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The report provides the findings from the impact study of Youth CareerConnect (YCC). The YCC impact study assessed short-term student outcomes with two rigorous components—a quasi-experimental design (QED) study in 16 school districts and a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in four school districts that were also in the QED.

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Research Questions

• What is the impact of the YCC program on critical milestones and momentum points that can be achieved in high school and are associated with education and employment success?

Key Takeaways

• The YCC program produced a small increase in school attendance.
• The YCC program produced a small increase in credit accumulation.
• The YCC program may have benefited a student’s postsecondary preparation by improving proficiency in English language arts.
• No evidence exists that the YCC program had an effect on students completing algebra coursework.
• No consistent pattern emerged across student subgroups based on their prior academic achievement and low-income status.
• Impacts tended to be larger for those who received an internship, had a mentor, or completed individual development plans (IDPs) compared to those who did not.
• The pattern of results suggest that the YCC program might have had a larger impact for the students starting the YCC program in the later years than those starting in the early years on accumulated credits, proficiency in English language arts, and algebra progression, though not on school attendance.
• The QED showed that the YCC program did not lead to impacts on high school graduation for the students with an on-time high school graduation when school records data in fall 2018 were collected.

Research Gaps

• First, research might explore whether the small but significant impacts on milestones and momentum points that students could achieve while in high school translate into education and employment success after high school. Second, research might explore the mechanisms that produced the stronger impacts found when students received an internship, had a mentor, or completed an individual development plan. (page iii)

Citation

Maxwell, N., Bellotti, J., Schochet, P., Burkander, P., Whitesell, E., Dillon, E., Inanc, H., Geckeler, C., González, R. (2019). Social Policy Research. Building College and Career Pathways for High School Students: Youth CareerConnect Impact Findings Report. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.