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Project Description

In 1993, MDRC began a 10-year evaluation of the Career Academy approach-- a widely established school reform initiative that encompasses the key principles of the national school-to-work (or school-to-career) movement. Primary goals of the Career Academy approach are to improve students' performance in high school and to provide them with clearer pathways to post-secondary education and careers. While attempting to create more supportive teaching and learning communities within high schools, Career Academies also seek to integrate academic and vocational instruction and to provide work-based learning opportunities for students, with the aim of preparing them for their lives beyond high school-- whether they are going straight to the job market or planning to attend college first.

This evaluation responds to a growing need for reliable information about the effectiveness of school-to-work and other major school reform initiatives by providing policy- and practice-relevant information on two broad questions:
1. To what extent do the Career Academies improve students' school- and career-related performances over and above what they would have achieved if they had not had the opportunity to participate in an Academy?
2. How are the Career Academies different from the high school environments in which Academy students would otherwise have been enrolled, and how do these differences shape students' post-secondary education and career preparation?

Project duration: Jan 1993 - Dec 2007

Sites studied include 10 sites in the following locations:
Baltimore, MD;
Cocoa, FL;
Miami Beach, FL;
Pittsburgh, PA;
San Jose, CA;
Santa Ana, TX;
Socorro, TX;
Washington, DC;
Watsonville, CA.

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

n=1,953 randomly assigned students from the 10 sites entering the study over the course of three school years

Recent Findings in Brief

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