Likewise, some evidence exists that youth development programs are able to improve high school completion rates. Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP) was targeted towards disadvantaged students in the ninth grade at their time of entry into the program. QOP offered a variety of activities, including tutoring, computer assisted instruction, homework assistance, life/family skills training, college preparation activities, community service participation, and financial incentives. Program participants in the Quantum Opportunities Program were found to be less likely to drop out of high school and more likely to attend post-secondary school one year after the program's end (Hahn, 1994) than control group members.

However, not all youth development programs have had positive effects on adolescents' educational attainment. The programs below, which were all evaluated experimentally, were not found to improve the educational attainment of their adolescent participants in comparison to control group students. For example, graduation rates of program participants in Children at Risk and the Summer Training and Education Program (STEP), and Upward Bound (UB) were not found be significantly higher than those of control group youth (Harrell, Cavanaugh, and Sridharan, 1999; Grossman & Sipe, 1992). Upward Bound participants were not found to be significantly different in high school dropout or overall college attendance rate than control group youth; however some subgroups, namely, Whites, Latinos, more disadvantaged participants, and longer-term participants, were more likely to graduate from high school than control group members from similar backgrounds. UB evaluators caution that these findings are preliminary as the full experimental group was not of age to be included in the educational attainment analyses (Myers & Schrim, 1999).