The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program for youth ages 16 to 18 who are experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. This report covers the program years 2018-2019 and is the fourth in a series of annual reports that RAND Corporation researchers have issued over the course of a research project…

A recent study found that one in three Americans between the ages of 16 and 65 lack the skills needed to succeed in middle school math, let alone math at the high school or college level. In some instances, states or colleges have raised standards for developmental courses and routed students who score below the minimum skill level for…

Alternative education programs can prevent disparities in academic outcomes among marginalized youth. This descriptive study examines the results of an alternative education program with nondiscrimination policies and staff training related to supporting the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Secondary analysis of…

The Office of Workforce Development (OWD) in New Orleans, Louisiana, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, implemented Career Pathways, an innovative program designed to increase the local talent pool and help lower-skilled, unemployed, and underemployed individuals train for work in growing fields. RAND Corporation researchers evaluated…

Lower-skilled workers in the United States face a shrinking pool of employment opportunities. To combat this, the city of New Orleans' Office of Workforce Development (OWD) developed a job training program with a grant, awarded in 2014, from the U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Innovation Fund. The program, Career Pathways, was designed to help…

This technical assistance paper provides policy and guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. The Florida assessment policies and guidelines presented in this technical assistance paper are appropriate for state and federal reporting. Therefore, guidance and procedures regarding the selection…

This study evaluates the Youth Development Program (YDP), a component of the federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA). We examine whether the YDP reduced dropout rates among youth in secondary schools in seven school districts in the impoverished Mississippi River Delta in southeast Arkansas. Initially, the program seems to have an impact. Students…

Today, 6.7 million youth in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither enrolled in school nor employed. This crisis continues to grow as, each year, over one million additional youth become disconnected from the schools and systems intended to prepare them for their future. Educators and youth advocates have dubbed this…

This article describes process and outcome evaluations of a blended Cyber ESL program for native Spanish speakers in Chicago who could not use regular ESL classes. The outcomes measured against before and after scores and several comparison groups showed large gains in English language proficiency. 58% percent of students from the cohorts which…

The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics and impact of developmental courses on students enrolled in developmental mathematics and English courses at a small mid-Western tribal college. This was a quantitative, descriptive study of the courses and the students over a six year timeframe. All students who enrolled in…

This paper reports on findings and implications from a two-year evaluation of the Minnesota STudent Achievement in Reading (STAR) Project. This long-term, job-embedded, professional development activity is provided for Minnesota Adult Basic Education (ABE) practitioners serving intermediate-level adult students reading between 4.0 to 8.9 grade…

Correctional educators, recognizing that the majority of inmates lack the math, reading, and language skills required to be successful in today's workplace, strive to equip offenders with the skills and abilities needed to find and maintain work on their release. However, most adult literacy programs in prisons fail to raise the gradelevel…

For seven years, the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) was the primary standardized assessment instrument used by the adult education program of the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV (MIUIV) of the Pennsylvania Department of Education Bureau of Adult Basic and Literacy Education. While reviewing its current assessment procedures, the MIUIV's…

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine achievement levels of External High School Diploma Program (EHSDP) graduates at Waukesha County (Wisconsin) Technical Institute on the General Educational Development Test (GED) or other standardized tests nationally normed on high school students, and (2) to measure the basic skills level of…