© Child Trends 2004
Summer Career Exploration Program (SCEP)
OVERVIEW
The Summer Career Exploration Program is a summer jobs program that emphasizes the importance of academic achievement in order to promote career success in low-income high school students. The program was found to positively impact work and earnings during the summer and college preparation measures including enrollment in college-track curricula and visits to College Centers. However, it did not improve the likelihood of taking a college entrance exam, grades academic effort, the types of courses elected in high school, or graduation rates. Similarly, while the program increased students’ confidence in their ability to have a job or a career involving reading and writing and to teach or hold a job that requires reading and writing and increased the likelihood of school-year employment by summer employers, other career development outcomes (such as attitude towards work, feeling able to make career decisions and reach goals, school year earnings, and frequency and duration of employment) were not positively impacted.
Target population: High school students who have completed Grades 10 to 12. The program is open to teenagers who come from families with incomes less than 150% of the federal poverty level.
The Summer Career Exploration Program is a 6-week program designed increase academic motivation and promote career success in low-income high school students. All students undergo pre-employment training consisting of the following soft skills:
· interview skills;
· making career choices;
· maintaining a job;
· demeanor;
· job readiness; and
· work-place behavior.
Approximately fifteen hours per week are spent in pre-employment training. Students are also assigned a part-time work placement (25 hours per week) that matches with their interests.
College monitors serve as role models and provide personal and academic support for students. They shadow them to advocate on their behalf, coach them to success, and suggest ways to address problems encountered at work. Monitors visit each student at work twice a week to ensure that employers are providing a safe and well-supervised work experience and that students are meeting employers’ expectations. Students may participate in the program for up to three summers.
A 1998 analysis of SCEP showed a cost of $950 per youth.
McClanahan, W. S., Sipe, C. L., & Smith, T. J. (2004). Enriching summer work: An evaluation of the Summer Career Exploration Program. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.
Approach: All applicants applying to SCEP for the first time were randomly assigned to the SCEP program or to a control group. Baseline survey data were collected, as well as 3-month and 12-month follow-up data, which were collected via a computer assisted telephone interview. One-year follow-up measures included (a) academic outlook; (b) orientation towards work; (c) career choice; and (d) post-SCEP employment.
Results: The program had mixed findings for college preparation and career development one year after applying to SCEP. With regard to college preparation, the program increased enrollment college-track curricula (a very small effect size of .18), and visits to a College Center (a small effect size of .30), but it did not increase class effort, types of courses elected in high school, the likelihood to graduate, and the likelihood of taking a college entrance exam.
Similarly, in comparison to no-treatment control group students, intervention students were more likely to report having confidence in their ability to teach or hold a job that requires reading and writing (effect size statistics not available), and were more likely to be employed during the school year by their summer employer (a small effect size of .27), but they were not more likely to report other career development outcomes, such as improved attitudes towards work, feeling better able to make career decisions and reach goals, increased school year earnings, and increased frequency and duration of employment.
McClanahan, W. S., Sipe, C. L., & Smith, T. J. (2004). Enriching summer work: An evaluation of the Summer Career Exploration Program. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures. Available at http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/176_publication.pdf.
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: Ages 16 to 18 (Grades 10 to 12)
Program age ranges in the Guide: 15-21.
Program components: community or media campaign; mentoring/tutoring; service or vocational learning.
Measured outcomes: career development; education and cognitive development
KEYWORDS: Adolescence (12 to 17), Youth (16+), High School, High-risk, Black or African American, Employment, College Preparation, Community-based, Community or Media Campaign; Mentoring/Tutoring; Service or Vocational learning; Cost, Urban, Academic Motivation.
Updated 9/24/10
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© Child Trends 2004 |