Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) provide disadvantaged youth
jobs and employment experiences. These federally funded programs meet a practical
need to help adolescents earn money and have positive summer activities. In addition,
federal administrators have implemented program requirements designed to give youth
relevant training for future employment.
One federal requirement for SYEPs is that all youth are to be screened to
determine their basic reading and math skills. In addition to a job, local programs are
to provide remedial instruction to youth who fail to meet minimum standards for
reading and math. In 1994, SYEPs were also mandated to provide "educational
enrichment" for at least half of all participating youth.
This study was an evaluation of a SYEP in a Northwestern State and its
implementation of different models of employment, remediation, and educational
enrichment. Each model was operated in conjunction with a job. For youth who
qualified for academic remediation, the two programs were a remedial class or on-the-job
remedial enrichment. For youth who did not require remediation, the two models
were a job alone or a job with educational enrichment.
Outcomes evaluated included self-esteem using the Rosenberg Self Esteem
Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), self-mastery with the Mastery Scale (Pearlin & Schooler,
1978), and intellectual responsibility using the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility
Scale (Crandall & Crandall, 1965). Job-related reading and math skills were screened
at program intake with the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System
(CASAS) (1988) and as a post-test for youth receiving remediation.
For remedial youth, all significant findings favored youth in enrichment
projects rather than in remedial classes. For non-remedial youth, those in a job alone,
rather than in a job with enrichment, had the most positive outcomes. The study
suggests research to change the motivational patterns of adolescents in local programs
is needed before additional program interventions are mandated. Missing data and
non-random assignment of youth and staff to program groups were problematic. / Graduation date: 1995
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35738 |
| Date | 04 May 1995 |
| Creators | McCausland, Suzy G. |
| Contributors | Richards, Leslie N. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds