Measuring What Matters: Practical Evaluation for Museum Youth Programs

ID: WMA2026_549

Track:

What does success look like for youth programs in museums—and how do we measure it? Using a long-running youth teaching program, this session explores practical, accessible strategies for evaluating leadership, communication, and STEM identity. Participants will examine tools already in use, preview new instruments under development, and engage in interactive exercises to design evaluation tools. Attendees will leave with adaptable strategies to document impact in their own programs.

Session Information

Format: Regular session/panel (roundtable, single speaker, etc.)

Uniqueness: Evaluation is a hot word. Using our long-running program as a case study, we’ll talk what evaluation practically - what’s worth it and how to-s.

Objectives:

Museums increasingly seek ways to understand the impact of youth programs but often struggle to determine what outcomes are most meaningful – and how to measure them in ways that reflect the full impact of their programs. Using Youth Teaching Youth’s 30+ years of programming as a case-study, this session explores how program staff and researchers have approached evaluation at different stages – from educator-led efforts, to partnering with an evaluation firm, to developing strategies for measuring deeper impacts. Participants will:

1. Identify meaningful outcomes for youth programs – including leadership, communication, belonging, and STEM identity – and consider how these align with their own institutional goals.  
2. Understand the strengths and limitations of different evaluation approaches through real examples of what worked – and what didn’t – when measuring program impact over time.
3. Develop practical strategies for measuring prioritized outcomes through a guided activity in which attendees design evaluation questions or tools tailored to their own programs.  By the end of the session, attendees will leave with clearer priorities for what to measure, along with practical strategies, example tools, and new ideas for documenting meaningful in their own institutions.

Engagement: Audience participation is embedded throughout the session through both small-group and whole-room discussion. During the dedicated interactive section, attendees will break into smaller groups, each with a different evaluative tool (survey, reflection prompts, observation, and creative methods) as the focus, where they can workshop their ideas and struggles for their programs with peers  while presenters circulate to guide discussion and share examples from practice.

Relationship to Theme:

Audience

Audiences: Other 

Professional Level: All levels 

Scalability: Museums of all sizes seek meaningful ways to evaluate educational programs but often feel overwhelmed by the process. The focus on practical, adaptable evaluation tools all educators can implement regardless of institutional size or available resources. Participants will leave with approaches that can be scaled for small institutions or expanded within larger organizations.

Participants