Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of school-to-work (STW) programs on unemployment.
- The study used a nonexperimental design with data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The author conducted statistical models to estimate the impact of STW program participation on outcomes.
- The study found that participation in one or more STW programs was significantly associated with more weeks of unemployment.
- This study receives a low evidence rating. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to STW programs; other factors might also have contributed.
Intervention Examined
School-to-Work (STW)
Features of the Intervention
School-to-work (STW) programs prepare students for work after school by providing a variety of offerings including job shadowing, mentorship, work in school-sponsored enterprises, cooperative education, Tech Prep, and internships. Job shadowing programs provide first-hand experience at a workplace where students observe an employee performing the work. Mentoring programs provide students with mentors who motivate them to study, provide support and encouragement, and assist students in looking into opportunities for college preparation. Small businesses operated by students within a school environment, known as school-sponsored enterprises, provide students with direct work experience. Cooperative education allows students to receive classroom instruction and work-based learning through partnerships between the schools and local businesses. Tech Prep programs prepare students to obtain a degree and employment in a technical field through coursework. Internship programs provide qualified high school students with the chance to take part in credit-bearing job experiences.
Features of the Study
The study used a nonexperimental design to examine the impact of participation in STW programs on unemployment. The study used a sample drawn from the 1997 cohort of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). The sample included 2,583 individuals who had any level of education, including some high school, a high school diploma or GED, a higher education degree (associate degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or doctorate), or a professional degree. Over half of the sample was female (53%) and primarily White (65%) with smaller proportions of Black (24%) and other races (11%). Almost a quarter of the sample identified as Hispanic (24%). Using information on STW participation and longitudinal unemployment provided by the NLSY data, the author conducted statistical models to estimate the impact of participating in any STW program and specific STW programs (job shadowing, mentorship, school-sponsored enterprises, cooperative education, Tech Prep, and internships) on unemployment.
Findings
Employment
- The study found that participating in one or more STW programs was significantly related to more weeks of unemployment.
- Specifically, the study found that participating in a Tech Prep program in high school was significantly related to more weeks of unemployment.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The author used regression models to measure the relationship between participating in the STW programs and unemployment. The regressions controlled for several variables including gender, race, ethnicity, and income. However, the author did not control for age as required by the protocol. Differences in participants’ age—and not the STW program—could explain the observed differences in outcomes. Therefore, the study is not eligible for a moderate causal evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this study is low because the author did not include sufficient controls in the analysis. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to school-to-work (STW) programs; other factors are likely to have contributed.