Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of Youth Career Connect (YCC) on education outcomes.
- The study used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of students who participated in YCC with a matched group of students who did not. The primary data sources were school records and the Participant Tracking System. The authors used statistical models to compare outcomes between the groups.
- The study found that participation in the YCC program significantly increased high school credit accumulation over a two-year span.
- This study receives a moderate evidence rating. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to Youth Career Connect (YCC), but other factors might also have contributed.
Intervention Examined
Youth Career Connect (YCC)
Features of the Intervention
In April 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded $100,000,000 in four-year grants to 24 grantees to implement the YCC program. The YCC program was designed to prepare high school students for post-high school careers or for college through academic and career-focused education. The evidence-based primary features of YCC were an integrated career-focused curriculum, connections to work-based learning opportunities in career fields of interest, receipt of academic support services, delivery of non-academic support services, membership in a learning community (cohort of students and teachers that worked together across program years), engagement and referrals with a variety of community partners and employers, and other professional development opportunities.
Features of the Study
The study used a matched comparison group design to examine the impact of Youth Career Connect (YCC) on high school credit accumulation and graduation rates. The study sample included 6,207 treatment group students who enrolled in the YCC program, and the comparison group included 109,541 students who did not enroll in the YCC program but may have received similar services in the community. At each of the 16 study sites, the authors created a matched comparison group of similar students based on the treatment students' baseline characteristics in 7th and 8th grade. Less than half of the overall study sample were female (44%) and the average age at baseline was 14 years. The sample was roughly divided into thirds between Black (33%), Hispanic (27%), and White (31%) students. A majority of students were designated as low-income in 7th (64%) and 8th grade (62%), with smaller proportions receiving special education services (11%). The proportion of English language learners was larger in the comparison group (10%) than the treatment group (less than 1%). The primary data sources were school records and the Participant Tracking System which recorded service engagement for participants. School records contained 2 to 3 years of preintervention data and 2 to 3 years of post-enrollment data. The authors used statistical models to compare differences in outcomes between treatment and comparison group members.
Findings
Education and skill gains
- The study found that the YCC program significantly increased high school credit accumulation over a two-year span; students in the YCC program moved from the 50th to the 54th percentile of credit accumulation.
- The study found that the YCC program had no significant impact on graduation rates.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study is based on a strong nonexperimental design, but it should be noted that the authors had to impute some baseline values due to missing school records data. However, the authors did not impute any outcomes. Additionally, there may have been spillover effects that caused comparison group members to receive YCC or YCC-like services in their school or community.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is moderate because it was based on a well-implemented nonexperimental design. This means we are somewhat confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the Youth Career Connect (YCC) program, but other factors might also have contributed.