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ABSTINENCE EDUCATION
The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) in partnership with the Administration on Children and Families (ACF) held the second national conference on abstinence education evaluation on March 19th and 20th, 2007 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. The conference continued the theme of the first meeting, "Strengthening Programs through Scientific Evaluation." Who attended? More than 350 individuals who work in abstinence education programs, evaluators of abstinence programs, grantees from OPA, ACF, and abstinence programs from the United Stated Agency for International Development (USAID), policymakers, health educators, character educators, and other youth professionals, plus any others interested in evaluating programs for youth. What was presented? The conference presented skill-based workshops and plenary sessions that focused on a variety of participants and topics. It featured papers and posters submitted. The conference had interactive break-out and plenary sessions that addressed the beginning stages of evaluation as well as address issues and topics specific to advanced evaluation design and implementation. The conference encouraged collaboration between program management and program evaluation. A broad approach was taken through evaluation of adolescent behavior in general. Some of the special evaluation challenges for youth programs were examined. There were many break-out sessions where participants could hone their evaluation knowledge and skills as well as network with other abstinence education program evaluators and practitioners. Why did they attend? To learn how best to evaluate abstinence education programs and, in turn, serve the youth with whom they work. The conference supported and encouraged abstinence education practitioners and evaluators to work together. This conference helped evaluators and program practitioners that are new to evaluating abstinence education develop and refine program evaluation strategies. It helped those who are entrenched in evaluation update their knowledge on the state of the science in abstinence education program evaluation. How did this benefit participants? This conference increased the skills of those who participate by helping them learn new ways to improve local program evaluations. For those who are already effectively evaluating their programs, this conference provided updated information on the state of abstinence evaluation and networking opportunities with other abstinence education evaluators and practitioners. |
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