YOS and COS Redesign Project
Big Brothers Big Sisters
“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

– William Bruce Cameron

Project News

YOS and COS Optional Question Sets

YOS and COS Optional Question Sets

One of the best features of the redesigned YOS and COS is that BBBS agencies now have the power to turn on or off a number of optional question sets. This level of customization has never been available on previous versions of the YOS and COS, and will allow agencies a wide amount of latitude to determine exactly what information they want to collect from Littles.

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YOS and COS Go-Live Preview

YOS and COS Go-Live Preview

The redesigned YOS and COS go live on August 31, 2020. But to be honest, not much is really going to feel different on go-live day. The effects of the go-live of the new YOS and COS will be slowly felt over a couple of months. Moreover, the customization that is built into the new surveys will allow agencies to control how much their surveys actually change.

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The Importance of the YOS and COS for Federal Funding

BBBSA currently has grants valued at $20.5 million from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. 90% of these funds are passed from BBBSA to BBBS agencies. The data collected by the YOS and COS is instrumental in securing government grants like these. In the following video, Julie Redcay, BBBSA Director of Federal Grants, explains the role the YOS and COS play in securing federal funds.

The New YOS and COS are Here!

A Promise Made, A Promise Kept

About the Project
The Youth Outcomes Survey (YOS) and Child Outcomes Survey (COS) are the primary tools for measuring the outcomes of Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mentoring programs. The data and information obtained by these surveys serve many purposes. Most importantly, these surveys provide program staff with valuable information on their Littles and the impact of their matches. In addition, these surveys support BBBS development, marketing, research, and grant related activities.

The current versions of the YOS and COS are well designed to reliably measure the validated metrics required to support the surveys’ multiple uses. However, the surveys have proved to be lengthy and difficult to administer.

The objective of the YOS and COS Redesign Project is to modify the current versions of the YOS and COS surveys to meet the needs of all BBBS stakeholders – especially those who administer the surveys. The desired outcome of this project is a set of surveys that balance the need for reliable, valid, and multi-use data and information with more practical, easier survey administration.

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Valid and Reliable

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Easy to Administer

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Multi-Use

Project Leadership

Mandy Bisceglia

Executive Sponsor

About Mandy

Mandy currently serves as BBBSA’s Chief Agency Officer (CAO). Prior to her role as CAO, Mandy was the BBBSA Director of Affiliate Support. In her 15 years of service to BBBS, Mandy has held numerous affiliate program related positions, first at BBBS of the Capital Region and later at BBBS of Tampa Bay.

Kevin Turgeon

Project and Change Manager

About Kevin

Kevin works for BBBSA’s project and change management partner organization, True Owl. Kevin has close to 20 years experience leading change initiatives across a wide spectrum of industries, including nonprofit, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation. Most recently, Kevin led the project and change management effort associated with the Matchforce implementation project.

Affiliate Task Force

Small Agency Alliance

Jessica Dirks

Program Director

BBBS of Greater Fredericksburg

Chad Krockover

CEO/ED

BBBS of Greater Lafayette

Hung Nguyen

CEO/ED

BBBS of Manitowoc County, Inc.

Small-Mid Agency Alliance

Suzanne Leavitt

Program Supervisor

BBBS of Snohomish County

Roxanne Akstulewicz

School-Based Coordinator

BBBS of Sheboygan County

Tiana Ochoa

Director of Mentoring Programs

BBBS of Rhode Island, Inc.

Mid-Large Agency Alliance

Melissa Goerbig

Vice President of Programs

BBBS of New Hampshire

Ann Matvick

Program Director

BBBS of Central Minnesota

Camille Brugh

Sr. Director of Mentoring

BBBS of Central Indiana

Large Agency Alliance

Nancy Basinger

President and CEO

BBBS of Utah

Muna Walker

Director of Community Programs

BBBS of Metropolitan Chicago

Dan Campbell

Vice President of Quality Assurance

BBBS of the Sun Coast

External Research Team

Liliokanaio Peaslee, Ph.D.

James Madison University

Amanda Teye, Ph.D.

James Madison University

David DuBois, Ph.D.

University of Illinois at Chicago

Carla Herrera, Ph.D.

Independent Consultant

Project Timeline

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Preparation and Project Kickoff

Preparation for the YOS and COS Redesign Project began in late September 2019. In November 2019, True Owl gathered information from over 1,300 BBBS agency staff members on sentiments regarding the current YOS and COS surveys. The survey redesign project officially kicked off in early December 2019.

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Agency Task Force Creation

In mid-December 2019, the co-chairs of the BBBS affinity groups nominated representatives for a task force that would help craft the new versions of the YOS and COS and speak on behalf of their colleagues throughout this process. This task force should be in place by early January 2020. The members of this group will be instrumental in crafting the new versions of the YOS and COS.

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Soliciting Network Input

True Owl will release a survey to the entire BBBS network in January 2020 to gather input on exactly what revisions should be made to the current YOS and COS. All BBBS staff are encouraged to provide feedback.

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Writing First Drafts

The redesign project team will create first drafts of the new YOS and COS in February and March of 2020. Once complete, these draft surveys will be released for comment to the entire BBBS network.

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Revising and Finalizing

The project team will spend April and May of 2020 revising and finalizing the new versions of the YOS and COS. The final versions of the surveys will be unveiled to the BBBS network at the 2020 National Conference in June.

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Training and Matchforce Preparation

After the National Conference, BBBSA and True Owl will build the revised surveys in Matchforce and develop training materials to help staff learn to use the the new tools

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Training and Go-Live

In the fall of 2020, BBBSA and its partner organizations will train agency staff on how to administer the new surveys and interpret the resulting data.  Once staff have completed this training, the surveys will go-live and the network will begin using them with matches.

Contact the Project Team
Do you have questions about the YOS and COS Redesign Project? Please reach out to us. We will get back in touch with you as soon as possible.