Development of a school-based, youth development program for pregnant and parenting teens

This program for pregnant and parenting teenagers uses a school-based model that features a youth development approach to help students improve in: academics, parenting, relationship-building, and workplace skills. The presentation will describe the development of a program intervention and evaluation that is an expansion of current programs and services at a public school sponsored charter school (Polly Fox Academy). The program development is based on the PRECEDE-PROCEED planning model. The program intervention includes new personnel, new programs, and new services in four key areas: 1) Educational Services, 2) Health Services, 3) Social/Mental Health Services and, 4) Parenting Services. The program has six primary objectives: 1) reduce incidence of repeat pregnancies, 2) increase conformance with infant immunization schedules, 3) increase students' educational attainment, 4) increase students' parenting knowledge, attitudes, skills, and self-efficacy, 5) improve students' abilities to build healthy relationships and, 6) improve students' self-efficacy beliefs regarding academic achievement, obtaining employment, and using contraception. The evaluation design for this project will be a quasi-experimental longitudinal design. Students attending Polly Fox Academy during the five year duration will act as the intervention group and pregnant/parenting teens who are attending traditional schools in the same area of the state will be recruited as the control group. Students will be tracked over five years and surveyed at regular intervals. Process and impact evaluation procedures will be discussed.