2024/25 Motivational Interviewing Impact Study

As a federally funded AmeriCorps program, Minnesota Alliance With Youth's Promise Fellow program must conduct an independent impact evaluation every three years. 

In 2023, the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow program was assessed as being in the strong evidence tier of AmeriCorps programs nationally, the highest evidence rating assigned to AmeriCorps programs. Strong evidence indicates that the program demonstrates consistently positive outcomes through multiple multi-site, quasi-experimental design (QED) program evaluations.

This rating was awarded based on the findings of our 2022 Impact Study that focused on Promise Fellows; impact on school attendance. Results from the Impact Study showed significant attendance gains for students served by Promise Fellows. The study found that, on average, students that participated in the program attended an additional week, or roughly five days of school, relative to students that did not participate in the program. The largest effects were observed among high school students and the analysis also indicated a larger benefit for Asian American, Latinx and multiracial students; with each of these student demographic groups showing an increase of approximately 10 additional days of school attendance each year.

For the 2024-25 program year, the Alliance is building upon the success of these findings to further refine and improve our successful Promise Fellow model, focusing on the use of Motiviational Interviewing as a caring adult intervention with students struggling with consistent school attendance.

The study will evaluate the extent to which additional coaching and support for Motivational Interviewing produces (1) improvements in the rate and quality of MI implementation with youth and (2) produces attendance benefits above Business as Usual (BAU) program implementation. MI is a fundamental component of member training and program delivery; however, we recognize that the quality of implementation could be improved by more regular coaching and observational support as the value of those ongoing supports has been demonstrated in previous empirical research. 

The primary outcome of interest in the evaluation is student attendance. In addition, we will measure member-level implementation of motivational interviewing, expressed as the number of student sessions during which MI occurred and the average fidelity rating for MI implementation. We are also interested in outcomes on the member-student relationship and are interested in suggestions the evaluator may have.

The following research questions are of primary interest for this evaluation:

To what extent does student school attendance—a primary outcome for the program—differ between PFs receiving monthly MI coaching and those receiving institute-only training prior to the academic year?

In addition, we will assess two exploratory research questions examining facets of implementation. More specifically:

To what degree does the frequency of MI strategy implementation differ between PFs receiving monthly MI coaching and those receiving institute-only training prior to the academic year?

To what extent does the fidelity of MI strategies differ between PFs receiving monthly MI coaching and those receiving institute-only training prior to the academic year?

Our primary hypothesis is that MI coaching will be associated with a greater frequency of MI strategy use, quality of MI strategy use, and better school attendance rates among students served.

The Alliance is committed to the continuous improvement of our programs, and we look forward to sharing the results of the study with our partners and supporters.  Please reach out to Kate Suchomel, Lead Development & Communications Officer ([email protected]), with any questions about the Impact Study.