Study Details | Pathways to Work

101094-Study of Urban Allia

Study quality:

Moderate

Reason for the rating: This study received a moderate study quality rating because it is a high-attrition randomized controlled trial that establishes that the intervention and comparison groups are similar at baseline and adjusts impact estimates to account for any minor differences in the groups.

Intervention: Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program

Population and employment barriers:

Age (Young adults (age 16-24))

Services provided:

Case management, Employment coaching, Financial education, Paid work experience/internships, Performance- or behavior-based financial incentives, Soft skills training, Subsidized employment/transitional jobs

Setting: Urban only

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

Urban Alliance High School Internship Program targeted high school seniors attending specific public and charter schools in underserved communities. Students had to be identified as "at risk" of losing connection to stable career or educational pathways after graduation. Students were required to have attained a sufficient number of academic credits to qualify for an early release schedule, which allowed them to attend work placements during school afternoons. The study randomized 981 students to participate in the internship program and 454 students in the control group.

Time period of study:

The program was studied over the course of 3 years.

Primary outcome domains examined:

Increase short-term employment

Other outcome domains examined:

Program participation, program attendance, services received, education preparation (took SAT or ACT, filled out FAFSA, comfort with FAFSA and scholarships, applied to college, applied to two year college, applied to four year college), college attendance (attended college at four years, attended two-year college at four years, attended four-year college at four years), college financials, hardship, job preparation, savings, connection (in school or working, college or vocational program), credit building.

Study funded by:

U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation award.

Results

View table help Need more context or definitions for the table below? View the table help to get insight into terms, measures, and definitions.

Scroll to the right to view the rest of the table columns

Outcome domain	Measure	Timing	Study quality by finding	Comparison group mean	Intervention group mean	Impact	Units	Findings	Sample size
Increase short-term employment	Ever employed, annual	Approximately 2 years	Moderate	43.40	49.80	5.50	proportion		899

Short-term outcomes are those measured 18 months or fewer after participants are first offered services. Long-term outcomes are those measured between 18 months and 5 years after participants are first offered services. Very long-term outcomes are those measured 5 years or more after participants are first offered services.

Findings quality key:

High
Moderate

Study quality terms?

The findings quality describe our confidence that a given study’s finding is because of the intervention. We do not display findings that rate low.

Findings key:

A moderate-to-large favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A moderate-to-large favorable finding that might to be due to chance
A small favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A small favorable finding that might be due to chance
A favorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A favorable finding that might be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A moderate-to-large unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A moderate-to-large unfavorable finding that might to be due to chance
A small unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance
A small unfavorable finding that might be due to chance
An unfavorable finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
An unfavorable finding that might be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size
A finding that is unlikely to be due to chance, but we cannot determine the standardized effect size or direction
A finding of no effect that might be due to chance

Favorable findings are impacts in a direction that is socially desirable. Statistical significance indicates the likelihood that a study finding is due to the intervention, rather than due to chance. Findings are described as moderate-to-large if the intervention produced a sufficiently large change in the outcome. An impact receives this designation if the standardized effect size is equal to or greater than 0.25 or equal to or less than -0.25.

Sample characteristics

The sample is high school seniors at risk of economic disconnection.

Age

Mean age	18 years
Young adults	100%

Sex

Female	70%
Male	30%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	77%
White, not Hispanic	1%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	18%
Asian	3%
Unknown, not reported, or other	1%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Parents

Participant employment and public benefit status

Public benefits recipients

41%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

Urban Alliance

Program history:

The program was in existence prior to the study.

Intervention services:

The Urban Alliance High School Internship Program (HSIP) aimed to empower economically disadvantaged youths through four core components; a) skills training, b) paid work-based learning experiences, c) mentoring and wrap-around support, and d) alumni services. Participants were high school seniors at risk of disconnecting from pathways to self-sufficiency after graduation. Before the start of their internships, students attended prework trainings (three to six weeks) focusing on hard and soft skills. During the internships, the focus of the trainings shifted to life skills and post-high school planning. The internships were with local employers, and most were paid through Urban Alliance, which lasted through the school year and summer after graduation. The program also had mentors who were employees at their internship sites and program coordinators through Urban Alliance who provided dedicated support to a caseload of students.

Mandatory services:

Soft skills training

Comparison services:

The comparison group participants were not invited by Urban Alliance to participate in the High School Internship Program. Most participants in the control group accessed college and career services through regular school channels.

Service receipt duration:

Six-month paid internship

Intervention funding:

The Urban Alliance is a national non-profit organization that runs the program.

Study publications

Theodos, Brett, Michael Pergamit, Devlin Hanson, Daniel Teles, Matthew Gerken, Katherine Thomas, Shannon Gedo, and Jein Park (2023). Evaluation of the Urban Alliance High School Internship Program. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Available at: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/Evaluation%20of%20the%20Urban%20Alliance%20High%20School%20Internship%20Program.pdf

Theodos, Brett, Michael Pergamit, Devlin Hanson, Daniel Teles, Mattie Mackenzie-Liu, and Alavi Rashid (2025). Long-Term evaluation of the Urban Alliance High School Internship Program. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Available at: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/Long-Term_Evaluation_of_the_Urban_Alliance_High_School_Internship_Program.pdf

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

Study of Urban Alliance’s High School Internship Program