202: The Ansell Casey Life Skills Assessment

202: The Ansell Casey Life Skills Assessment


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Learning Objectives

• Examine the basic history and development of the Casey Life Skills Tools;

• Operate the Casey Life Skills Tools and web site; and

• Employ the Ansell Casey Life Skills Assessment in your work place and with youth.

The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program


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Do you have additional objectives for today?



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Foundations of Casey’s work• Youth centered;• Expert-focused;• Strengths-based;• Developmentally appropriate;• Diverse and anti-racist; and• Useful for setting case goals.



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Its My Life FrameworkThe Seven Domains

• Identity formation;• Supportive relationships and community

connections;• Physical and mental health;• Life skills;• Education;• Employment; and• Housing.



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Why Was the ACLSA Needed?• In the early 1990s, Casey discovered

the need for an instrument that:– Includes youth and caregivers;– Is strengths-focused;– Is developmentally appropriate;– Is culturally sensitive and gender

appropriate; and– Is useful for setting case goals.



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Who Developed the ACLSA?• Casey Family programs, who also

developed the “It’s My life Framework”• Dorothy Ansell, Director, the National

Resource Center for Youth Development



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Youth-Driven and Strengths-Based

• Developed with youth– “Nothing about us without us!”

• Asks what youth are capable of – “Knows or is able to…”



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Casey’s Assessment Supplements

• Developed in response to requests from the field;

• Developed with youth input and review;• Contributions by child welfare experts; and• Thorough multi-cultural review.



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Current Practice• How are the organizations you work

for assessing youth’s needs?• What does the organization you work

with do with the results?



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Casey Life Skills Tools


Assessment

Score Report

The Conversatio

n

Learning Plan

Instruction

Application


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Identify and Locate All the Tools on

www.caseylifeskills.org


http://www.caseylifeskills.org/


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Types of Items on the ACLSA• Knowledge• Behavior• “Extra”- experimental, not scored• Performance• Add your own!



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The Four Developmental Levels of the ACLSA and Life Skills

Guidebook• Level I – Ages 8-9• Level II – Ages 10-12• Level III – Ages 13-15• Level IV – Ages 16 and older• Short Form – Ages 11-18



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The Appropriate Application of the Four Developmental Levels

• Levels are based on the child’s development rather than on the number of birthdays

• Ages do not appear on the assessment or score report for the youth to see



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Domain DescriptionsDomain I II III IV ShortCommunication X X X XDaily Living X X X X XWork/Study Skills X X X XHome Life XSelf Care X X X X XSocial Relationships X X X XHousing/Money Management

X X X

Career Planning XWork Life X



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The Assessment Supplements and How to Use Them

• American Indian • Pregnancy • Parenting Infants (ages 0-24 months) • Parenting Young Children (ages 2-6 years) • Homeless• Education (four levels)• GLBTQ• Youth Values



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The Four Levels of the Education Supplements

• Upper Elementary School• Middle School or Junior High School• High School• Postsecondary Education or Training



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How to Locate the Supplements and Corresponding Guidebooks



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How to Complete an Assessment


http://www.caseylifeskills.org/index.htm


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The Importance of the Youth ID and the Organizational ID

• Can track a youth’s mastery of living skills;

• Can track a program’s effectiveness; and• Can create matching score reports.


http://www.caseylifeskills.org/index.htm


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Accessing a Score Report



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The Conversation – How to Discuss the Score Report

Results • Always begin with the areas of strength.• Move to areas of challenge – never

weaknesses.• What is the area of greatest

disagreement?• Identify learning goals.



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Understanding Individual Learning Style

• Auditory• Kinesthetic• Visual



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The Levels of Learning and the Learning Goals in the Life Skills

Guidebook

• Awareness• Knowledge and understanding• Knows how to…• Can or is able to….



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Knows How To…



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Can or is able to…



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Create a Learning Plan



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Building a learning plan that incorporates the unique

interests and needs of each youth



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Implementing a learning plan that addresses the youth’s

interests and needs• The Life Skills Guidebook;• The youth’s resources;• Your organization’s materials;• The local community; and• Be creative.



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Data & Reports



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Why Group Data Reports?• State evaluation of pre and post results on

ACLSA Evaluations;• Agency evaluation of pre and post results

on ACLSA evaluations;• Identify priority needs for curriculum

planning and strengthening collaborations; and

• Detailed analysis of strengths and challenges (using raw scores).



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Types of Reports• Single Organization-Demographics,

Mastery, Raw and Performance Scores for one organization.

• Multiple Organizations Combined-Same information for multiple organizations combined.

• Multiple Organizations separated by organizations-Single agency reports for more than one agency on one report.



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Types of Reports (cont.)• Youth and Caregiver Comparisons for

single and multiple organizations - How do youth and caregivers concur and differ on the youth’s skill level?

• Tab Delineated Raw Data Download - All your data anytime!



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Data ComparisonsMastery Scores



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The Web Site and Accessing Reports



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Discussion• How could these reports be used by

your agency? • What would be the best way to

present this data? – How often? – What format? – To whom?



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Questions and Answers


Documents

202: The Ansell Casey Life Skills Assessment