the 2008-09 academic year, and involved 1,248 students from 12 different schools in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. After completing the experiment, the vast majority of the original sample agreed to being contacted for a follow-up study. This project initiates the follow-up survey to track ten years of post-high school outcomes among the original participating students. The survey is to generate a unique longitudinal data set for use by CIRANO and SRDC researchers, linking activities in the final year of high school to PSE enrolment and persistence outcomes in the context of a uniquely rich set of experimental and survey data from the original study, which captured preferences for PSE, willingness to pay and borrow as well as the experimental assignment of grants and loans. SRDC’s analysis of the follow-up project dataset will explore the role of less-understood barriers (e.g., price sensitivity and loan aversion) on PSE access, completion and labour market outcomes, particularly amongst under-represented groups. It will permit baseline measures of preference, numeracy, tolerance for risk, and willingness to borrow to pay for PSE to be harnessed as predictors of later PSE and labour market outcomes, permitting policy makers to better understand who goes to PSE and why.

Start-end date: July 2019 - March 2022
Sponsor: CIRANO, Max Bell Foundation, and Employment and Social Development Canada

The State of Mentoring in Canada

SRDC is designing, implementing, and analyzing a large-scale research project around the state of mentoring in Canada. Work includes mapping the mentoring experiences of young people and capturing the landscape of mentoring programs/services in Canada. The study includes the first ever nationally-representative survey of young people’s perspectives on mentoring in Canada and a survey of adult mentors and potential mentors. It also takes stock of the prevalence, practices, and scope of youth mentoring programs across Canada with a comprehensive literature and landscape review shaped by conversations with a variety of representatives within the youth development field. Mentor Canada has published early reports, and more detailed investigations of the collected data will continue through the summer of 2021.

Start-end date: July 2019 - March 2023
Sponsor: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Enhancing outcomes for vulnerable youth: trauma, mental health, and employment and skills training

Youth who have experienced trauma may be more likely to face multiple and persistent barriers to employment. However, the potential for Trauma- and Violence-Informed (TVI) approaches to improve outcomes remains largely underexplored in the employment and skills training sector. SRDC has been engaged by the Public Health Agency of Canada to build the evidence base on the links between trauma, violence, and health, focusing particularly on the experiences of racialized youth. SRDC will use this conceptual framework to develop a TVI-informed model for employment service delivery, and will validate that model with employment service providers, participating youth, and government representatives. The project team will conduct a literature review, key informant interviews, and focus groups, while also leveraging insights gained from SRDC’s concurrent work in youth employment and skills development. Project results will inform the design and delivery of such programs and potentially, outcomes for youth as well.

Start-end date: May 2019 - July 2021
Sponsor: Public Health Agency of Canada

Evaluation of the Youth and the Environment Initiative

Lawson Foundation’s latest impact area was created in response to concern about young people’s increasingly restricted and inequitable access to nature, as well as recognition of the interconnections between youth development and healthy environments. The Foundation has selected ten projects from across Canada for funding, all of which will address a double ‘bottom line’: to strengthen youth leadership & civic engagement and to encourage connection to nature & environmental action.

Lawson Foundation is interested in understanding how best to support its Youth and the Environment grantees through grant-making, convening, and connecting, and how to maximize its impact in terms of youth engagement and leadership, exposure to nature, and environmental action. SRDC is helping to develop this understanding through a developmental evaluation of the experiences and outcomes of the youth cohort. We are also helping to build youth leaders’ capacity for evaluation and leadership through co-creation of an evaluation toolkit.

Start-end date: May 2019 - September 2022
Sponsor: Lawson Foundation

Integrating Essential Skills Tools for Employment Counsellors

This project is being led by Alberta Workforce Essential Skills Society (AWES) and is building, testing, and refining a training program for employment counsellors to integrate Essential Skills (ES) tools into their practice and services. The ES framework that will be tested during the project will include how to incorporate ES assessments, occupational profiles, complexity levels, and job task terminology related to skills. The project will also reinforce practice by including mentoring and support services to ensure quality as practitioners begin to integrate the ES framework and tools (including all nine Essential Skills) in all their services. As the developmental evaluation partner on the project, SRDC’s research activities are supporting the development process to ensure that the training is practical, delivers results, and has high chances of replication and adoption in diverse sectors and with different populations across Canada.

Start-end date: April 2019 - February 2024
Sponsor: Alberta Workplace Essential Skills Society (AWES)

Strathcona County Youth Needs and Assets Assessment

Strathcona County, located in central Alberta, is commissioning a report on how the County is currently serving the needs of resident youth, ages 14 to 29, and that identifies potential gaps in these services. The research will include opportunities for engagement and inform recommendations or potential policy directions for Council’s consideration. Yardstick Assessment Strategies Inc. is leading the research on behalf of a team of consultants. SRDC is responsible for preparing statistical profiles of youth and young adults in the County, comparator communities, and Alberta more broadly; conducting an online scan on root contributors to youth issues/challenges and how small urban and rural communities can best serve the health, social, and community needs of resident youth; and contributing to the development of a directory of service provider organizations accessible to youth and young adults in the County.

Start-end date: March 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: Yardstick Assessment Strategies Inc.

The role of career education during high school in postsecondary success

This project seeks to find better ways to support youths’ career decisions and make the case for policies that prolong learning into appropriately aligned postsecondary education. SRDC is using
two rich longitudinal data sources created to test experimental career interventions through the linkage of education records to surveys of youth and parents in three provinces. The data document the lives of 7,000 young Canadians, including their occupational aspirations as high school students at age 14, their postsecondary education and earnings outcomes over 10 years. Research tasks include the team mapping the students’ early collected occupational aspirations to their course and program choices as well as outcomes on leaving high school. SRDC’s researchers are taking advantage of the experimental design, but also using non-experimental methods to analyze the factors over this key period that caused changes in career choices, and altered career pathways. The study builds knowledge about (a) how and when to intervene to assist youth in their career decision making, and (b) for whom supports are effective yet currently lacking. The intent is to help equip the career counselling profession to respond authoritatively to increasingly urgent policy questions about how optimally to structure career education for young people. Positive and negative impacts of interventions and tracking of outcomes following specific mediators of advice (such as parents, teachers, counsellors, peers) would point to future best practices and the development of tools to support the work of counsellors and guide students in their planning and decision making regarding career choices early in, and throughout, high school.

Start-end date: February 2019 - January 2021
Sponsor: CERIC

Evaluation support for the Eating Disorders – Promotion, Prevention & Early Intervention (ED-PPEI) model

Eating disorders can be extremely debilitating, yet symptoms often go undiagnosed until the point of medical or psychiatric crisis. While there is a network of treatment services in Ontario funded by the Ministry of Health, these are designed to serve those with the most severe conditions, and to date, prevention programming has been virtually non-existent. The exception to this has been CIHR-funded intervention research trials led by Dr. Gail McVey in partnership with Ontario public health practitioners.

The ED-PPEI model is designed to build capacity across the province for delivery of effective health promotion, prevention, and early intervention programs that address eating disorders and their risk and protective factors. Led by Dr. Gail McVey, the Ontario Community Outreach Program for Eating Disorders at the University Health Network in Toronto is leading an initiative to implement and scale evidence-based training models and programs in all regions of Ontario, beginning with five regional lead sites that are contributing to the provincial build of the framework and implementation plan. SRDC has been engaged to support the provincial build by working with pilot communities to identify their needs and capacities with respect to such programming. Using a developmental evaluation approach, SRDC will also document the successes and lessons learned from the build process, to inform further systems development and performance measurement.

