The QuEST Model: Out-of-School Time Contexts and Individual-level Change

This brief describes a model for a generic theory of change that highlights the relationship between the qualities of youth experience in out-of-school time (OST) programs. This model bears the acronym QuEST from the sequence: quality (Qu), engagement (E), skills (S), and transfer (T), The QuEST theory of change requires program providers to think very specifically about which skills they are trying to grow and how likely the qualities of program experience they provide will grow those skills.