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What Works Clearinghouse

U.S. Department of Education
Institute of Education Sciences
  
Intervention: Wyman Teen Outreach Program

Effectiveness

No studies of the Wyman Teen Outreach Program (TOP) that fall within the scope of the Dropout Prevention protocol meet WWC evidence standards. The lack of studies meeting WWC evidence standards means that, at this time, the WWC is unable to draw any conclusions based on research about the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of TOP.

Program Description1

The Wyman Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is a life skills curriculum for 12- to 17-year-olds that aims to prevent negative youth behaviors, such as school failure and early pregnancy. Trained facilitators deliver the curriculum in weekly classes throughout the school year. Participants discuss topics such as goal-setting, peer pressure, relationship dynamics, values, and communication skills. The program can be integrated with a school’s existing curriculum, or offered as an in-school elective, or an after-school program. During the program year, teens enrolled in TOP must also plan and carry out a community service project. These projects require a minimum of 20 hours of service and can include activities such as fund raisers, graffiti removal, tutoring, volunteering at food pantries, petition drives, or other student-initiated activities.

The WWC identified 9 studies of TOP that were published or released between 1988 and 2008.

Seven studies are within the scope of the review and have an eligible design, but do not meet WWC evidence standards.

  • Three studies do not establish that the comparison group was comparable to the treatment group prior to the start of the intervention.

  • Four studies use outcomes that are measured in a way that is inconsistent with the Dropout Prevention protocol. Specifically, these studies use outcomes that are not defined for students who have dropped out of school.

Two studies are out of the scope of the review, as defined by the Dropout Prevention protocol, because they do not present primary research.
1The descriptive information for this program was obtained from a publicly-available source: the program’s website (www.wymancenter.org/teens/teen-outreach/, downloaded November 2008). The WWC requests developers to review the program description sections for accuracy from their perspective. Further verification of the accuracy of the descriptive information for this program is beyond the scope of this review.
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