Age range

Website: http://portland.ja.org/

Mission/Goals: Junior Achievement seeks to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, understand business and economics, and be workforce ready.

Source(s): www.guidestar.org

Notes: JC Penny Afterschool is partnering with Junior Achievement to do some preliminary afterschool evaluations; the pilot assessment was conducted in St. Louis. Afterschool Impacts Evaluation not yet completed.

Type of Evaluation: Quasi-Experimental/ Longitudinal.
 

Note: This evaluation does not necessarily include the Portland program.

Objective: The study assessed the long-term effects of national Junior Achievement in-school programs on student outcomes.

Impact/Outcomes: JA programs had a statistically significant positive association with students' attitudes and aspirations regarding education and employment. JA students outperformed non-JA students on school performance indicators such as academic honors and computer skills. JA students also had a significantly better level of understanding of the free enterprise system. JA was also found positively associated with post high school outcomes in areas such as post-secondary education, employment and general life aspirations/attitudes. For example, JA students were more likely to go to college immediately following high school, they were more confident about their educational abilities, and were more likely to have a positive self-concept.