202: the ansell casey life skills assessment. learning objectives examine the basic history and...

202: The Ansell Casey Life Skills Assessment


2

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


3

Do you have additional objectives for today?



4

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



5

Its My Life Framework

The Seven Domains• Identity formation;• Supportive relationships and community

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



6

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.



7

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



8

Youth-Driven and Strengths-Based

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

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



9

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.



10

Current Practice• How are the organizations you work

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

with do with the results?



11

Casey Life Skills Tools


Assessment

Score Report

The Conversatio

n

Learning Plan

Instruction

Application


12

Identify and Locate All the Tools on

www.caseylifeskills.org


http://www.caseylifeskills.org/


13

Types of Items on the ACLSA

• Knowledge• Behavior• “Extra”- experimental, not scored• Performance• Add your own!



14

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



15

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



16

Domain DescriptionsDomain I II III IV Short

Communication X X X X

Daily Living X X X X X

Work/Study Skills X X X X

Home Life X

Self Care X X X X X

Social Relationships X X X X

Housing/Money Management

X X X

Career Planning X

Work Life X



17

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



18

The Four Levels of the Education Supplements

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



19

How to Locate the Supplements and Corresponding Guidebooks



20

How to Complete an Assessment


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


21

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


22

Accessing a Score Report



23

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.



24

Understanding Individual Learning Style

• Auditory

• Kinesthetic

• Visual



25

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….



26

Knows How To…



27

Can or is able to…



28

Create a Learning Plan



29

Building a learning plan that incorporates the unique

interests and needs of each youth



30

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.



31

Data & Reports



32

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).



33

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.



34

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!



35

Data ComparisonsMastery Scores



36

The Web Site and Accessing Reports



37

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?



38

Questions and Answers


202: the ansell casey life skills assessment. learning objectives examine the basic history and...

Documents

life skills guidebook

life framework dorothy

child welfare experts

casey family programs

youth development

youth input

work place

learning objectives