Saving Young Men With Career Academies

"Specifically, the Academies increased marriage rates for young men by 9 percentage points (from 27 percent for the non-Academy group to 36 percent for the Academy group) and increased custodial parenthood by nearly 12 percentage points (from 25 percent for the non-Academy group to nearly 37 percent for the Academy group."

These findings are good news for educators and policymakers who have been trying to do something for several decades about the poor job and family histories of young urban Americans, particularly men. "Employment rates for African-American men ages 20 to 24 have been declining steadily since 1970, from around 77 percent in 1969 to only 56 percent in 2003," the study noted. "Even in the peak economic period of 1999, African-American and Hispanic males aged 16 to 24 were far more likely to be neither working nor enrolled in school than white males of the same age (22.8 percent and 12.8 percent versus 8.7 percent, respectively.)"

Young women in the academies also showed gains in some categories, but the results for men were the most eye-catching. The MDRC report acknowledges that the reason why the academy experience might have had such an effect on job and family life is unclear. The report says researchers are analyzing the data for clues, looking at various theories. For instance, the personal contacts and internships with career professionals might have given the students an advantage when looking for full-time jobs. Their larger salaries and greater job security might in turn have had an impact on their ability and desire to form stable families.

No one really knows yet what is going on. We should remember the social scientist's frequent warning that correlation does not mean causation. But the MDRC study was conducted with such care that the connections it has revealed have to be greeted with some confidence.

Those of us who have been quick to promote test score improvement as the ultimate measure of a school's worth should, in light of this research, be looking for other programs that have had long-term impact on students' lives, and suggesting that more organizations invest in similar long-term, randomized studies.

Kemple estimates that the number of career academies has climbed to at least 2,500 in the last 15 years. Some are labeled that way but do not include all of the elements MDRC looked for in its study participants -- small size, technical and academic instruction, career focus and close participation by outside experts. Several experts told me the pressure for better test scores in reading, writing and math in recent years has led some schools to step away from vocational programs. In many cases, they were discarding shop and home economics classes that did not come close to the career academy model. But now that we know what works, it would be good to encourage more schools to try it, particularly if it is something students choose.

As the study makes clear, about half of the academy students eventually earned college or community college degrees, or a skills-training certificate or license. That was no better than what non-academy students did after high school. But Kemple told me that the academy students' job success might have had the same effect as more college credits. "The magnitude of the impacts on monthly earnings for young men exceed differences in earnings that have been found in other research comparing young workers who have two years of community college with those who have only a high school diploma," the report said.

Learning on the job may be, for some young people, the better way to go. Thanks to the MDRC, we now have a deeper sense of new ways to help urban youth. I hope the people who did this research have lots of imitators.

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