Evaluation of Jobs for America's Graduates (Pilot)

Last registered on February 24, 2019

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Evaluation of Jobs for America's Graduates (Pilot)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0003805
Initial registration date
February 22, 2019

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
February 24, 2019, 7:39 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities
PI Affiliation
Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities
PI Affiliation
J-PAL and the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2019-03-01
End date
2020-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This is an implementation study to prepare for a randomized control trial of a high school dropout prevention program, Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG). The key objective of this pilot study is to collaborate with local partners to lay the foundations for a randomized controlled of JAG, that will evaluate the impact of JAG on academic and labor market outcomes for low-income students at risk of failing to graduate. The pilot will focus on preparing three components of an RCT: an outreach strategy to recruit more eligible participants into the JAG program, an enrollment process based on a lottery, and the establishment of data sharing agreements and data transfer procedures with relevant administrative data holders.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Evans, William et al. 2019. "Evaluation of Jobs for America's Graduates (Pilot)." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3805-1.0
Former Citation
Evans, William et al. 2019. "Evaluation of Jobs for America's Graduates (Pilot)." AEA RCT Registry. February 24. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3805/history/41977
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The JAG Multi-Year Program is an in-school, for-credit elective. The JAG course emphasizes college and career preparedness, basic skills development, and leadership and self-development. Students enroll as either juniors or seniors, and take the JAG course for one or two years. Support services are provided to students for up to 12 months after graduation.
Intervention Start Date
2019-09-01
Intervention End Date
2020-06-25

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
High school graduation
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Our primary outcome will be tracked using administrative data records. We will construct three measures of graduation based on whether a student graduated high school in 4-years, 5-years, and 6-years after initial high school enrollment.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Labor market and post-secondary education outcomes.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Our outcomes will be tracked using administrative data records on quarterly UI-earnings and post-secondary enrollment. We will construct variables for whether a student is enrolled in post-secondary education in the second year after randomization, whether a student was employed in the second year after randomization, and whether a student is enrolled in post-secondary OR employed in the second year after randomization.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This study will use a randomized control trial design and a standard intent-to-treat framework. Currently, there are many more students who qualify to participate in JAG than there is teaching capacity. Students who are eligible to participate in JAG will enter a lottery to determine whether they receive a spot in JAG. Outcomes will be tracked in administrative data for all students who enter the lottery.
Experimental Design Details
This study will use a randomized controlled trial design. Currently, there are many more students who qualify to participate in JAG than there is teaching capacity. Students who are eligible to participate in JAG will be randomly assigned a number on a waitlist. JAG specialists will contact students in order of their waitlist rank and invite them to enroll. Once all available spots in JAG have been filled, no more students will be invited to enroll. Outcomes of interest, including graduation rate, college enrollment, and employment will be tracked via administrative records for all students on the waitlist. The intent-to-treat effect is defined as the effect of being invited to enroll in JAG, out of a pool of interested and eligible JAG applicants.
Randomization Method
South Bend Community School Corporation (SBCSC) and JAG will collaborate to compile a list of students are eligible for JAG. JAG Specialists will send the research team a list of student ID numbers for eligible students from each high school in South Bend. The research team will randomly order student IDs in a waitlist based on the available number of spots in JAG at each school and taking into consideration, if deemed necessary by JAG Specialists, the number of barriers to graduation a student has. Students will be contacted in order of their waitlist rank and offered a spot in JAG until all available spots are full.
Randomization Unit
Randomization will occur at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
400 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200 treatment, 200 control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
The JAG high school program currently serves 200 students from South Bend high schools each year; this would support a study enrollment of 400 students per year. While a sample size of 400 would allow for a minimum discernible effect (MDE) of 10.4 percentage points, the City is exploring the option of increasing the duration of this study to increase statistical power. For example, a sample size of 1200 would support an MDE of 6.3 percentage points. Studies of similar interventions have measured changes in high school graduation rates of 9-10 points. (Wilson et. al, 2011 and MDRC, ongoing study) Sources: Wilson SJ, Tanner-Smith EE, Lipsey MW, Steinka-Fry K, Morrison J. Dropout prevention and intervention programs: Effects on school completion and dropout among school-aged children and youth. Campbell Systematic Reviews. 2011;2011:8. “New York City Small Schools of Choice Evaluation.” MDRC, MDRC, 19 Apr. 2018, www.mdrc.org/project/new-york-city-small-schools-choice-evaluation#overview.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Notre Dame Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2019-02-22
IRB Approval Number
19-01-5101

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials