Programs and policies to assist high school dropouts in the transition to adulthood

Future of Children

Volumn 20, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 89-108

  Bloom, Dan ^a  

^a Health and Barriers to Employment Policy Area   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADOLESCENT; ARTICLE; EDUCATION; EMPLOYMENT; HUMAN; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; POLICY; SOCIAL CARE; SOCIAL WORK; STATISTICS; STUDENT; UNITED STATES;

ADOLESCENT; EDUCATION; EMPLOYMENT; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; HUMANS; PUBLIC ASSISTANCE; PUBLIC POLICY; SOCIAL WORK; STUDENT DROPOUTS; UNITED STATES;

EID: 77952318180     PISSN: 10548289     EISSN: 15501558     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/foc.0.0039     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. The National Center for Education Statistics estimates the number of dropouts at about 3.5 million. Analysis by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, which considers GED holders as dropouts, counts dropouts who are institutionalized, and uses a different estimation methodology, places the number of dropouts at about 6 million. National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education (Washington: National Center for Education Statistics, 2009), table A-20-1.
2. Center for Labor Market Studies, Left Behind in America: The Nation's Dropout Crisis (Boston: Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009). In this article, I focus mainly on high school dropouts. However, studies have found a large share of high school graduates not to be adequately prepared for work or college. Overall, about 45 percent of twenty-one-year-olds have a high school diploma or GED and are not enrolled in college; about 20 percent of that group is not employed. Many of the programs and policies discussed in this paper are potentially relevant to high school graduates as well as high school dropouts.
3. Data on dropouts by income are from 2006. See National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics: 2007 (Washington: National Center for Education Statistics, 2008), tables 105 and 106.
4. Data on dropouts by race and ethnicity are from 2007. See National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education (Washington: National Center for Education Statistics, 2009), table A-20-1.
5. Robert Balfanz and Nettie Legters, Locating the Dropout Crisis (Baltimore: Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk, 2004).
6. For example, James Heckman and Paul LaFontaine write that "the true high school graduation rate. has been declining over the past 40 years [and]. majority/minority graduation rate differentials are substantial and have not converged over the past 35 years."
7. Lawrence Mishel and Joydeep Roy conclude that "high school completion has grown significantly over the last 40 years and the black-white gap has shrunk significantly."
8. James Heckman and Paul LaFontaine, The American High School Graduation Rate: Trends and Levels, NBER Working Paper 13670 (Washington: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007).
9. Lawrence Mishel and Joydeep Roy, Rethinking High School Graduation Rates and Trends (Washington: Economic Policy Institute, 2006).
10. Andrew Sum, "The Deterioration of the Teen and Young Adult Labor Market in the U.S. and Their Adverse Consequences for Marriage, Out of Wedlock Childbearing, Young Family Economic Well-Being and Children in These Families," Powerpoint presentation (Boston: Northeastern University Center for Labor Market Studies, 2009).
11. Steven Raphael and Michael Stoll, "Why Are So Many Americans in Prison?" in Do Prisons Make Us Safer? edited by Steven Raphael and Michael Stoll (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2009).
12. Caroline Wolf Harlow, Education and Correctional Populations (Washington: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2003).
13. John Bridgeland, John Dilulio, and Karen Burke Morison, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts (Washington: Civic Enterprises, 2006).
14. David Hurst, Dana Kelly, and Daniel Princiotta, Educational Attainment of High School Dropouts 8 Years Later (Washington: National Center for Education Statistics, 2004).
15. Cheryl Almeida, Cassius Johnson, and Adria Steinberg, Making Good on a Promise: What Policymakers Can Do to Support the Educational Persistence of Dropouts (Boston: Jobs for the Future, 2006).
16. Laura Wycoff and others, Disconnected Young People in New York City: Crisis and Opportunity (Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, 2008).
17. National League of Cities, Beyond City Limits: Cross-System Collaboration to Reengage Disconnected Youth (Washington: National League of Cities, 2007).
18. Table 1 lists the sources for the evaluation results discussed in the text.
19. For a more detailed synthesis that includes many of the same studies, see Susan Jekielek, Stephanie Cochran, and Elizabeth Hair, Employment Programs and Youth Development: A Synthesis (Washington: Child Trends, 2002).
20. The Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects used a "saturation" approach in which all youth in particular neighborhoods or small cities were guaranteed jobs under certain conditions. Thus, it was not feasible to randomly assign individuals to program or control groups. Instead, the study compared YIEPP sites to other neighborhoods or cities. YIEPP served both in-school and out-of-school youth.
21. For more information on these programs, see Stuart Kerachsky and others, The Impacts of Transitional Employment for Mentally Retarded Young Adults (New York: MDRC, 1985)
22. MST Services, Multisystemic Therapy at a Glance (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.: MST Services, 2005)
23. Julia Littell, "Lessons from a Systematic Review of Effects of Multisystemic Therapy," in Children and Youth Services Review 27 (2005).
24. The Job Corps evaluation collected data on employment and earnings from both surveys and administrative records during the first four years of the study period, and from administrative records only in years five through ten. The positive effects on earnings and employment in years three and four were measured with both data sources, though they were much larger in the survey than in the records.
25. James Kemple, Career Academies: Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood (New York: MDRC, 2008).
26. John Tyler, "The General Educational Development Credential: History, Current Research, and Directions for Policy and Practice," in Review of Adult Learning and Literacy, volume 5 (Boston: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, 2005).
27. Robert Ivry and Fred Doolittle, Improving the Economic and Life Outcomes of At-Risk Youth (New York: MDRC, 2003).
28. Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt, A Collective Responsibility, A Collective Work: Supporting the Path to Positive Life Outcomes for Youth in Economically Distressed Communities (Washington: Center for Law and Social Policy, 2008).
29. Kenneth Dodge, Thomas Dishion, and Jennifer Lansford, editors, Deviant Peer Influences in Programs for Youth: Problems and Solutions (New York: Guilford Press, 2007).
30. Hugh Price, "About Face: A Case for Quasi-Military Public High Schools," in Educational Leadership 65, no. 8 (May 2008)
31. Daniel Donohue, Designing a ChalleNGe-like Program for High School Dropouts and Students Who Are Drifting Through School, Disengaged and Repeating Grades (Fairfax Station, Va.: Donohue Associates, 2008).
32. Public/Private Ventures, "Serving High-Risk Youth: Lessons from Research and Programming" (Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, 2002).
33. Michael Karcher, "The Study of Mentoring in the Learning Environment: A Randomized Study of the Effectiveness of School-Based Mentoring," Prevention Science 9, no. 2 (June 2008)
34. Joseph Tierney and Jean Grossman, Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters (Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, 2000).
35. Peter Edelman, Mark Greenberg, and Harry Holzer, "Youth Policy Proposals" (Washington: Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy, 2008).
36. Charles Betsey, Robinson Hollister, and Mary Papageorgiou, editors, Youth Employment and Training Programs: The YEDPA Years (Washington: National Academy Press, 1985).
37. American Council on Education, 2007 GED Testing Program Statistical Report (Washington: American Council on Education, 2008).
38. Cynthia Zafft, Silja Kallenbach, and Jessica Spohn, Transitioning Adults to College: Adult Basic Education Program Models (Boston: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy, 2006).
39. Louis Jacobson and Christine Mokher, Pathways to Boosting the Earnings of Low Income Students by Increasing Their Educational Attainment (Washington: Hudson Institute Center for Employment Policy, 2009).
40. Harry Holzer and Robert Lerman, The Future of Middle Skill Jobs (Washington: Brookings Institution, 2009).
41. David Jenkins, Matthew Zeidenberg, and Gregory Kienzl, Educational Outcomes of I-BEST: Findings from a Multivariate Analysis (New York: Community College Research Center, 2009).
42. Robert Lerman, "Are Skills the Problem? Reforming the Education and Training System in the United States" in A Future of Good Jobs? (Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2008).
43. See, for example: Gordon Berlin, Rewarding the Work of Individuals (New York: MDRC, 2007)
44. Harry Holzer, Peter Edelman, and Paul Offner, Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men (Washington: Urban Institute Press, 2006).
45. Edward DeJesus, Countering the Urban Influence (Montgomery Village, Md.: Youth Development and Research Fund, 2005)
46. Youth Development and Research Fund, Listening to the Voices and Aspirations of Disconnected Youth (Montgomery Village, Md.: Youth Development and Research Fund, 2007).
47. The Harlem Children's Zone is an ambitious, comprehensive initiative targeting one hundred blocks in Central Harlem. It includes a wide range of programs for children, from preschool through college, along with efforts to strengthen families and reweave the neighborhood's social fabric. The initiative's goal is to create a tipping point so that children are surrounded by supportive adults and peers. See www.hcz.org.
48. See, for example, Wendy McClanahan, Alive at 25: Reducing Youth Violence through Monitoring and Support (Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures, 2004).