Start-end date: February 2019 - March 2023
Sponsor: University Health Network

SmartICE: Developing responsive approaches to training and employment in Inuit Nunangat

SmartICE is a work-integrated social enterprise aiming to empower northern communities to adapt to increasingly unpredictable sea ice in the circumpolar arctic. SmartICE is launching a Northern Production Centre (NPC) in Nain, Nunatsiavut, which will employ Inuit youth to assemble one of its sea ice monitoring technologies: SmartBUOYs. SRDC will work with SmartICE to design, pilot, and evaluate an innovative model to sustainably train and employ Inuit youth in Nain. SmartICE will work with community stakeholders and youth to develop a contextually responsive training approach and employment opportunity for Nainimmuit youth to facilitate the assembly and testing of SmartBUOYs for use in Nunatsiavut and in communities across the circumpolar arctic. SRDC will support SmartICE by conducting a developmental evaluation of the SmartICE NPC.

Start-end date: February 2019 - December 2019
Sponsor: SmartICE

Preliminary assessment of the scale and extent of student hunger in BC's K-12 school population

SRDC is undertaking a project to define the scope of student hunger in K-12 BC public school students. This includes the degree of occurrence, frequency, seasonality, and the location of high risk areas. It is reviewing the literature, undertaking an environmental scan of funding options available to school districts to address hunger/food insecurity, and analyzing four existing datasets. The project aims include: to understand the dependencies and factors affecting student hunger in K-12 BC public schools; to identify areas for improvements; and to provide recommendations and identify options that are having a positive or negative impact in addressing food hunger.

Start-end date: January 2019 - March 2019
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Education

Enhancing employment programming for vulnerable youth

In 2017, the Government of Canada committed to renewing its youth employment strategy, part of which involves a renewal of Skills Link with more focus on at-risk youth and additional investments to increase the planned participant intake. The Government has also committed to continue improving the way it serves the needs of youth including helping understand what’s working and to encourage good program practices. In coordination with ESDC’s Office of Literacy and Essential Skills (OLES) and youth employment branch, SRDC developed a multi-staged four-year project to both explore improvements in employment programming for vulnerable youth and to pilot test a Pay-for-Performance model for incentivizing innovation and best practices among service providers.
The first phase in year one will involve a comprehensive review and re-analysis of employment programming as part of Skills Link along with a series of consultations with providers of youth programming to document strengths in existing delivery, best practices, and any gaps and opportunities for innovation. The second phase will involve the design and implementation of a demonstration project to test a Pay-for-Performance model to incentivize innovation and best practices. The demonstration phase will span three years and will involve up to 600 youth from across Canada.

Start-end date: November 2018 - October 2023
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Pathways to Work: Co-designing improved employment pathways for Inuit youth in Nunatsiavut, Labrador

In Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Inuit youth face many structural challenges including reduced access to sustainable, long-term employment. As in other parts of Canada, many services exist to connect youth with employment, however, there are few, if any, studies that examine how to strengthen Inuit youth pathways to employment in this context. SRDC is working in partnership with community partners to explore two existing challenges to Inuit youth employment in Nunatsiavut: 1) a lack of awareness among employers, community stakeholders, and youth about effective practices to enhance youth employment and how these could be adapted locally, and 2) a lack of alignment between youth’s skills and assets and the available services, resources, and opportunities in Nunatsiavut communities. To enhance awareness and alignment, SRDC and the project leadership team, including partners from Nunatsiavut Government and community programs, will synthesize what is known about effective ways to support youth employment in the region – based on the research literature, promising practice, and local knowledge. This synthesis will be used as the basis for a community-based co-design process for one or more of Nunatsiavut’s five coastal communities (Nain, Hopedale, Makkovik, Rigolet, and Postville). This process will engage local employers, community stakeholders, and Inuit youth in developing priorities and ultimately, a concrete intervention model for youth employment in Nunatsiavut.

Start-end date: July 2018 - December 2019
Sponsor: College of the North Atlantic

Skills for Life: impact evaluation

This project builds on three previous phases of work and a highly successful collaboration with School Mental Health Ontario, to support mental health promotion in high school. Classroom resources (previously called Healthy Transitions From High School) have been developed to enhance the social emotional learning skills students need to promote and protect their mental health and navigate the transition from high school. These resources – together with teacher training and support – proved promising in a recent pilot test, and will soon be evaluated in a rigorous trial in dozens of Ontario schools. Results will support educators as they plan and implement student mental health promotion initiatives at the classroom, school, and board levels.

Start-end date: June 2018 - June 2024
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor + School Mental Health Ontario

Equity in Education Collective Impact Initiative

Together, Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Center, Pathways to Education Ottawa, and stakeholders from across the city of Ottawa, have established a collective impact initiative to address the inequity in educational outcomes for youth living in low-income in the city. The long-term vision of the Equity in Education Collective Impact Initiative (EiE) is to engage stakeholders from all sectors to come together to provide tangible interventions that draw on the learnings of the Pathways to Education ProgramTM and other successful evidence-based models to inform policy and systems changes. SRDC will work with EiE to conduct a case study examining how EiE’s collective impact structure can inform student, parent, and community-level outcomes related to educational experience and attainment along the pathway to post-secondary enrolment; as well as how EiE-led initiatives influence the collective impact structure at the community level. This project is being funded by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO).

Start-end date: June 2018 - April 2019
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

Field trials and evaluation of three WISE programs in Northern Simcoe County Ontario

SRDC is implementing a four-year research study in partnership with three work integration social enterprises (WISE) that are part of a co-operative network, known as the Karma Project. These social enterprises provide a range of services and green occupations in demand in the North Simcoe county region of Ontario. The study, spanning four years, will examine the effectiveness of WISE in improving the employability and social inclusion of youth in rural communities. At the same time, it will assess changes in the capacity of social enterprises and examine variations in outcomes by alternative models of work integration.

Start-end date: March 2018 - May 2022
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Evaluation of the Essential Skills for Apprentices project

The ES for Apprentices project is a national initiative that is testing an instructor-led model of supplemental essential skills training in first-year apprenticeship programs with the aim of enhancing completion rates. The model was developed and refined by Bow Valley College (BVC) and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). SRDC is designing the research strategy to evaluate the model including an impact study to measure its effects on completion rates and employment of apprentices as well as an implementation research study to explore best practices in its delivery.

Start-end date: March 2018 - June 2022
Sponsor: Bow Valley College

Equity in Education – Student/Parent Support Worker Evaluation

Pathways to Education is a well-known model of comprehensive supports for youth living in low-income communities, designed to enhance their engagement and persistence in high school and post-secondary education. SRDC will evaluate the impact of coordinated, wrap-around, holistic services amongst existing community organizations/stakeholders for youth and their families through three pilots based on the Student Parent Support Worker position of the Pathways to Education model. This evaluation will also explore how systemic barriers manifest differently depending on cultural background, immigration history, family composition, and homelessness risk. These pilots will be implemented in three priority neighbourhoods across Ottawa and will be coordinated through a Collective Impact initiative (Equity in Education). Equity in Education is being led by the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre and Pathways to Education Ottawa in partnership with the Ottawa Local Immigrant Partnership (OLIP) and the Ottawa Child and Youth Initiative (OCYI). These community-led projects are being funded through Ontario's Local Poverty Reduction Fund, which is administered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Start-end date: January 2018 - January 2021
Sponsor: Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre

Evaluating the Success of the Ministry of Education's Implementation of Financial Literacy Education in Ontario Schools

SRDC is conducting a comprehensive program evaluation of the Ministry’s financial literacy education strategy embedded in the Grades 4-12 curricula. The evaluation is collecting information from students, parents, teachers, school administrators, and school board staff. As part of the project, SRDC is developing self-assessment tools for boards and schools to support them in continuing to monitor progress and deepen student learning. Findings will be compiled into a final report with recommendations on measures to strengthen the financial literacy education strategy.

Start-end date: January 2018 - April 2019
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Education

Raise the Grade Phase 2

Following on Raising the Grade, the Boys and Girls Club has launched a second phase of this program which supports high school students through academic support and career discovery at 35 clubs across Canada. SRDC is conducting an evaluation of the revised Raise the Grade program, including analysis of outcomes and implementation. Case studies at selected sites will allow for a richer examination of the elements of the revised program and their effects on the students and clubs who participate.

