Proven Results
For more than ten years, National 4‑H Council has partnered with Tufts University to study the effectiveness of its youth development programs. This first-of-its-kind research study found that 4‑H’s unique hands-on approach gives youth the opportunity to learn by doing and build life skills. The 4‑H Study of Positive Youth Development is a longitudinal study that began in 2002 and was repeated annually for eight years, surveying more than 7,000 adolescents from diverse backgrounds across forty-two US states.
TIPPs (Tennessee’s Innovative Program Priorities) for 4-H
The mission of Tennessee 4-H Youth Development is to provide research-based Extension educational experiences that will stimulate young people to gain knowledge, develop life skills, and form positive attitudes to prepare them to become capable, responsible, and compassionate adults.
The foundation of strong curricula is a clear vision of expected student learning outcomes. Previous research has shown that 4-H programming can be effectively leveraged to promote the development of life skills because adolescence is a time in which lifelong habits of mind and behaviors are established.
The Targeting Life Skills model, developed by Patricia Hendricks of Iowa State University in 1996, served as the foundation for the development of Tennessee’s Innovative Programming Priorities for 4-H (TIPPs for 4-H). The life skills and subskills identified in the Targeting Life Skills model were crafted into outcomes and indicators and then organized according to cognitive and affective domains of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These outcomes and indicators were then aligned to grade levels based on developmental stage. TIPPs for 4-H was reviewed by Tennessee 4-H agents, directors, and specialists.
These outcomes will guide programming for both in-school and out-of-school clubs. Each outcome is the major goal students are working toward. Indicators are the smaller steps that, when combined, allow students to achieve the outcome. The outcomes and indicators are included in the grade level at which that skill should be mastered, not first introduced.
Find a listing of outcomes and indicators for each grade level here.
