Strong, smart and bold strategies for improving attendance and retention in an after-school intervention

The Volunteers of America Greater Los Angeles (VOALA) Girls Inc. program is implementing and rigorously evaluating its Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy curriculum as part of a demonstration grant to identify effective teen pregnancy prevention programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health (OAH). A total of 517 participants from Title I urban middle and high schools were randomly assigned to either Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy (treatment) or Economic Literacy (control) in two cohorts. Programming occurred after school weekly at middle and high schools. Low attendance and loss of sample (attrition) are common challenges in after-school programming, negatively affecting both the ability of a program to be successful and the integrity of a randomized controlled trial. The current article discusses challenges encountered with recruitment, incentives, and school factors during a first cohort of youth and innovative implementation changes during a second cohort that resulted in increased attendance rates and decreased attrition rates. Commentary is provided by the OAH Project Officer as well as lessons learned after 2 years of implementing the program.