Research

The WWC reviewed two studies on the effectiveness of Job Corps. One study (Schochet, Burghardt, & Glazerman, 2001) was a randomized controlled trial that met WWC evidence standards. The other study did not meet WWC evidence standards.

The Schochet, Burghardt, and Glazerman (2001) study used a nationally representative sample of Job Corps applicants. The sample was selected from those who applied to Job Corps for the first time between November 16, 1994, and December 17, 1995. During this period, 80,883 applicants were eligible for the program. From this group, 9,409 applicants were randomly assigned to the intervention group that was offered Job Corps services, and 5,977 applicants were randomly assigned to the control group that was not. The results here are based on data for the 6,828 Job Corps youth and 4,485 control group youth who responded to the 48-month follow-up survey. The study authors restricted the analysis of Job Corps’ effect on completing school to the 77% of survey respondents who entered the study without a high school diploma or GED certificate.

Extent of evidence

The WWC categorizes the extent of evidence in each domain as small or medium to large (see the What Works Clearinghouse Extent of Evidence Categorization Scheme). The extent of evidence takes into account the number of studies and the total sample size across studies that met WWC evidence standards with or without reservations.⁵

The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Job Corps to be small for progressing in school and completing school. The one Job Corps study that met WWC evidence standards did not address Job Corps’ effectiveness in the staying in school domain.