Start-end date: December 2017 - October 2019
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Evaluation of RAJO: The Somali youth and family empowerment project

RAJO is the Somali word for hope, and the name of a culturally-responsive, multi-agency project aimed at reducing violence and increasing resilience in Somali-Canadian youth, families, and communities in Ottawa and Edmonton. Project staff will work with Somali youth and families using a tiered intervention model called Trauma Systems Therapy that has been adapted for refugee communities in the US by Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) – this is the first time TST-R will be delivered in Canada, and to youth aged 12-18. Funded by Public Safety Canada, this five-year project is being led by Canadian Friends of Somalia, in collaboration with the Somali-Canadian Culture Society of Edmonton, and BCH; SRDC has been engaged as the evaluation partner.

Start-end date: November 2017 - March 2022
Sponsor: Canadian Friends of Somalia

Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health (QCTH) – Evaluation of School and Community Programs

For over 20 years, the QCTH has offered a variety of tobacco prevention services to Quebec’s Directions de santé publique (DSP), as well as directly to school and community groups. In order to keep its services relevant to its partners and to better highlight the needs of each community, a retrospective and summative evaluation of the activities of the QCTH was conducted in June 2017 among the DSP. This second phase rather constitutes a formative evaluation that targets school and community groups. The main objectives of the project are to: identify the elements that contribute to carrying out the prevention projects within schools and community settings; identify the missing elements in the provision of tobacco prevention services; and obtain recommendations to improve the provision of tobacco prevention services.

Start-end date: September 2017 - December 2017
Sponsor: Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health

A review of the evaluation strategy and framework for the Royal Bank of Canada's Future Launch initiative

In November 2017, RBC will introduce Future Launch, a $500 million, ten-year commitment to the development of innovative programs and supports that will help prepare young people (aged 15-29) for the future of work. SRDC is providing support to the RBC evaluation team with the development of their evaluation framework, data collection strategy, and analytic approach for the Future Launch initiative.

Start-end date: September 2017 - October 2017
Sponsor: Royal Bank of Canada

High School Student and Parent Perceptions of OSAP

This project examines the relationship between aspirations towards postsecondary education and students/parents’ perception and knowledge of the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). The project administers surveys before and after students’ compulsory Grade 10 career studies class, and tracks postsecondary access and student financial aid use over four years, to evaluate provision of new interventions including information on OSAP and the likely actual costs and benefits of postsecondary education. The evaluation framework involves a clustered randomized trial.

Start-end date: August 2017 - August 2018
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario

Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health (QCTH) – Evaluation of Prevention Programs

For over 20 years, the QCTH has offered a variety of tobacco prevention services to Quebec’s Directions de santé publique (DSP), as well as directly to school and community groups. In order to keep its services relevant to its partners and to better target the needs of each community, a retrospective and summative evaluation of the activities of the QCTH will identify changes to be made to the services provided by the organization and its priorities in terms of prevention services in Quebec.

Start-end date: April 2017 - July 2017
Sponsor: Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health

The relationship between education savings accounts and postsecondary education aspirations

SRDC is undertaking an original analysis of its unique “Future to Discover” dataset to help answer questions on how best to maximize the impact of education savings programs such as Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) and associated government grants, such as the Canada Education Savings Grants (CESG) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) on access to postsecondary education (PSE) for students from low-income family backgrounds. Specifically, this new study sheds light on whether the positive educational outcomes associated with these approaches arise because (a) acquiring accounts changes families’ orientations towards PSE over time or (b) the funds in accounts help students overcome financial barriers at the point of paying for their studies.

The findings of this study will inform the search for new ways to increase the take up rate of RESPs, CESG, and CLB. The study will assess factors that lead to the opening of accounts; the role of parental involvement and level of education; the relationship of family income to educational attainment of the child; sources of personal contributions to RESPs; and the relationship of educations savings to debt and the availability of student financial assistance in relation to the determination to participate in PSE. In addition, the analysis explores the role of trusted intermediaries and sources of information regarding decision-making related to PSE. The study findings will be structured to provide concrete lessons learned from the research for optimal next steps in the development and delivery of RESPs, CESG, CLB, and related programming.

Start-end date: April 2017 - January 2018
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Phased approach for Options for a rigorous test for an online micro-grant

This project is for the development of a pilot test for an online micro-granting tool as a means of funding, in a more direct and streamlined fashion, youth-led projects aligned with public policy objectives. While the pilot will be designed in the specific context of Canadian Heritage's goals of enhancing youth engagement and diversity, evidence on the feasibility and effectiveness of the tool as a crowdsourcing platform will have pan-governmental benefits, and support further innovation in Grants and Contributions across all federal departments. The key output of the project will be a design report for a “choice” experiment that will help refine the micro granting model as well as an evaluation and implementation strategy for a full pilot.

Start-end date: March 2017 - March 2018
Sponsor: Canadian Heritage

Evaluation of Student Financial Assistance Programs for Indigenous Learners

SRDC is undertaking an evaluation to provide recommendations on improving access to postsecondary education for Indigenous learners. Key questions include: whether Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP)-eligible First Nations and Inuit students who are turned down for PSSSP funding apply for provincial and federal student financial assistance; whether these learners are more likely to abandon or delay their plans for postsecondary; whether Indigenous learners are more debt-averse than non-Indigenous learners, including variation between populations; whether certain groups are more likely to apply for and receive assistance; whether Indigenous learners who receive assistance are more likely to default on loans, and if so, what are the reasons for this.

These questions are being answered through a combination of three research and evaluation activities: reviews of existing research evidence on learners' financial barriers to accessing post-secondary education and available sources of financial aid, as well as evidence on debt aversion; analysis of administrative records on applicants and recipients of federal and provincial aid; and primary data collection with Indigenous people. The project will conclude with recommendations for federal and provincial governments to improve post-secondary education access for Indigenous learners, including an impact analysis of proposed program changes.

Start-end date: March 2017 - March 2019
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education

Evaluation of the Child and Youth Diabetes Strategy

In the 16 years since it first launched the Diabetes Strategy, the Lawson Foundation has granted $13 million for applied diabetes research and a broad range of community-based projects that translate knowledge into clinical practice and community programs. In 2016, the Foundation launched its new targeted focus on the challenges faced by children, youth, and their families with or at risk for diabetes and its complications. SRDC has been engaged by the Lawson Foundation to examine how the new Child and Youth Diabetes Strategy can enhance its impact on the prevention and management of diabetes in Canada. We will also look at how the Foundation’s cohort approach to supporting grantees adds value to projects and supports them in furthering the Strategy’s goals. SRDC’s evaluation will take a developmental approach, in which staff of both organizations will work collaboratively to assess ways the Foundation can enhance delivery of the Strategy and its impact.

Start-end date: March 2017 - June 2021
Sponsor: Lawson Foundation

Relationship between PSE participation and household income

The current decade has seen very little new research into the relationship between household income and PSE participation for Canada in general and Ontario in particular. The effects of recently adopted policies aimed at increasing PSE accessibility on this relationship, such as the reforms to the Ontario Student Assistance Program, are consequently poorly understood. This project uses a time series of harmonized long-form data from the Canadian Census 1996-2016 to examine the relative impact of household income and parents’ human capital on their children’s post-secondary education participation.

Start-end date: March 2017 - October 2018
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario

Learning more from the BC AVID Pilot Project: impacts of program delivery on postsecondary persistence

This project examines the long-term impacts of BC AVID on students’ post-secondary outcomes by obtaining up to four more years of updated postsecondary records. It is the first stage of a two-phase research endeavour to learn which elements of AVID program fidelity are predictors of student success. The research team is analyzing the patterns of outcomes and evolution of impacts over time. If the program impacts vary between student cohorts experiencing different levels of AVID program intensity, the research team will seek a second phase to study the relationship between AVID program fidelity and students’ long-term outcomes.

