The Quantum Opportunity Program Demonstration: Implementation and Short-Term Impacts

"From July 1995 through September 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and The Ford Foundation (Ford) operated a demonstration of the Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP). QOP offered intensive and comprehensive services to help at-risk youth graduate from high school and enroll in post-secondary education or training. The QOP demonstration included several features of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth program, and findings from the demonstration might provide some insight about the implementation challenges that such WIA programs will encounter and the potential effectiveness of those programs.... QOP’s primary goals were to increase the rates of high school graduation and enrollment in post-secondary education or training. Its secondary goals were to improve high school grades and achievement test scores and to reduce risky behaviors" (p.ix).

"The report documents the implementation challenges sites experienced in operating the QOP and also reveal the short-term impacts on the primary goals of increasing high school completion and enrollment in post-secondary education or training" (Abstract).

 The total cost per enrollee over the full five-year demonstration period was $18,000 to $22,000 for DOL-funded sites, $23,000 for the Yakima site, and $49,000 for the Philadelphia site (p.vi). (Abstractor: Author)

"QOP increased by a statistically significant seven percentage points the likelihood that enrollees graduated from high school with a diploma. QOP did not significantly reduce any risky behavior, including gang activity, crime, and teen parenting" (p.vi). QOP also did not improve grades or achievement test scores and did not reduce risky behaviors. Impacts for the whole demonstration were substantially—but not entirely—attributable to the impacts of the Philadelphia site alone or the Philadelphia and Yakima sites, the Ford-funded sites, together. (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2003
• Author(s): Maxfield, Myles; Schirm, Allen; Rodriguez-Planas, Nuria
• Organizational Author(s): Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies