This publication documents a participatory assessment project conducted from 1993 to 1995 with four afterschool programs in New York City. Key questions were whether the assessment project would develop the capacity of program staff to assess their own projects and whether the programs were successful in supporting the literacy development of the young people they served. Also considered were aspects of the programs positively associated with literacy development and lessons about the effectiveness of participatory assessment. Chapter 1 discusses the conceptual framework of the participatory assessment process and how it was implemented in this study. Chapter 2 describes the philosophical framework underlying the four programs and provides brief project profiles. These programs were characterized by a focus on young people as resources, not problems, and on literacy as involving many different practices fostered by active learning approaches. In chapter 3, critical aspects of the assessment process are described, and chapter 4 presents recommendations for participatory assessment projects and for strengthening afterschool and other youth-serving programs that support literacy among young people. The assessment process was effective in helping programs clarify their objectives and evaluate themselves. It also contributed to an understanding of the factors that make afterschool literacy programs successful, including a philosophy of youth and literacy development and a pedagogy that emphasizes teaching for meaning and active participation of the learner in an environment that is not school-like. (Contains 22 references.) (SLD)