Start-end date: January 2017 - September 2017
Sponsor: AVID Center

Evaluation support for Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health initiatives – Youth Programs

Despite the significant progress made in recent years, many factors in the youth environment continue to promote tobacco initiation. Between 80% and 90% of current smokers started smoking before the age of 18. To address this issue, the Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health (CQTS) has been implementing a series of innovative and best practice initiatives for the prevention and cessation of smoking among young people for more than 20 years. SRDC was hired to support the evaluation processes of these initiatives by providing technical advice and training to the CQTS.

Start-end date: January 2017 - March 2017
Sponsor: Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health

Enhancing Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

The study explores the motivations and constraints facing volunteer firefighters to support the development of an enhanced set of recruitment and retention practices, particularly in rural communities. The project is a partnership with the Community Development and Homelessness Partnerships Directorate of Employment and Social Development Canada, funded by the Canadian Safety and Security Program. The project seeks to augment existing outreach strategies and messaging to create better alignment with volunteers’ motivations and constraints through multiple methods, including behavioural-based analyses. The feasibility of the new model will be tested through a small-scale pilot.

Start-end date: January 2017 - December 2018
Sponsor: Canadian Safety and Security Program

Kid Food Nation

Canadian children are entering adulthood without sufficient knowledge to make healthy food choices. Moreover, rates of childhood obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes are increasing. In collaboration with SRDC and other partners, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada is designing and delivering a food skills and healthy eating curriculum for children aged 7-12 in select Clubs. This food literacy program will be supplemented by a national media campaign, and recipe competition and gala event for children. SRDC is evaluating the design and delivery of the initiative, as well as the extent to which food literacy and other outcomes have been achieved.

Government news release

Start-end date: November 2016 - March 2021
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Life After High School Ontario – Phase III

The purpose of Life After High School is to improve the rates at which high school students transition to post-secondary education by reducing the non-financial and financial barriers students face. The program applies lessons from behavioural economics to provide all Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program without incurring a fee, and applying for financial aid. As options are considered for the delivery of a streamlined Life After High School program in Ontario in future years, SRDC is running the program in 69 low-transition schools in 2016-17.

Start-end date: September 2016 - June 2017
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development

Forum of Labour Market Ministers' Senior Officials – Best Practices Session

SRDC was responsible for organizing a half-day session to share innovative approaches, lessons learned, and research and evaluation on labour market programs and service delivery strategies. It featured presentations from a number of jurisdictions on recent projects and initiatives to identify best practices, improve program effectiveness, and foster innovation. SRDC staff presented on three SRDC projects in this area, teaming up with provincial Senior Officials who provided context on how the projects respond to their respective program and policy objectives. SRDC was also responsible for producing an Event Report summarizing the discussion.

Start-end date: September 2016 - September 2016
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Labour Market Transfer Agreements summary report

Employment and skills training programming and services in Canada are supported and delivered by federal, provincial, and territorial governments. The federal government provides almost $3 billion annually to provinces and territories through four major bilateral transfer agreements to support training and employment programming for Canadians. The design and delivery of the programs and services funded under these agreements are the responsibility of provinces and territories. This includes programs and services for unemployed workers eligible for Employment Insurance (EI), individuals without recent or sustained labour market attachment (non-EI insured), low-skilled workers, employers, persons with disabilities, and older workers. The 2016 Federal Budget announced new investments for 2016-17 totaling an additional $175 million. This is the first step in a plan to boost support for skills and training through the transfer agreements. To further ensure that these agreements continue to be relevant, flexible, and responsive to new and emerging labour market needs and priorities, the federal, provincial, and territorial governments have collaboratively embarked on a process in the summer 2016 to gather stakeholder input on these important investments. SRDC summarizes the outcomes of the consultations related to the labour market agreements renewal in this report.

Start-end date: August 2016 - September 2016
Sponsor: Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale du Québec

Development of a "How To" Guide for Integrated Mental Health and Substance Use Services for Youth and Young Adults

Only a small proportion of youth with mental health and substance use disorders actually receive treatment, in part because services designed for adults are neither accessible nor appropriate. This “How To” guide is intended to support the Provincial and Territorial Working Group and other policy makers in understanding how to create enabling environments for the development of integrated MHSU services for youth and young adults. To develop this guide, SRDC is collecting information via interviews and surveys on program exemplars in six different provinces, and work closely with the BC Ministry of Health MHSU Branch and members of the P/T WG members.

Start-end date: July 2016 - March 2017
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Health

The long-term impacts of offering enhanced career education to Manitoba high school students

This project extends analysis of the impacts of offering Future to Discover (FTD) enhanced career education on Manitoba high school students. While FTD reports to date have covered the 2005 to 2010 period for Manitoba, this extension permits analysis of impacts on later education and labour market participation through to the end of 2014 when the participants were in their mid-twenties. The study examines impacts on education and earnings using tax records that capture outcomes for all 1,044 participants regardless of whether the participants still reside in Manitoba.

Start-end date: February 2016 - October 2017
Sponsor: Manitoba Department of Education and Training

The Role of Employment Social Enterprises in Supporting Transitioning Youth

The BC Centre for Employment Excellence and its partner, the Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria, are conducting a demonstration project to evaluate the role of Employment Social Enterprises (ESEs) in supporting the labour market transitions of youth facing barriers to developing their career potential. The project partners with local social entrepreneurs, employment service providers and employers to generate work placements in new or existing ESEs that focus on employing barriered youth, giving youth participants the opportunity to gain valuable work experience and skill development that is in line with local labour market opportunities. This project is designed to fill a gap in knowledge with regard to understanding the role that transitional placements in ESEs can play in improving employment outcomes for at-risk youth.

Start-end date: February 2016 - December 2017
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation

Long-term Education and Labour Market Impacts from the Future to Discover Project

Postsecondary access has been the dominant priority in Ontario’s higher education policy over the past three decades. With this project, SRDC is undertaking data collection and analysis to help answer critical questions about the impacts of postsecondary access policies. The study provides answers to the question "When students at the margin of participating in postsecondary education actually go, what happens to them?". This study uses data on 5,400 students from SRDC’s Future to Discover Project and links these to tax records.

Start-end date: January 2016 - May 2018
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario

BGCC National Youth Outcomes Consultation

As part of a longstanding commitment to quality programming and continuous improvement, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada developed its Model for Success framework to describe the common features of Boys and Girls Clubs’ environments, the core programming they offer, and the desired positive outcomes for children and youth that drive these efforts. To further this work, SRDC was engaged to help BGCC develop a plan for evaluating program outcomes at a national level. This project includes background research, interviews, feasibility assessment, and development of options and recommendations.

Start-end date: December 2015 - April 2016
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Learning and Labour Market Information Symposium

SRDC organized a learning and labour market information (LLMI) symposium in May 2016 to engage Federal/Provincial and Territorial government senior officials in a discussion with subject matter experts on ways and means to improve the availability and quality of data and tools to inform student choice. In addition to planning the agenda and facilitating the symposium, SRDC conducted an environmental scan, and prepared a synthesis document for circulation prior to the event.

Start-end date: December 2015 - June 2016
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada + Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

HR Policies and Best Practices Toolkit for Restaurants

The BC Centre for Employment Excellence (CfEE) with its partner, MacLeod Silver HR Business Partners, developed an HR Policies and Best Practices Toolkit for Restaurants Canada's 30,000+ members. The toolkit produced supports the objectives of Restaurants Canada to provide its member restaurants with tools on how to recruit and retain employees, particularly those from underrepresented groups such as people with disabilities, aboriginals, new immigrants, and youth. The ultimate aim of this project is to produce an accessible and practical set of tools and resources to enable small- and medium-sized restaurants to achieve the workforce benefits of being more inclusive employers.

