Citation
Page, L. C. (2012). Understanding the impact of Career Academy attendance: An application of the principal stratification framework for causal effects accounting for partial compliance. Evaluation Review, 36(2), 99-132.
Highlights
- The author investigated the impact of the duration of Career Academy enrollment on monthly average earnings following high school graduation using data from a randomized controlled trial conducted by MDRC over a 15-year period. The MDRC study estimated the impact of the offer to attend a Career Academy, whereas this study estimated the impact of attending an academy through graduation.
- Career Academies’ distinctive features include their division of a large high school into smaller learning communities, integration of career learning into the curriculum, and partnerships with local employers.
- The analysis centered on three of the nine sites that participated in the original MDRC evaluation. The author used a principal stratification framework and Bayesian inference to estimate the impact of duration of enrollment on monthly earnings following graduation.
- The author estimated an average impact of $588 per month for males who received an offer to enroll in a Career Academy and remained enrolled in the academy throughout high school; this was higher than the impact of approximately $300 per month estimated from the original study, which included in the sample those who were offered the opportunity to attend a Career Academy but did not do so. These positive impacts were not found for females.
Intervention Examined
Career Academies
Reviewed by CLEAR
April 2014