Job Corps plays a central role in federal efforts to provide employment assistance to disadvantaged youths ages 16 to 24. The program's goal is to help these individuals become "more responsible, employable, and productive citizens" by providing them with comprehensive services that include basic education, vocational skills training, counseling, and residential support. Each year, Job Corps serves more than 60,000 new enrollees at a cost of more than $1 billion. The National Job Corps Study is expected to provide Congress and program managers with the information they need to assess how well Job Corps is attaining its goal.

This report is one of a series presenting findings from the study. It builds directly on the results of the process analysis study that described the basic Job Corps program model and identified variations in the way the basic model is implemented. It also supplements the descriptive findings of student programmatic experiences presented in the 30-month impact report. Specifically, [this report examines] the outreach, admissions (OA) and center characteristics and practices that appear to promote positive programmatic experiences for Job Corps applicants, and for the students that enroll in the program.

The programmatic experiences of interest are measured using agency records and include the likelihood of enrollment in Job Corps and, conditional on enrollment, whether the student attains a GED, completes vocational training and program length of stay. A secondary purpose of the report is to develop preliminary statistical models of various aspects of program participation that could be used in subsequent analyses of the effects of programmatic experiences on students' post-program labor market outcomes.