Start-end date: November 2015 - March 2016
Sponsor: Restaurants Canada

Evaluation of the Active Outdoor Play Strategy

'Active outdoor play' is unstructured and of varied intensity, takes place outdoors with natural materials, and involves an element of risk (e.g., due to the height, speed, context, or tools involved). A wide range of sectors and organizations has recently begun to promote active outdoor play as a means of correcting a perceived over-emphasis on safety/risk and injury prevention, as well as promoting healthy child development in the long term.

The aim of the Lawson Foundation’s Outdoor Play Strategy is to better understand how to support Canadian communities to foster children’s opportunities for outdoor play; in other words, how to create environments that enable – rather than hinder – such play. The Strategy is designed to support the development and implementation of a variety of creative ideas across sectors and a range of contexts, including community programs, services, and supports as well as policy and research initiatives. SRDC conducted an evaluation of the Strategy to develop understanding about how and why funded initiatives experience success, and to what degree. The evaluation includes information about both implementation and early impacts of the Outdoor Play Strategy, at three levels: individual projects/grantees; the collective cohort of grantees; and the broader landscape of stakeholders involved in outdoor play. In addition to examining multiple levels of operation and impact, the project takes a developmental evaluation approach – one that is flexible, future-oriented, and focused more on learning and performance improvement than on narrow definitions of merit and accountability.

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Start-end date: November 2015 - April 2019
Sponsor: Lawson Foundation

The role of subjective attitudes and beliefs in financial decision-making of Canadians

While many Canadians lack basic financial literacy, mounting evidence from behavioural economics suggests that financial decisions are also frequently undermined by psychological factors. Even with the requisite financial knowledge and literacy skills, people are prone to various kinds of cognitive biases when making financial decisions such as those related to evaluating risk and uncertainty or the time value of money. This project undertakes an analysis of the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS) with the aim of understanding the role of cognitive biases in the financial decision-making of Canadians, with a particular focus on youth, aboriginals, and those with low incomes.

Start-end date: September 2015 - March 2016
Sponsor: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada

Employment and Training Service Integration (ETSI) Strategy for Evaluation and Evidence Generation

The purpose of this project was to develop a framework for conducting effective monitoring and evaluation of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities' Employment and Training Service Integration (ETSI) initiative. The framework sets the standards for, and provides strategic guidance around alignment, for all evaluation activities supporting ETSI. This work is supporting the Ministry's goal of ensuring it has a comprehensive strategy for evidence generation to inform current pilots, programs and system features being introduced, as well as to guide future evaluation frameworks for programs and system features under ETSI. The project involves: conducting a review of evaluation approaches and existing frameworks from other relevant jurisdictions used to assess active labour market programs; developing a monitoring and evaluation framework of ETSI in consultation with key stakeholders and based on findings from the review of existing frameworks in other jurisdictions; and developing options for a monitoring and evaluation strategy and methodology.

Start-end date: August 2015 - January 2016
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Measuring Resilience as an Education Outcome

SRDC is investigating the most appropriate means for Ontario postsecondary institutions to assess the impacts of their programs on student resilience. In addition to an extensive literature review, the study assesses how well one of the most promising existing measures of resilience (the Brief Resilience Scale) predicts student coping behaviours over a three-year period post-measurement. The project report includes the combined results and recommendations for next steps based on lessons learned from the literature and from implementing resilience measures in the field.

Start-end date: May 2015 - April 2016
Sponsor: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario

Demonstrating an enriched Kocihta eMentoring Program Model – A Design/Development Phase

The first phase of a project to tackle one of Canada’s major policy problems: too few Indigenous youth achieving successful transition into the labour market. SRDC is working with Kocihta - a national Indigenous charity founded in 2013 by the Aboriginal Human Resource Council - to develop and test an innovative program model. The model bridges career education to eMentoring with the intent to encourage Indigenous youths to identify and pursue their desired career paths, thereby enhancing their educational investments and improving their labour market outcomes. This phase of the project involves designing an enriched eMentoring program model and developing a comprehensive, detailed implementation and evaluation plan for Phase 2. The main ‘developmental’ activities include: continuing discussions with potential collaborators; developing the intervention/delivery model; finalizing the conceptual evaluation framework; developing the evaluation plan, feasibility and market research for low-cost delivery of eMentoring; and identifying potential funders for a subsequent demonstration project.

Start-end date: April 2015 - May 2016
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Analysis of PIAAC Data and Development of Evidence Base on Adult Learning for Ontario

This study examines the literacy skills proficiency distribution among key subgroups in the province of Ontario including recent immigrants, Aboriginals, Francophone, youth, and older workers. The objective is to inform policy direction with respect to resource targeting for adult learning initiatives in the province. Among other sources, the project utilizes the latest data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).

Start-end date: March 2015 - September 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

How youth develop career decisions

Making use of existing literature from Canada and abroad, this study examines when, where and how youth use labour market information to make postsecondary education and career-related decisions, including recommendations for the development and refinement of labour market information tools and initiatives. The report includes design considerations, critical features and strategies including those to adopt and those to avoid.

Start-end date: February 2015 - March 2015
Sponsor: Employment and Social Development Canada

Long-term impacts of the Life After High School program in BC

This project extends analysis from SRDC’s previous study of the Impact of Lowering Non-financial Barriers on Access to Post-secondary Education (Life After High School) in British Columbia. The intervention tested a sequence of three workshops delivered to high schools’ Grade 12 students intended to encourage the students to apply for post-secondary education and related student financial aid. A total of 50 BC high schools with low rates of students entering post-secondary education are involved. Impacts on students’ enrolment and persistence in post-secondary education, use of student financial aid and program choices are investigated across key subgroups defined by Aboriginal status, gender and high school achievement.

Start-end date: January 2015 - January 2016
Sponsor: Max Bell Foundation

Healthy Transitions from High School — A mental health promotion and prevention initiative: Pilot Phase

This project pilot tests and refines curriculum resources designed to help students develop the social, emotional and learning skills needed to navigate the transition from high school. It builds on earlier phases of background research and program development, and includes two components: 1) evaluate the adoption, delivery, and potential effectiveness of the resources in a pilot test in a small group of Ontario high schools and 2) consultations with educators, youth, and mental health experts to fine-tune the resources and prepare for their potential delivery in a greater number of schools. As with earlier phases, this project is conducted in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ontario School Mental Health ASSIST team.

Start-end date: December 2014 - September 2017
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor + School Mental Health ASSIST

The Face-to-Face Project: Bringing Youth with Disabilities and Employers Together

The Face-to-Face Project: Bringing Youth with Disabilities and Employers Together aims to find creative solutions that improve labour market integration for youths with disabilities. The project is an initiative of the BC Centre for Employment Excellence with financial support from the Vancouver Foundation’s Disability Supports for Employment Fund. Youths with disabilities (ages 18-25 years old) who have little to no work experience are matched with local employers of various sizes and sectors to engage in mock interviews and networking scenarios. Following this first connection, the employers refer the youth to a second employer. In addition to recruiting the youth and employers, the Centre provides resource materials and orientation for participating employers and youths. The project wrapped up in spring 2015 with a mini-forum and an evaluation that captures lessons learned and effective practices. This project is managed by the BC Centre for Employment Excellence, a division of SRDC.

Start-end date: November 2014 - April 2015
Sponsor: Vancouver Foundation

Students' exit profile

The goal of this project is to develop qualitative and quantitative measurement tools to collect an exit profile for each student. This profile includes the main attitudes, values ​​and competencies that the Board wants to develop in every student from kindergarten to Grade 12. The tool will be used to populate the Board's Accountability and Improvement Framework. This framework will serve the planning and evaluation needs of teachers as well as those of principals and senior administrators. SRDC's mandate is to provide technical support toward completing the profile.

