National Guard Youth ChalleNGe and Job ChalleNGe
Metrics for Success
ResearchPublished Aug 13, 2024
This research on National Guard Youth ChalleNGe — a residential, quasi-military program for people aged 16–18 at risk of not completing high school — and Job ChalleNGe — a continuation program focused on job training and workplace acculturation — integrates the perspective of ChalleNGe staff and participants and leverages national demographic data and state education and labor data to provide insights for program leadership to use in decisionmaking.
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is a residential, quasi-military program for young people aged 16–18 who are at risk of not completing high school. Job ChalleNGe, offered to Youth ChalleNGe graduates, focuses on providing in-depth job training and workplace acculturation. RAND researchers have been studying these programs since 2016 and have amassed data and insights about program operations, challenges, and successes.
Most of the RAND team’s prior research relied on information provided by ChalleNGe staff through cadet data files, interviews, and site visits. Here, researchers expand on prior work by integrating the perspective of Job ChalleNGe participants and leveraging external statewide education and labor administrative data.
The researchers conducted a series of analyses, using Youth ChalleNGe cadet data and external data sources, to understand whom Youth ChalleNGe serves and the communities from which these individuals are drawn. The authors present data on Job ChalleNGe implementation gathered through a short survey, discussions with staff, and focus groups with participants. Finally, they use one state’s longitudinal education and labor data to assess longer-term program outcomes.
These analyses provide new insights for ChalleNGe leadership and individual sites to use in their decisionmaking.
Key Findings
- Consistent with their mission, Youth and Job ChalleNGe programs serve young people from disadvantaged communities.
- Job ChalleNGe sites provide a wide array of resources, supports, and services to participants, but resources available through educational or training partners, such as supplemental academic support and physical and mental health services, are used less often.
- Job ChalleNGe participants reported misalignment between the initial description of the program and their lived experiences.
- Georgia Youth and Job ChalleNGe participants were more likely than similar young people to complete postsecondary certifications and to hold a job.
- While matching participant information to a state's data system provided useful information, this option is likely not a practical approach for assessing longer-term outcomes for most or all sites.
Recommendations
- Cadets from the most poorly resourced communities may require additional supports after leaving ChalleNGe; the program may need to consider how it structures and resources the post-residential phase to ensure that all graduates are connecting with opportunities.
- Job ChalleNGe staff should more fully utilize the resources and services available through their educational partners.
- Sites should carefully calibrate the information provided to potential Job ChalleNGe participants; the experiences conveyed should accurately represent the details of credentials and certifications, as well as the lived experiences of participants.
- Measuring longer-term participant outcomes is difficult for multisite programs; a centralized effort to survey graduates should be piloted.
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Document Details
- Copyright: RAND Corporation
- Availability: Available
- Year: 2024
- Print Format: Paperback
- Paperback Pages: 132
- Paperback Price: $36.00
- Paperback ISBN/EAN: 1-9774-1316-1
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA1229-3
- Document Number: RR-A1229-3
Citation
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Wrabel, Stephani L., Joshua Eagan, Grace Falgoust, Jenna W. Kramer, Jack Kroger, Jonah Kushner, Kata Mihaly, Peter Nguyen, Thomas E. Trail, Jennie W. Wenger, and Erik C. Ness, National Guard Youth ChalleNGe and Job ChalleNGe: Metrics for Success, RAND Corporation, RR-A1229-3, 2024. As of September 17, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1229-3.html
Wrabel, Stephani L., Joshua Eagan, Grace Falgoust, Jenna W. Kramer, Jack Kroger, Jonah Kushner, Kata Mihaly, Peter Nguyen, Thomas E. Trail, Jennie W. Wenger, and Erik C. Ness, National Guard Youth ChalleNGe and Job ChalleNGe: Metrics for Success. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1229-3.html. Also available in print form.
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This research was sponsored by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs and conducted within the Personnel, Readiness, and Health Program of the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD).
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