Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) of...

New York City’s P-TECH 9-14 College and Career Preparatory Schools

Reviewed

Workforce Development , K-12 Education , Postsecondary Education
Not accurately reported

MDRC (October 2023) posted an RCT of New York City’s P-TECH 9-14 schools – aimed at preparing students for college and careers within six years. Despite the positive portrayal of the results in the study overview, this high-quality RCT found no discernible impacts on high school graduation, nor on the percent of students either enrolled in college or having completed a degree, at any point during the 7-year follow-up. However, future earnings impacts are possible.

Relevant Excerpt from the Study Overview Section:

Findings

1. The high school, career, and college elements of the P-TECH 9-14 model were implemented at all schools, though there was also variation across the schools in the opportunities they had available and how they implemented specific elements of the model. Graduating with an associate’s degree from the affiliated college is just one of many potential postsecondary options that school staff members may advise a student to take.

2. Students in the P-TECH 9-14 group were 38 percentage points more likely to have had an internship during four years of high school than students in the comparison group.

3. After four years of high school, 46 percent of students in the P-TECH 9-14 group had dual enrolled in at least one college-level course, compared with 20 percent of students in the comparison group.

4. Seven years after entering high school, students in the P-TECH 9-14 group were 5 percentage points more likely to have completed an associate’s degree. These impacts primarily reflect results among young men: 13 percent of young men in the P-TECH 9-14 group completed an associate’s degree, compared with 3 percent of young men in the comparison group.

5. The cost analysis shows that PTECH 9-14 schools can generally be operated with resources that are not significantly different than other high schools in the community. Postsecondary costs were higher for the P-TECH 9-14 group, as would be expected given the model’s focus on earning a college degree. The findings about the model’s cost-effectiveness in producing postsecondary degrees at six years are inconclusive. Additional cost analyses over longer periods are needed.

Full Study Report

Findings

1. The high school, career, and college elements of the P-TECH 9-14 model were implemented at all schools, though there was also variation across the schools in the opportunities they had available and how they implemented specific elements of the model. Graduating with an associate’s degree from the affiliated college is just one of many potential postsecondary options that school staff members may advise a student to take.

2. Students in the P-TECH 9-14 group were 38 percentage points more likely to have had an internship during four years of high school than students in the comparison group.

3. After four years of high school, 46 percent of students in the P-TECH 9-14 group had dual enrolled in at least one college-level course, compared with 20 percent of students in the comparison group.

4. The P-TECH 9-14 model had no discernible impact on high school graduation rates. After six years, 76 percent of students in the P-TECH 9-14 group had graduated high school, compared with 77 percent of students in the comparison group – a difference that was not statistically significant.

5. The P-TECH 9-14 model had no discernible impact on the percent of students who were either enrolled in college or had completed a degree. At the six year follow-up, 60 percent of students in the P-TECH 9-14 group and 60 percent of students in the comparison group were enrolled or had completed their degree.

6. Seven years after entering high school, students in the P-TECH 9-14 group were 5 percentage points more likely to have completed an associate’s degree.  However, this finding is preliminary since it was measured for only 16 percent of the sample with available data at seven years and did not quite reach statistical significance. These impacts primarily reflect results among young men: 13 percent of young men in the P-TECH 9-14 group completed an associate’s degree, compared with 3 percent of young men in the comparison group.

7. The cost analysis shows that PTECH 9-14 schools can generally be operated with resources that are not significantly different than other high schools in the community. Postsecondary costs were higher for the P-TECH 9-14 group, as would be expected given the model’s focus on earning a college degree. The findings about the model’s cost-effectiveness in producing postsecondary degrees at six years are inconclusive. Additional cost analyses over longer periods are needed.

No-Spin’s Study Overview

High-quality RCT of New York City’s P-TECH 9-14 schools, aimed at preparing students for college and careers, finds no discernible impacts on (i) high school graduation, nor (ii) the percent of students either enrolled in college or having completed a degree, at any of the 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-year study follow-ups. However, the program was well-implemented, and future earnings impacts are possible.

Program:

  • New York City’s P-TECH 9-14 schools are "a partnership among a high school, a community college, and one or more employer partners that focuses on preparing students for both college and careers within six years."
  • The model has proliferated nationally and internationally since the first P-TECH 9-14 school opened in Brooklyn in 2010.

Study Design:

  • The study sample comprised 3,161 rising 9th graders, 86% of whom were Black or Hispanic. Students were randomly assigned via lottery to a treatment group offered admission to a P-TECH 9-14 school (T) or a control group not offered admission (C).
  • Based on careful review, this was a high quality RCT (e.g., baseline balance, negligible sample attrition).

Findings:

  • The study found no statistically significant impact on the high school graduation rate at follow-ups 4, 5, and 6 years after study entry (e.g., 76% T vs 77% C had graduated at six years).
  • The study also found no statistically significant impact on the percent of students either enrolled in college or having completed a degree at the 5-, 6-, and 7-year follow-ups (e.g., 60% T vs 60% C at six years).
  • The study found a possible impact on college degree completion at the 7-year follow-up (13% T vs 8% C). However, this finding is based on only 16% of the sample (the early cohorts with seven years of available data) and not quite statistically significant (p=.08), so is best viewed as preliminary.

Comment:

  • The study found the program to be well implemented - for example, providing students with significant workplace experience during high school.  A high-quality RCT of a related model - Career Academies - found initially disappointing results (no impact on high school or college completion), but a 12-year follow-up found sizable earnings gains. Longer-term follow-up of the P-TECH 9-14 study would be valuable to see if similar earnings impacts materialize.

Click or tap a highlight to see No-Spin’s comment

Related Reviews

  • Early College High Schools in North Carolina

    Not accurately reported

    AERA Open published long-term RCT findings for Early Colleges in North Carolina (providing grade 9-13 students an opportunity to earn an associate degree or college credit during high school). Despite claims of large effects in the study’s abstract, its primary finding was a modest effect (2.4 percentage points, near statistically significant) on the rate of bachelor’s degree completion at the 10-year mark.