Start-end date: April 2014 - May 2014
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est de l’Ontario

Review of Manitoba Employment Assistance Service Providers

SRDC conducted an evidence-based analysis of Manitoba’s Employment Assistance Service (EAS) providers to inform future funding decisions of the Manitoba government intended to promote an effective and efficient service delivery network. SRDC’s analysis provides indications of where changes in EAS programming are needed so that the program can “do more of the things that help, and less of the things that do not.” The analysis addresses five key questions: To what extent is EAS programming aligned with provincial and federal policy objectives? To what extent is current programming responsive to the needs of key population groups and communities? To what extent are programs responsive to the changing dynamics of Manitoba’s labour market? How effective is current programming in achieving results for job seekers, employers, and communities? What is the relative value for money of the existing EAS program, and are there opportunities for service improvements?

Start-end date: April 2014 - September 2015
Sponsor: Manitoba Department of Jobs and the Economy

Evaluation of the Urban and Priority High Schools (UPHS) Initiative

The initiative was first implemented in the 2008-09 school year with 37 urban secondary schools across the 12 school boards receiving funding until 2013-2014. It aimed to enhance the well-being and academic success of students living in high-needs neighbourhoods by way of creating a safe and positive learning school environment. The secondary schools that participated in the UPHS worked with community partners to provide additional supports and opportunities to these students based on a needs assessment and existing services. This evaluation intends to increase our understanding of how additional supports and opportunities influenced at-risk youths’ academic success, to document effective practices in engaging students, parents, and the community, to provide recommendations in regards to the content of a program monitoring information system, and to draw recommendations for improving student outcomes at the system level.

Start-end date: February 2014 - March 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Education

Manitoba Works! evaluation

The purpose of the research is to test the Government of Manitoba’s Manitoba Works! employment service model in the real-world setting of Manitoba’s new and evolving employment continuum and to assess its effectiveness for improving the labour market success of individuals who are receiving EIA and/or have complex needs. The research will assess gains on outcomes of interest among participants compared to non-participants, model cost-effectiveness, model implementation, and identify key success factors.

Start date: November 2013
Sponsor: Manitoba Department of Jobs and the Economy

Measuring the Impact of the YMCA of Greater Toronto on Community Health

The project supports the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s 2010-2020 Strategic Plan and the establishment and continuous improvement of its new Centres of Community by identifying a community health monitoring strategy that cuts across life stages and the community level, the regional level, and the GTA. The project provides a set of options for a community health monitoring strategy based on an analysis of other community health monitoring initiatives in Canada and abroad, data availability and quality for selected indicators in the GTA, and the YMCA’s outcomes of interest related to its programming.

Start-end date: November 2013 - March 2014
Sponsor: YMCA of Greater Toronto

Understanding current employment programming and services for BC youth

This project funded five research papers that explored challenges faced by BC youth who are struggling in the labour market. The project involved a call for papers inviting researchers to submit proposals to explore youth employment barriers from a variety of angles, and to identify promising solutions for such issues as supporting youth who are entering the labour market or helping them find work that is a better match for their skills. The five selected papers covered such topics as: the barriers faced by vulnerable youth and youth living with mental illness; the value of work placements for refugee and immigrant youth; the role of employers; and the potential of social enterprises for supporting transitioning youth. The papers were presented at a June 2014 symposium in Vancouver involving approximately 80 stakeholders. The research teams also presented their findings during a series of webinars hosted by the Centre in fall 2014. The final papers have been published on the Centre’s Web site. This project was managed by the BC Centre for Employment Excellence, a division of SRDC.

Start-end date: October 2013 - August 2014
Sponsor: British Columbia Ministry of Social Development and Social Innovation

PSE-related financial literacy among disadvantaged youth

This project aims to address information barriers to post-secondary education (PSE) access faced by disadvantaged youth – specifically, the lack of engaging online resources to learn about the benefits of PSE and how to afford it. Together with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC), SRDC is conducting an evaluation project that tests the effectiveness of new, online financial literacy resources related to PSE and targeted to low-income youth. The resources are provided through Rogers Raising the Grade, a new after-school program offered at 35 Boys and Girls Clubs across Canada, and build on an existing collaboration between SRDC and BGCC. Funding for this project is provided by the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund administered by Prosper Canada.

Start-end date: October 2013 - April 2015
Sponsor: Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI)

Design phase: Promoting mental health for youth through transitions

Building on an earlier phase of background research into student mental health issues, this project aims to design an intervention to support students through the transition from high school. SRDC met with potential collaborators, finalized the conceptual framework, developed an intervention/ delivery model and curriculum outline, developed an evaluation plan, and identified potential funders for a subsequent pilot test. SRDC also consulted with youth on design and delivery, and engaged experts as required to ensure the feasibility, scalability, innovation, and appeal of the intervention to high school students. The result is a detailed proposal to a funder to implement and test the program on a pilot basis, to learn what works to promote and protect student mental health.

Start-end date: September 2013 - June 2014
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Evaluating the impact of patients’ direct lab access

As part of the move toward a more modernized health care system, tele-health and digital health services provide patients with direct access to health information and advice 24/7, 365 days a year. The aim of this study is to understand the impact of direct patient access to laboratory results in B.C. in terms of healthcare access, quality, and productivity. Through interviews with physicians and a survey of service subscribers and a general population panel, the study examines how direct access to lab results compares to traditional means of access (i.e., via the physicians’ office) in terms of service reliability and efficiency, patient experience, patients’ utilization of healthcare services, and physicians’ practices and workloads. Results of this study support future planning around patient access to health information and contribute to the peer-reviewed literature.

Start-end date: July 2013 - March 2014
Sponsor: Canada Health Infoway

Further Analysis on the Impacts of Needs Assessment Simplification

This project extends work seeking to identify options to simplify student financial aid (SFA) applications in Canada by assessing the scope for limiting or modifying the data elements currently collected to determine SFA offers. The analysis involves data from actual applications and awards. SRDC simulates aid offers to assess the role played by each data element in determining the level and composition of actual aid offers made and runs sensitivity tests for different student sub-groups to assess their vulnerability to the removal or modification of each element. The simulations and sensitivity tests are undertaken at both a national and a provincial level. The main deliverable is a range of simplification options along with the pros and cons of each, including a range of possible effects on program costs.

Start-end date: July 2013 - December 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Moving on Mental Health – Toronto Implementation Panel

Working with the Ministry and sector stakeholder groups to develop a report that outlines options and recommendations for system reform consistent with Moving on Mental Health, the Ministry of Children and Youth Services policy framework for child and youth mental Health (A Shared Responsibility).

Start-end date: April 2013 - October 2013
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services

Life After High School Ontario – Phase II

A pilot project to develop and test streamlined options for delivery of the Life After High School program in Ontario. The program options provide Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. Students are guided through online tools and video in the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program, and applying for financial aid. In the initial stage of the project, SRDC provided consulting services and a set of recommended models for test, including consideration of a variant model for Crown Wards. Following the selection of preferred models, the second stage commenced delivery of the options during the 2013-14 school year. Delivery models vary in order to assess the impact of paying the application fee of either the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS) or the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) and different forms of facilitation. This research project seeks to learn which models are most effective in supporting all Grade 12 students at a school to make applications for post-secondary studies and financial aid, and in increasing enrolment in further education.

Start-end date: April 2013 - March 2016
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Extension of Future to Discover data collection and analysis

The evaluation of a demonstration project involving 4,400 high-school students in New Brunswick that is testing, through a randomized trial, an alternative form of financial support and enhanced career education as ways to increase youth participation in post-secondary education, especially youth from low-income families. This extension permits the study to collect data for the analysis of outcomes through to the completion of post-secondary education and early labour market experience.

