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Dropout
Overview
New Chance, a program for young welfare mothers who have dropped out of school, aims to improve both their employment potential and their parenting skills. Participants take GED (General Educational Development) preparation classes and complete a parenting and life skills curriculum. Once they complete this first phase of the program, they can receive occupational training and job placement assistance from New Chance, which also offers case management and child care.1
Research
One study of New Chance met What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards. This randomized controlled trial, including over 2,000 women, was conducted in 16 sites in 10 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Based on this one study, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for New Chance to be small for completing school. That study did not examine the effectiveness of New Chance in the domains of staying or progressing in school.2
Effectiveness
New Chance was found to have potentially positive effects on completing school.
| Staying in school | Progressing in school | Completing school | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating of effectiveness | na | na | Potentially positive effects |
| Improvement index3 | na | na | Average: +8 percentile points |
| na = not applicable | |||
1 The WWC dropout prevention review includes interventions designed to encourage students who drop out to return to school and earn a high school diploma or GED certificate, as well as interventions designed to prevent initially enrolled students from dropping out. For more details, see the WWC dropout prevention review protocol.
2 The evidence in this report is based on available research. Findings and conclusions may change as new research becomes available.
3 These numbers show the average improvement indices for all findings across the study.
Disclaimer|
|Institute of Education Sciences