全球智库信息集成服务系统

• Around 15 percent of ChalleNGe cadets were reported to have earned any CTE credits, and among sites where cadets earned CTE credits, most earned two or more credits.
• Comparing ChalleNGe CTE offerings to Job Corps offerings suggests that ChalleNGe sites commonly offer courses in hospitality and manufacturing compared with the more commonly offered courses in construction and health care across Job Corps centers.
• ChalleNGe program sites value CTE but struggle with scheduling and time constraints.
• Among the handful of sites interviewed to examine CTE implementation, dual enrollment was leveraged to allow cadets to take courses in postsecondary education institutions, but this was often limited to cadets enrolled in credit recovery or high school diploma programs and was sometimes constrained by logistical and transportation considerations.
• Work-based learning, a promising practice in CTE research, was not a common feature of CTE provision across ChalleNGe programs.
• Among the handful of programs interviewed, most indicated that they preferred to provide CTE on their own campus, but they generally struggled with the facilities, equipment, and staffing requirements that would allow them to do so.
• Program sites with Job ChalleNGe (a postresidential program in which ChalleNGe graduates can acquire job-ready skills by taking occupationally based courses that provide the foundation and preparation for industry-based certification, a college degree, and job placement) in their state face both challenges and opportunities related to linking their CTE programming with Job ChalleNGe offerings.

The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program is a residential, quasi-military program for youth ages 16 to 18 who are experiencing difficulty in traditional high school. The authors examined a specific aspect of this program: the provision of career and technical education (CTE) opportunities for program participants. The report relies on administrative data collected from all programs pertaining to their operations in 2017 and 2018, as well as interviews with select program staff in 2019. In this report, the authors highlight promising practices in CTE provision found in the literature. They looked at data reported from ChalleNGe sites during 2017 and 2018 on cadet participation in CTE and compared them with information from another program that serves at-risk youth. They also examined the extent to which promising practices in CTE are found in a handful of ChalleNGe sites. Methods used in this study include a document review; descriptive analysis of the administrative data that the RAND Corporation research team collected from all ChalleNGe sites on enrollment, completion, credits earned, certificates and other credentials earned, and other program-level information; and phone calls with staff from a handful of ChalleNGe sites implementing CTE. Based on their findings, the authors discuss implications and future considerations as more ChalleNGe sites consider introducing CTE into their programming and as more states consider establishing Job ChalleNGe, which provides postsecondary education and training to ChalleNGe graduates.

• Skip to page content

Objective Analysis. Effective Solutions.