Impact of Jobs for Maine's Graduates on Graduation and Dropout of At-Risk Students With Disabilities

• In Event: Programs With Emerging Evidence for Improving School Completion and Post-School Employment for Students With Disabilities

Abstract

Dropping out of school continues to be a critical problem for students with disabilities. In 2014, the status dropout rate for students with disabilities ages 16 to 24 years old was 14%, compared to 6% for those without disabilities (McFarland, Cui, & Stark, 2018). Studies have shown that youth with disabilities who drop out of high school have lower engagement in work, a lower likelihood of living independently, and substantially higher contact with the criminal justice system (Wagner et al., 2006).
Literature on dropout prevention has identified several types of interventions with promising effects. First, early monitoring systems that track students’ progress and intervene when students show signs of problems that indicate drop out risk were shown to increase graduation (Kennelly & Monrad, 2007). In addition, providing individualized supports and creating small communities to support students who are already experiencing problems that might lead to dropping out alleviates the problem (Martin, Tobi, & Sugai, 2003). Finally, connecting schoolwork with college and career success through curricula and special programs was found to help students manage challenges in and out of school (Kennelly & Monrad, 2007). However not all these programs have been tested specifically on students with disabilities, whose needs are often different from students without disabilities.
The purpose of this presentation is to describe findings on the impact of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG) on graduation and dropout for students with disabilities, and for other at-risk students including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. JMG offers for-credit courses to improve high school graduation rates and attainment of postsecondary credentials or employment outcomes for students facing barriers to high school completion. Students who have been referred to JMG by an advisory committee (composed of faculty, administrators, and counselors), are evaluated on 37 barriers that fall into five main categories: (a) academic, (b) environmental, (c) work-related, (d) physical and psychological, and (e) other barriers. Almost all JMG students have at least two barriers, indicating that the program targets students who are most likely to fall behind grade level. JMG specialists assess each student’s needs every semester and provide customized services accordingly.
The study discussed in this presentation uses administrative data from Maine Department of Education for school years 2004–05 to 2014–15 along with data on students participating in JMG from the Jobs for America’s Graduates data system; school level data from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) and Private School Survey (PSS). To estimate the impact of JMG, the study selects comparison students who are similar to treatment students and attend schools similar to treatment schools using nearest neighbor matching with Mahalonobis distance. The results show that impact of JMG on all students does not reach the conventional levels of significance. However, JMG has positive impacts on the graduation rates of students from disadvantaged backgrounds – with the highest impact for students with disabilities, followed by those with free or reduced-price lunch status.

Authors

• Burhan Ogut, American Institutes for Research

• Garima Siwach, American Institutes for Research

• Michelle Yin, Northwestern University