Research

The WWC reviewed two studies of the effectiveness of Twelve Together. One study (Dynarski, Gleason, Rangarajan, & Wood, 1998) was a randomized controlled trial that met WWC evidence standards with reservations because of differential attrition between the intervention and control groups. ⁴ The other study did not meet WWC evidence screens.

The Dynarski et al. (1998) study of Twelve Together was part of a larger evaluation examining the effectiveness of 16 middle school and high school dropout prevention programs. The Twelve Together study used a random assignment design and was conducted in nine middle schools in one California school district. It included 219 students who were recruited to participate in the program. Study participants were eighth graders in the 1992-93 school year. ⁵ Random assignment occurred at the beginning of the 1992-93 school year. Results summarized here were drawn from a follow-up survey administered at the end of the third year following random assignment.