Ashlyn Nelson, an associate professor at the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, has been awarded a grant from the MIT Blueprint Labs Charter School Research Collaborative to study how college and career programs affect student outcomes.
The project, “Long-Term Impacts of Charter School College and Career Programming on Academic, Employment, and Non-Cognitive Outcomes,” will study the College and Careers Program offered by Christel House International, a global network of schools serving students in poverty that includes four public charter schools in Indianapolis. Nelson will use quasi-experimental methods to study the program, which provides intensive mentorship to students in high school and for up to five years following graduation.
“We are hoping to learn about the types of college and career programming that best support a variety of post-secondary outcomes,” Nelson said. “Because the college and career programming Christel House provides is quite comprehensive, we’re able to measure a variety of outcomes. We’re hoping to examine impacts on college, employment, social capital, and so-called “non-cognitive” or behavioral outcomes, including positive outcome expectations, time management, and long-term planning.”
In Indianapolis, Christel House has scaled up its College and Careers Program to two additional charter high schools—Irvington Prep and Herron-Riverside—and to two traditional high schools, Lawrence North and Lawrence Central. The evaluation will examine impacts of the program on both charter and traditional public school students.
Charter schools currently enroll seven percent of all public-school students, and parents and policymakers alike are interested in knowing more about charter school performance. The Blueprint Labs Charter School Research Collaborative brings together practitioners, policymakers, funders, and researchers to fund research that is rigorous, nonpartisan, actionable, and efficient.