MDRC develops and studies programs to help young people who face major barriers in finding a path to stable adult life. Their recent roster of youth-related projects mainly targets three groups: at-risk high school students; dropouts disconnected from school and work; and system-involved youth at risk of disconnection, including youth exiting…

There is a critical need to identify solutions to the unemployment of high school dropouts. When a student prematurely leaves school, the economic, social, and political impacts result in negative consequences for the individual and the community. Of the nearly 2.2 million students who drop out of high school every year in the United States,…

Describes the activities and achievements of Broome County Catholic Youth Organization 70001, a unique program for economically disadvantaged youth and high school dropouts, which offers preemployment training, educational upgrading, motivational activities, and job placement assistance. Explains the benefits for the young participants, community,…

Describes the YouthBuild program in Fayette County, West Virginia, a federally funded program administered locally by the Southern Appalachian Labor School. Participants are unemployed youths aged 16-24, mostly school dropouts, who alternate between 1 week of training in repairing and building houses and 1 week studying for a GED or preparing for…

Today, over 70 percent of the students of the Providence (Rhode Island) public schools are people of color. The dropout rate in Providence has been steadily decreasing over the last decade, but it remains high, ranked 16th among large cities in 1992. Race and ethnicity are relevant factors in scholastic achievement in Providence, and for that…

The Eidos Program, sponsored by the Idyllic Foundation, is a private community-based organization that, with schools and other cooperating agencies and sponsors, helps young people whose needs are not adequately met by existing instituions. The program, which was funded for six months by the Job Training Partnership Act, provided educational and…

Arguing that educational disadvantage, underachievement, and dropping out are problems that originate with schools as well as students, this document describes the Work and Learning Center in Madison, Wisconsin, that was designed to meet the needs of high school dropouts. The first section gives disadvantaged students' perspectives on the school…

The project combines full-time and on-the-job work experience with related programs of youth activities and classroom instruction, and provides an avenue for acquiring the Connecticut State Equivalency Diploma. It is aimed at serving young adults in Hartford, Connecticut who have left school before completing 12 years and who are unable to obtain…

The Daniels Vocational Assessment and Training Center was organized to meet the vocational and educational needs of disadvantaged youth and adults. Out-of-school and out-of-work youth and adults are provided with the opportunity to acquire employment skills, basic education, and behavior patterns which will enable them to enter and compete…

In this report the Ohio Legislative Office of Education Oversight discusses five Ohio programs designed to serve at-risk high school students and examines their possible overlap. The report describes the goals, strategies, and structure of the following programs: (1) Occupational Work Experience (OWE), a 1-year vocational program of classroom…

This report summarizes the major programs of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) in Escambia County School District, Florida. The report identifies the district's concerns and priorities for the following: state-of-the-art, computer-assisted instruction for basic skills attainment; reconnecting dropouts through aggressive recruitment…

This document summarizes major postsecondary education issues and school-to-work and youth employment programs for the Education Task Force of the U.S. Senates's Committee on the Budget, and is based on General Accounting Office (GAO) studies completed during 1990-1997. The discussion of postsecondary education issues centers around five themes:…