Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Job Corps evaluation found positive long term labor market effects for the oldest students (20 to 24 years old at random assignment), and found that the program was cost effective for these students (Schochet 2018). However, although there were positive effects for the youngest students during the two years after they exited the program, these effects did not sustain. Thus, the evidence suggests that while the Job Corps model shows promise and moves the needle regarding educational attainment and earnings gains, there is a need to consider program enhancements to improve program services, especially for the younger students.

To fulfill this need, DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office funded a study to conduct an external review of the Job Corps program (Berk et al., 2018). The goal of the external review was to consider a wide range of evidence-based options across a number of disciplines for enhancing the Job Corps program.

The Evidence Scan highlights best practices for delivering services to disconnected youth. Promising practices for engaging youth include cultivating positive youth development, communicating high student expectations, fostering growth mindsets, and creating a trauma-informed environment. A critical prerequisite for successful service delivery is a safe environment for students and staff. Fair and effective discipline policies may improve center climate, bolster students’ feelings of belonging and safety, and ultimately prevent misbehavior and violence. Three promising approaches to discipline and violence prevention that are frequently discussed in the context of schools and youth programs are Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, restorative practices, and programs that strengthen self-regulation skills.

Another class of promising interventions pertains to enhancing employment skills and job readiness through career pathways programs, micro-credentials, workplace learning, and apprenticeships. The short-term evidence on career-pathway, sectoral-based approaches for disadvantaged youth is particularly compelling based on recent RCT evaluations of Year Up (Fein and Hamadyk 2018), WorkAdvance (Hendra et al. 2016), and Project QUEST (Elliott and Roder 2017). However, these programs typically operate on a small scale for specific occupations, serve youth with high school credentials, and employ stringent screening criteria, so their applicability to the Job Corps context is unclear.

Organizational features of Job Corps, and other youth programs, influence how youth come together to participate in educational, employment-based, and enrichment activities. The formation of these groups and their dynamics is an important part of the participant experience, because groups can influence their members’ actions, thoughts, and feelings. More specifically, group dynamics can influence group members’ learning and development. Although the research literature does not provide clear guidance on the optimal group arrangement, there are possible programmatic advantages from offering a program focused on a narrow age range, grouping youth into smaller learning communities, and creating service cohorts.

All of the strategies have potential consequences and would need to be piloted in the Job Corps environment.