After six months of hard work, the YOS/COS redesign team is happy to announce the new outcome surveys are here!

Here is a summary of all of the changes that have been made to the surveys:

• Seven full question sets have been made optional on the YOS and three full question sets have been made optional on the COS. Completion of the optional question sets is not required and the decision to use any or all of the question sets is 100% up to each BBBS agency.
  • Optional YOS Question Sets
    • Excused Absences
    • Goal Setting and Pursuit Skills
    • School Misbehavior
    • Personal Conduct
    • Protective Behaviors
    • Interests and Sparks
    • Life Satisfaction
  • Optional COS Question Sets
    • School Misbehavior
    • Personal Conduct
    • Protective Behaviors
    • Note: The additional four question sets that have been made optional for the YOS are not part of the COS
• The Very Important Adult question set has been reduced from three to two questions.
• The question about carrying a gun or weapon has been replaced with a nonspecific question about doing anything that is against the law.
• The question about marijuana use has been removed from the survey.
• The Moods and Emotions section has been reduced by two questions.
• Survey instructions have been significantly reduced and reworded for clarity.
• A framing comment has been added before the questions about drug use.
• The response set for the questions about police and juvenile justice interactions has been changed to yes/no.
• The response set for questions asking about how many times something has occurred has been reduced from four options to three options.
• Changed Things You Have Done in the Past 6 Months has been changed to Things You Have Done in the Past Three Months.
• Increased the allowable timeframe from baseline administration of the YOS and COS to match activation from 30 days to 60 days.

New YOS/COS trainings are being created to support the redesigned surveys. The first of these new trainings, the YOS/COS Basics video, is available now on The Learning Exchange. This training provides introductory information on how and when to administer the redesigned YOS and COS as well as information on the importance of the surveys. Several additional training assets will be added to The Learning Exchange in the coming days and weeks. You can learn more about all of the new YOS and COS trainings that are being created here and you can access the new training curriculum by logging in to The Learning Exchange and searching for “2020 Youth Outcomes and Child Outcomes Surveys Training.”

The new YOS and COS will go-live in Matchforce on August 31, 2020. Agencies that administer paper versions of the YOS and COS should not start using the new surveys until this date.

On behalf of everyone who has worked on the redesigned YOS and COS, thank you for your support of the YOS/COS Redesign Project!

If you have any questions about the redesign of the YOS and COS, please email the project team by clicking here. We will get back to you as soon as possible.