Start-end date: March 2013 - December 2017
Sponsor: New Brunswick Education and Early Childhood Development

Manageable Student Debt Threshold Research

This project assesses current understanding on levels of manageable student debt. It begins with a review of existing theoretical and empirical evidence, both national and international, and an environmental scan of the existing practices in defining and measuring manageable student debt. Current private and public sector practices on definition, calculations, and measurements of manageable debt are gathered through key informant interviews with private sector loan providers, credit agencies, and debt counselling representatives. Data analysis of individual level microdata from Statistics Canada is used to estimate various manageable student debt thresholds, corresponding to those identified in the initial review.

Start-end date: January 2013 - March 2013
Sponsor: Alberta Enterprise and Advanced Education

Review of Employment and Training Programs

The purpose of this Program Review is to assist the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities in developing an evidence-based framework for the potential integration and ongoing evaluation of employment and training programs. To achieve this SRDC uses a comprehensive approach including: environmental scan, review of program documents, extensive discussions with MTCU staff, analysis of existing state of knowledge reviews that SRDC has conducted, key informant interviews with other ministries, value for money techniques, stakeholder consultations, policy analysis, and program design. Based on findings from the review of in-scope programs and consultations with key stakeholders as well as an analysis of the existing research on effective and/or promising approaches to employment and training services, SRDC develops high level recommendations for a potential future state of the Ontario employment and training system.

Start-end date: December 2012 - December 2013
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Evaluation of WellnessFits

The Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division, in partnership with Healthy Families BC Initiative, has developed a comprehensive workplace health promotion program, WellnessFits. The aim of WellnessFits is to help employers and employees address key health behaviours that can reduce an individual’s risk for cancer and other chronic diseases. The program’s three principle strategies of educate, act, and support guide the overall development and delivery of the program. SRDC was commissioned to conduct an initial evaluation of this program.

Start-end date: December 2012 - April 2013
Sponsor: Canadian Cancer Society, BC and Yukon Division

Summative Evaluation of HealthLink BC – Phase Two

HealthLink BC (HLBC) provides BC residents with 24-hour, 365-day access to medically approved information and advice. The aim of the second phase of this project is to conduct a summative evaluation of HLBC client facing services. This includes examining awareness, use, satisfaction, outcomes, impacts, and cost-benefit associated with the HLBC programs and services.

Start-end date: December 2012 - June 2016
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Health, HealthLink BC

Job Entry Manitoba (JEM)

The project is a developmental evaluation that examines and provides regular feedback to the client on the development and implementation of the new Job Entry Manitoba (JEM) program, a key component of Manitoba’s new training-to-employment service support continuum. The project also identifies key immediate outcomes and measurement approaches to support the building of a data collection system and tools. The evaluation addresses standard implementation questions such as how does the JEM model work in practice? It also aims to systematically understand how the implementation of JEM influences provider practices in both intended and unintended ways. More fundamentally, it assesses how JEM has impacted providers’ sense of professional efficacy by exploring the extent to which providers feel that the new model enables them to better meet the needs of their target population.

Start-end date: November 2012 - December 2013
Sponsor: Workplace Education Manitoba

Predicting Student Loan Delinquency and Default

This project develops a model to predict student loan delinquency and default based on borrower characteristics using administrative data. The goal is to improve the targeting of at-risk borrowers and improve the efficiency of program resources devoted to reducing student loan default. The work involves documenting the theoretical and empirical evidence to date, a thorough data assessment to identify key variables, statistical modelling of loan delinquency and default, calculating probabilities for different borrower characteristics, and comparing again to the literature to identify discrepancies and new findings.

Start-end date: October 2012 - March 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

School engagement in middle and secondary schools – Phase II

Pilot project for testing educational practices that encourage school engagement among middle and secondary school students. This second phase of the study focuses primarily on creating the measures required for evaluating implementation of the educational practices tested during Phase I of the project. The tools were developed in close collaboration with stakeholders from four schools in the Ottawa region, in particular school board and teaching staff members, as well as students. The third phase of the project aims to evaluate the effect of educational practices on student school engagement. To achieve this, student engagement is examined based on the degree of implementation of educational practices.

Start-end date: October 2012 - April 2013
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario

Needs Assessment Simplification

This project seeks to identify options to simplify student financial aid (SFA) applications in Canada. It does this by assessing the scope for limiting or modifying the data elements currently collected to determine SFA offers. The main analysis involves data on actual applications and awards. SRDC simulates revised aid offers to assess the role played by each data element in determining the level and composition of actual aid offers made and runs sensitivity tests for different student sub-groups to assess their vulnerability to the removal or modification of each element. The simulations and sensitivity tests are undertaken at both a national and a provincial level. Based on these findings and a review of the literature, a range of simplification options are presented along with the pros and cons of each, including a range of possible effects on program costs.

Start-end date: September 2012 - March 2013
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Learning how to promote youth mental health through the transition from high school

With youth mental health rapidly emerging as a public policy priority, this project examines the needs of students as they make the transition from high school to post-secondary education or work. It aims to develop a plan for an intervention that will help improve students’ mental health literacy, so they are better equipped to recognize potential problems, develop effective coping strategies, and know how to use resources to promote and protect their mental health. The project involves a review of the relevant research literature, an environmental scan of existing programs, and interviews with key stakeholders, as background research to designing a potential intervention.

Start-end date: August 2012 - December 2012
Sponsor: Anonymous sponsor

Evaluation of HeartSmart KidsTM

HeartSmart KidsTM has trained over 8,390 educators to deliver health education to elementary school students. Its curricula based program is designed to help educators teach young people to have a healthy lifestyle and a healthy heart. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and the Yukon commissioned SRDC to conduct an evaluation of this program to provide information for future development by identifying components that worked well and aspects of the program that could be improved.

Start-end date: August 2012 - March 2013
Sponsor: The Heart and Stroke Foundation of BC and the Yukon

Raising the Grade Evaluation

This project provides evaluation support to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) as they develop and launch an innovative new after-school program in 25 clubs across Canada. SRDC is conducting a developmental evaluation to provide useful, timely feedback to BGCC as it fine-tunes program design and implementation, as well as an outcome evaluation to investigate potential benefits of the program for participants and clubs.

Start-end date: June 2012 - June 2017
Sponsor: Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada

Design for Evaluating an Online Career Development Services Intervention

A study assessing the feasibility of using a random assignment design for the evaluation of the delivery of a Web-based comprehensive Career Development Services (CDS) intervention that can improve the career development of older workers and recent immigrants, enabling them to make meaningful and effective decisions in relation to the labour market and to take action on those decisions.

Start-end date: September 2011 - November 2011
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

School Engagement in Middle School

A pilot project aiming to develop, apply, and test teaching strategies that enhance school engagement in middle school students. The existing strategies are identified based on document and literature reviews. In addition, new strategies are developed using a motivational framework extensively applied to the school setting. The strategies are then tested in two classrooms in a school located in the Ottawa area.

Start-end date: September 2011 - January 2012
Sponsor: Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario

A multidimensional approach to reducing the appeal of sweet beverages

The main goal of the project is to gain a better understanding of how sweet beverages are marketed to target young Canadians so that it is easier to take concrete actions in the future to make environments more conducive to healthy lifestyle habits. To accomplish this, the project incorporates three main thrusts: 1) provide a comprehensive picture of the sweet beverage market in Canada and existing marketing strategies targeting young people; 2) adapt the Gobes-tu ça? project developed by Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec for young Francophones age 13 to 17 in Alberta and, if funding is extended beyond this period, identify other potential sponsors for the Gobes-tu ça? project elsewhere in the country; and 3) disseminate and use our study of the sweet beverage market and adapt this knowledge transfer tool accordingly.

