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Dropout
Effectiveness
Findings2
The WWC review of interventions for dropout prevention addresses student outcomes in three domains: staying in school, progressing in school, and completing school.
Staying in school. Kemple and Snipes (2000) reported that for the sample of youth most at risk of dropping out of high school, Career Academies had a positive and statistically significant effect on dropping out. At the end of the students' projected 12th-grade year, 21% of the Career Academy group and 32% of the comparison group had dropped out of high school. Findings for youth who were predicted to have a low or medium risk of dropping out of high school are presented in Appendix A4.1.
Progressing in school. Kemple and Snipes (2000) reported that for the sample of youth most at risk of dropping out of high school, Career Academies had a positive and statistically significant effect on progressing through high school. At the end of the students' projected 12th-grade year, Career Academy youth had earned an average of 19 credits and comparison youth had earned an average of 17 credits, and 40% of Career Academy youth and 26% of comparison youth had earned sufficient credits to graduate. Findings for youth who were predicted to have a low or medium risk of dropping out of high school are presented in Appendix A4.2.
Completing school. Kemple (2004) reported that four years after students' projected 12th-grade year, there was no statistically significant difference between the percentage of high-risk Career Academy and comparison youth who earned a diploma or GED certificate; 83% of the youth in both groups had either graduated with a diploma or received a GED. Findings for youth who were predicted to have a low or medium risk of dropping out of high school are presented in Appendix A4.3.
Rating of effectiveness
The WWC rates an intervention's effects for a given outcome as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings,6 the size of the difference between participants in the intervention condition and the comparison condition, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Intervention Rating Scheme).
6 The level of statistical significance was reported by the study authors or, where necessary, calculated by the WWC to correct for clustering within classrooms or schools and for multiple comparisons. For an explanation, see the WWC Tutorial on Mismatch. See Technical Details of WWC-Conducted Computations for the formulas the WWC used to calculate the statistical significance. In the case of Career Academies, a correction for multiple comparisons was needed for the multiple measures reported in the progressing in school domain.