SETS: Developmental Student Assessment for Youth Programs
Developmental student assessment and program management are rarely baked together for afterschool and youth development programs. SETS changes that. Observe each student from three perspectives, manage rosters, attendance, and demographics, and produce funder-ready reports – all in one system.
The problem SETS addresses
Afterschool and youth development programs are asked to show outcomes, but most small and mid-size programs have no practical way to measure them. Attendance and enrollment are easy to count. Growth in confidence, self-responsibility, and engagement is not.
Programs that do student assessment often piece together a survey tool, spreadsheets, and a separate data system. That adds administrative work for staff who are already stretched, and it rarely produces reports a funder can use.
SETS gives programs one system for observing student development, tracking participation and demographics, and reporting results to funders, parents, and boards.
Three perspectives on every student
SETS is a multi-informant assessment. Each student can be rated from three perspectives, so a program sees growth from more than one vantage point. Programs may use all three scales or any one of them.
| Scale | Completed by | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Teacher Observation Scale | Teachers and program staff | Growth staff observe in the program, rated on behaviorally anchored items |
| Student Self-esteem Scale | The student | How students see themselves and their own progress |
| Significant Other Scale | Parents, guardians, counselors, or other adults close to the student | Growth observed outside the program |
Observation that staff can apply consistently
Every item on the Teacher Observation Scale is behaviorally anchored: each rating point is defined by a description of what that level looks like in a student. This design supports consistency across observers and reduces the subjectivity common in student assessment rating scales.
It also does something most assessments don’t. Because the anchors describe what growth looks like, new and part-time staff learn what to look for in their students simply by using SETS. Assessment becomes a form of professional development.
Grounded in practice
SETS grew out of decades of direct work with young people. Bill Rossi began his youth programming by founding YATMA (Youth Advancement through Music & Art). Together, YATMA and Merge Education went on to serve more than 3,000 youth facing significant challenges. Rossi’s strengths-based approach came naturally to him, but most teachers have to learn it. Over years of that work, he developed the Principles of Empowerment, a way of putting his approach into words so other teachers could learn and apply it.
The Principles are the framework SETS is built on. They define fifteen observable skills students need in order to learn, from concentration and frustration tolerance to communicating ideas and building on prior learning, grouped into three areas: Relationship to Self, Relationship to Teacher, and Skills Development.
The approach is set out in his book Venturing Together: Empowering Students to Succeed. Rather than staying in theory, the book grounds the approach in concrete teaching moments: the situations teachers meet in lessons and the words they can use with students. It closes with teachers’ own profiles of their students, showing the approach in practice.
SETS student assessment is aligned with CASEL’s framework for social and emotional learning.
Student assessment proven in the field
For four years, SETS served as the outcome-reporting instrument for Merge Education, Inc. under a contract with the Chester County Department of Human Services (West Chester, PA), serving both its health and mental health divisions. SETS reports satisfied the Department’s reporting requirements throughout the contract period.
What programs get
Assessment & Reporting
- Individual student profiles and progress reports
- Group and program-level comparisons, including comparison groups
- Clear, professional reports for funders, parents, and boards
- Support for writing concise, achievable student goals
- Surveys that programs can adapt to their own goals
Program Management
- Students, families, staff, and partner organizations in a single database
- Class rosters, activities, attendance, and demographics
- Staff assessment tools to identify strengths and training needs
- One source of truth for both participation data and student outcomes, so staff enter information once
Where SETS fits
Most programs already use one of two kinds of tools. Assessment tools provide an instrument but not program management. Administrative platforms handle enrollment, classes, and attendance but don’t measure how students are developing.
SETS provides both a developmental instrument and the program data around it, at a cost small and mid-size programs can manage. It can also work alongside the administrative systems a program already uses, as the outcome layer those systems lack.
Current status
SETS was built as a locally installed Windows application and is available for demonstration. A web-based version is planned.
About Merge Education
Merge Education, Inc. supports programs that make a difference in the lives of vulnerable students. SETS was developed by Bill Rossi, working with a team of educators, psychologists, therapists, a psychiatrist, and software developers.
Merge Education is open to acquisition conversations with organizations that want to bring SETS to more programs.
Contact: Mary Helen Rossi, Co-Founder & CEO, Merge Education, Inc. · mhrossi@merge-education.com
