The ChalleNGe model grew out of a project by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the late 1980s and early 1990s that sought to develop new approaches for out-of-school youth. The project's final report concluded that aspects of the military structure could be beneficial for disadvantaged youth. The report also concluded that the National Guard, with its strong community service mission, was ideally suited to operate a program for young people. This report presents very early results from a rigorous, independent evaluation of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, an intensive residential program that aims to "reclaim the lives" of young people, ages 16 to 18, who have dropped out of high school. ChalleNGe currently operates in more than half the states; about 75,000 young people have completed the program since it was launched in the early 1990s. The evaluation is being conducted by MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization, in collaboration with the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Transitions to Adulthood. The early results suggest that partway through their ChalleNGe experience, young people in the program group are better positioned to move forward in their transition to adulthood. (Contains 1 table.) [Additional funding was provided by the MCJ Foundation. For the Full Report, see ED504645.]