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Project Description

Cal-Learn is a statewide program within the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) designed to help pregnant and parenting teenagers on welfare complete high school. It is mandatory for all custodial parents under age 19 on welfare who do not have a high school diploma (HSD) or a General Educational Development certificate (GED).

The program features two key program elements:
(1) financial bonuses and sanctions associated with school progress and graduation, and
(2) intensive case management to help each client earn an HSD or GED.

The Cal-Learn financial incentives are: a bonus of $500 upon graduation paid directly to the teen; progress bonuses of $100, which are provided within the family's welfare check for “satisfactory” school progress. Sanctions of $100 for a missing or “inadequate” report card and $50 for a late report card are deducted in $50 increments from the family's welfare check. Up to four report cards yearly are assessed to see if they warrant a bonus, a sanction, or neither. All teens attending school are entitled to “supportive services”— funding for child care, transportation and other school-related expenses.

While the immediate goal of Cal-Learn is to increase HSDs and GEDs among participants, its ultimate goal is economic self-sufficiency for participants. In order to assess the impacts of the program and compare outcomes for teens exposed to both, one, or neither of these program elements, teens in the research counties were randomly assigned to one of four research conditions. Teens in the first group, Full Cal-Learn, were offered case management and subjected to bonuses and sanctions; teens in the second group, Case Management Only, were offered case management, but could receive neither bonuses nor sanctions; teens in the third Financial Incentives Only group could receive bonuses and sanctions but were not directed toward case management; and teens in the last group, the No Treatment group, were neither directed toward case management nor eligible to receive bonuses or sanctions. All teens in the evaluation were offered supportive services, including reimbursement for child care, transportation to school, and school-related expenses.

Project duration: Oct 1994 - Jun 2000

Sites studied include Alameda, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Joaquin counties,
California

Sample Characteristics and Sites Studied

n=3,957 female recipients who met the following requirements:

- the teen met Cal-Learn program eligibility requirements as defined in Cal-Learn regulations, Manual of Policies and Procedures, Section 42-763;
- the teen was 18 � years or younger;
- the teen was not a member of a household already participating in another welfare experiment, the California Work Pays Demonstration Project;
- the teen was eligible for AFDC and new to the Cal-Learn program.

Recent Findings in Brief

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