Addressing Retention in Youth Programs: A Survey for Understanding Families' Experiences

Authors

• Kendra M. Lewis, University of California
• Timothy Ewers, University of Idaho
• JoLynn C. Miller, University of California
• Marianne Bird, University of California
• John Borba, University of California
• Russell D. Hill, University of California
• Jeannette Rea-Keywood, Rutgers University
• Nancy Shelstad, University of Idaho
• Kali Trzesniewski, University of California

Volume

56

Issue

3

Abstract

Research on retention in the 4-H youth development program has consistently shown that one of the primary indicators for youths' dropping out of 4-H is being a first-year member. Extension 4-H professionals from California, Idaho, Wyoming, and New Jersey formed a team to study this issue. Our team surveyed first-year members and their parents/guardians to better understand why youths were not reenrolling in 4-H after their first year. This article introduces the survey used to assess the first-year experience and intent to reenroll. We discuss the survey development process, survey testing, lessons learned, and conclusions related to its future use.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Lewis, K. M., Ewers, T., Miller, J. C., Bird, M., Borba, J., Hill, R. D., Rea-Keywood, J., Shelstad, N., & Trzesniewski, K. (2018). Addressing Retention in Youth Programs: A Survey for Understanding Families' Experiences. Journal of Extension, 56(3), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.34068/joe.56.03.05