NIJ Evaluation: Increasing College Enrollment

The National Institute of Justice has released its latest evaluation, this time focusing on an intervention meant to help low-income, first-generation high-school students enroll in college.

The intervention, known as Bottom Line, targets students with GPAs of at least 2.5 and whose families have an income below 200% of the federal poverty limit. The targeted students would also be the first members of their family to attend college.

Bottom Line connects these students with advisors and holds meetings with them regularly, for up to six years as the student prepares for and attends college.

Multiple evaluations of the program indicated that target students were more likely to enroll in college, and remain in attendance. In general, students enrolled in the program seemed to be more likely to attend a four-year college than a two-year one.

To read more about the program, visit the NIJ’s site here.

NIJ Evaluation: Wraparound Programs

The National Institute of Justice has released a report examining “wraparound” programs aimed at lowering juvenile delinquency. The methods used by wraparound programs involve surrounding at-risk youth with coordinated sources, including school staff, courts, law enforcement, and services. By providing support through these methods, the hope is that the youth will be less likely to commit offenses, while also making schools and communities safer for other students.

However, in practice, the NIJ found that wraparound programs—even well-designed ones—did not accomplish the goal of reducing delinquency. Results were inconsistent, and the evaluation determined that it was neither harmful nor beneficial in the pilot program(s) in terms of schoolwide effects.

Additionally, researchers struggled to implement the program in schools while coordinating with other entities of the law. The program performed better when there was greater buy-in from principals and staff in the schools. Staffing also was identified as an issue in the evaluation.

To read more about the NIJ’s wraparound program evaluation, you can visit their site here.

NIJ Evaluation: Teen Courts

The National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs has released an evaluation detailing the effectiveness on teen courts on reducing recidivism for youth. Teen courts—also known as peer courts or youth courts—are a way to offer an alternative to traditional court processing.

Youth participate on a volunteer basis and can opt-out at any time, but will be sent back to a traditional court if they choose to do so. In different models of this type of intervention, youth may hold a variety of roles and adults may sometimes participate. The goal of the intervention is for the youth on trial to take responsibility for and be held accountable to their actions.

Regardless of the type of model being used, teen courts have been found to be ineffective at reducing recidivism. After aggregating the results of 11 studies, a meta-analysis found that none of the studies showed that teen courts had a statistically-significant effect on juvenile recidivism rates. Treatment and control groups were also used.

To read more about this analysis of teen courts, you can visit the OJP’s website here.