Case Study: JOBSTART In Education

JOBSTART is an education and training program designed to discourage disadvantaged high school dropouts by developing occupational skills and increasing the idea of educational attainment through employment. The four components are basic academic skills instruction with a focus on GED preparation, occupational skills training, training-related support services such as transportation assistance and childcare, and job placement assistance. This program provided their participants with at least 200 hours of basic education. Although sites were not required to use a particular curriculum or materials, all offered participants a minimum of 200 hours of self-paced instruction on reading, math, and other subjects covered on the GED test. 500 hours of occupational training was also provided. Occupational skills instruction classes met three to …show more content…
The average cost of JOBSTART, including these trainings, was $9,700 per person. Participation was able to be made voluntary because the Job Training Partnership Act funds were used for local programs to create this nonresidential alternative to Job Corps. One JOBSTART study met What Works Clearinghouse evidence standards. This study focused on school completion including more than 2,300 students and was conducted in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas throughout thirteen sites. The youth involved were seventeen to twenty one years old, had dropped out of school, read below an eighth-grade level, and either receive public assistance, had family income at or below the poverty line, or were homeless. WWC found that JOBSTART programs have potentially positive effects on completing school. It showed a statistically significant difference between JOBSTART and the control group on the probability of receiving a high school diploma or GED