Start-end date: June 2011 - October 2012
Sponsor: Association pour la santé publique du Québec and Public Health Agency of Canada

Life After High School in Ontario

A pilot project to test an innovative program called Life After High School in Ontario. Starting in October 2011, the program provides Grade 12 students at selected Ontario secondary schools with practical support applying for post-secondary education and financial aid. In three on-line facilitated workshops at 43 schools, students are guided through the process of selecting a post-secondary program of their choice, applying for a place in that program, and applying for financial aid. The application fee of either the Ontario College Application Service (OCAS) or the Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) is covered by the program. This research project seeks to learn whether supporting all Grade 12 students at a school in making real applications for post-secondary studies and financial aid increases enrolment in further education.

Start-end date: May 2011 - March 2015
Sponsor: Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Assessing the Impacts of the New Canada Student Grants Program

This project consists of a program evaluation study of HRSDC’s new Canada Student Grants Program (CSGP). Introduced in 2009, the CSGP consolidates all previous federal student grants. The new grants aim to improve access to post-secondary studies and to reduce costs for students from low- and middle-income families, students with permanent disabilities, part-time students, and students with dependants. The project involves a literature review of relevant policies and programs, an evaluation of the feasibility of the available data and research methods to assess the CSGP, and a final report containing an empirical analysis of the effectiveness of the CSGP in achieving its stated objectives.

Start-end date: February 2011 - March 2012
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Career Development Services (CDS) – Field Consultations with Canadian Practitioners

A consultative study to identify gaps in services and explore innovative practices in the delivery of employment counselling and training for unemployed lower-skilled Canadian adults. Consultations include focus groups and depth interviews with practitioners involved in the intake, assessment, and referral of unemployed clients as well as training providers in four provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia.

Start-end date: December 2010 - March 2011
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Multisite evaluation of the Francophone Youth Inclusion Program (YIP)

A multisite evaluation of a youth crime prevention program entitled Youth Inclusion Program (YIP). The Francophone YIP seeks to reduce the number of arrests, truancy, and school expulsions for a group of high-risk youths within the same community. To achieve its objectives, the program offers youths, by way of an individualized intervention plan, a combination of sports, education, training, and interventions on subjects such as health and drugs. The evaluation of the Francophone YIP is spread over five years and was conducted in Montreal (Quebec) and in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield (Quebec). SRDC conducted a process evaluation, an impact evaluation, a costs analysis and a relevancy evaluation.

Start-end date: November 2010 - December 2016
Sponsor: Public Safety Canada

Successful Programs That Were Effective in Developing Entrepreneurship Skills Among Youth and Contributed to Sustainable Settlement of Youth in Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs)

This research project focuses on understanding and developing the role of youth entrepreneurship as a strategy to encourage the sustainable settlement of youth in Official Language Minority Communities. It also seeks to identify promising ideas that can be implemented and evaluated in the Canadian OLMC context.

Start-end date: November 2010 - April 2011
Sponsor: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology

Providing expert advice on accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada.

Start-end date: June 2010 - June 2010
Sponsor: Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science, and Technology

Youth Connect

The provision of technical assistance with the development of an evaluation strategy for the Youth Connect pilot program. Areas of assistance included strategies for the effective use of random assignment in one study site, sampling and recruitment issues, and on the development of data collection instruments.

Start-end date: August 2008 - March 2009
Sponsor: Newfoundland, Department of Human Resources and Employment

Navigating the Labour Market

A short-term classroom economic experiment to probe the relationship between literacy and labour market knowledge, and to assess the impact of a short labour market information intervention on labour market knowledge.

Start-end date: January 2008 - July 2008
Sponsor: Human Resources and Social Development Canada

Evaluation of the BC Healthy Living Alliance (BCHLA) Initiatives

BCHLA is a provincial coalition of organizations working together to improve the health of British Columbians. The coalition has implemented 16 initiatives in the health promotion and population health areas, designed to deliver activities across the province in three themes: Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, and Tobacco Reduction. In the first phase of the evaluation project, SRDC conducted evaluability assessments for each initiative as well as the clusters or themes to produce evaluation plans and budgets for “evaluable” projects and clusters. In the second phase, SRDC evaluated 6 of the 16 initiatives, as well as a case study of the Community Capacity Building Strategy and provided technical assistance to the other BCHLA initiatives that were not part of the evaluation project. Some of the evaluations involved vulnerable populations, such as Aboriginal communities.

Start-end date: July 2007 - May 2010
Sponsor: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research

Willingness to Pay for Post-secondary Education Among Under-represented Groups

A study to evaluate high-school students’ debt aversion or willingness to incur debt to access post-secondary education. The study focuses in particular on the decision-making process of youth from low SES families, Aboriginal families, and rural sectors, and on first generation students. Participants are tested for numeracy, risk, and time preferences. A sample of 1,400 students in 14 schools across 4 provinces took part in this project.

Start-end date: May 2007 - December 2009
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

Research Support for Dissemination: Early Analyses of Future to Discover Baseline Data

In advance of planned publication, the Future to Discover evaluation team undertook early analysis of Future to Discover’s two recruited cohorts from New Brunswick and one cohort from Manitoba, prepared tables for three conferences and presented at the conferences.

Start-end date: December 2005 - April 2006
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

Making Education Work

Provides advice on the random assignment evaluation for a project concerned with increasing educational attainment among Manitoba Aboriginal students.

Start-end date: August 2005 - December 2009
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

BC Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Pilot Project

The evaluation of a demonstration project, using a random assignment design with more than 1,300 high-school students in British Columbia, of an academic preparation model for under-achieving students who are unlikely to go on to post-secondary education without some supportive intervention. To date, SRDC has published BC AVID Pilot Project: Early Implementation Report (2008), BC AVID Pilot Project: Interim Impacts Report (2010), and BC AVID Pilot Post-secondary Impacts Report (2014).

Start-end date: August 2003 - December 2013
Sponsor: Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation

Facilitation of a “Sounding Board” on Youth Labour Market Indicators/Evaluation for YES Strategic Policy Development

Start-end date: April 2002 - May 2002
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada, Employment Policy (Labour Market Policy)

Fostering Adult Education: The Efficient Use of Loans, Grants, and Savings Incentives

An examination of the barriers to adult education and the relative attractiveness of alternative forms of student financial assistance to encourage investment in education.

Start-end date: April 2002 - December 2004
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada (Applied Research Branch and Canada Student Loans Program)

Expert advice and design options for at-risk youth and for frequent users of Employment Insurance

Start-end date: September 2001 - October 2001
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada

Will the Working Poor Invest in Human Capital?

An examination of people’s willingness to delay consumption, to invest in education for themselves or their children, and their reaction to risk.

Start-end date: September 2001 - February 2002
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada

Technical assistance on the costs and benefits of “work first” welfare-to-work programs

Start-end date: August 1999 - October 1999
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Social Development and Economic Security

Transitions

A study to review promising school-based programs to increase student retention. The study involved reviews of the reasons students “drop out” of high school and field visits to 24 stay-in-school programs in 5 cities across BC. It recommended several promising intervention options and strategies for their evaluation.

Start-end date: January 1999 - July 1999
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology

BladeRunners and Picasso Café: A Case Study Evaluation of Two Work-based Training Programs for Disadvantaged Youth Case

The BladeRunners Partnership and the Picasso Café (Vancouver) both used work-based approaches to re-engage street youth. This case study evaluates the programs’ implementation and effectiveness.

Start-end date: August 1998 - March 2001
Sponsor: HRDC Evaluation and Data Development Branch, HRDC Youth Initiatives Directorate, National Literacy Secretariat, BC Ministry of Community Development, Cooperatives and Volunteers, and ARCO Foundation

Research Support to the HRDC Ministerial Task Force on Youth

Including the preparation of the report: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Employment-related Programs and Services for Youth (a summary of this report was subsequently published as the first study in the HRDC “lessons learned” series).

Start-end date: November 1996 - November 1996
Sponsor: Human Resources Development Canada

Evaluation Strategy for BC Benefits

Youth works and welfare-to-work components.

Start-end date: February 1996 - February 1996
Sponsor: BC Ministry of Skills, Training and Labour, Program Evaluation