To address these challenges, the project combines a literature review and environmental scan that identifies promising programs and practices and a survey of 500 school guidance counsellors across Canada that gathers insight on both barriers to engagement and best practices in working with opportunity youth. Together, these sources highlight obstacles to engagement and uncover practical strategies for supporting opportunity youth. The mission of the project is to find tangible ways to reach and engage this population, understand what practices and tools can motivate them to engage in career planning, and learn what further resources are needed to support career counselling practices.

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• Explore Your Horizons provides information about academic and career options (including labour market trends, costs, and financing of PSE), skills development, and support for career exploration and planning. Delivered over three years through workshops, a magazine, and a members-only Web site, Explore Your Horizons is offered in Manitoba and New Brunswick to students in all income groups.
• Learning Accounts provides an early promise of substantial financial support to students provided they are accepted into a recognized PSE program. Learning Accounts is offered to students in New Brunswick from families with incomes at or below the provincial median.

The intent of Future to Discover is to test the effectiveness of these interventions in improving access to PSE, particularly among youth who are disadvantaged by family income or educational background, both individually and in combination.

Methodology

Future to Discover was developed by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, in partnership with the provincial governments of Manitoba and New Brunswick. Future to Discover offices were set up in each province to deliver the interventions. The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) is conducting the evaluation of the interventions.

The research design for Future to Discover is ambitious and complex. Similar to many other SRDC projects, Future to Discover is a social experiment, in which student volunteers are randomly assigned to program groups that receives one or both of the interventions, or to a comparison group. Because program and comparison groups are similar in all other respects, differences in students’ experiences can be attributed to the impact of the interventions.

Several different program and comparison groups were needed to test the effectiveness of the interventions (alone and in combination) separately for the two provinces, for two linguistic groups (in New Brunswick), and among students with higher or lower levels of family income and/or parental education. To secure a sufficient sample for analysis, students were recruited in two cohorts over successive years in New Brunswick.

Over 5,400 students were initially recruited to the project: 1,042 students in Manitoba, and 4,382 in New Brunswick, with the latter equally split between the Francophone and Anglophone education sectors. Assigned to receive Explore Your Horizons were 1,747 students (1,172 in New Brunswick and 575 in Manitoba); 1,097 lower-income students in New Brunswick were assigned to receive Learning Accounts.

For all these students, the main impact of interest is enrolment in any form of PSE (apprenticeships, private vocational institutions, university, or college), and completion of their first year of studies. Other outcomes of interest include students’ knowledge and attitudes towards PSE, and related behaviours, such as time spent on homework and graduating high school. Future to Discover also involves an implementation evaluation and a cost-benefit analysis.

Status

Future to Discover was launched in 2004, and most participating students have graduated from high school. The delivery of Explore Your Horizons and Learning Accounts has been completed. In 2007, SRDC published Future to Discover Pilot Project: Early Implementation Report which documented the planning and first year of implementation of the pilot project. A second report entitled, Future to Discover: Interim Impacts Report, was published in November 2009. The second report evaluated the implementation of Explore Your Horizons and Learning Accounts, and presented findings on early outcomes. The Future to Discover: Post-secondary Impacts Report presents impacts on students’ enrolment in PSE and other post-secondary activities. It includes a cost-benefit analysis, and was published in November 2012. The latest results for New Brunswick were published in October 2019.

Funding

The Future to Discover pilot project was funded by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Funding is continuing under an agreement with the New Brunswick Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

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The goal of AVID is to support “middle achieving” students with a B to C average who are motivated to pursue PSE. It encourages students to acquire skills that promote academic success (such as good work habits and organizational skills) and that enable them to cope with the demands of the more rigorous courses that are often pre-requisites for entry to post-secondary education. The program places students in these advanced academic courses and in an AVID elective class focused on writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization and study skills and includes regular tutorials with older students. AVID programs are coordinated by the non-profit AVID Center in San Diego, which supports and certifies AVID sites worldwide. The program was established in 1980, and by 2004 was operating in 1,800 schools in the United States and one school district in Canada (Chilliwack, B.C.). The project has allowed the program to expand to an additional 18 school sites in B.C.

Methodology

The Social Research and Demonstration Corporation (SRDC) is conducting the evaluation of the BC AVID pilot project as a social experiment. Grade 8 student volunteers were randomly assigned to one of up to three experimental groups: a program group that receives the program, a comparison group or a waitlist group. Because program and comparison groups are similar in all other respects, differences in students’ experiences over time can be attributed to the impact of the program. A waitlist group was created – where sample numbers were sufficient – to enable any emerging vacancies in the class to be filled.

The BC AVID pilot project involves over 1,500 students in 18 schools. At 14 schools, students were recruited and randomly assigned to the experimental groups. Four schools were included as case study sites to help identify the challenges of implementing AVID at rural and remote schools. In all, roughly 900 students were assigned to receive AVID, 170 were placed on a waitlist for the program, and 450 were allocated to the comparison group.

The primary impact of interest is students’ enrolment in PSE and completion of their first year of studies. However, the project is also interested in determining the impact of AVID on high school course selection, attendance, and graduation as well as PSE program selection, program financing, student persistence, and program completion. In addition, BC AVID includes an implementation evaluation and a cost-benefit analysis.

Status

Two cohorts of students were recruited for BC AVID, the first in early 2005 and the second in 2006, when students were in Grade 8. Schools began delivery of the AVID program in Grade 9 (starting September 2005). The second cohort of students began Grade 9 AVID a year later. This means it will be possible to observe the first cohort’s PSE enrolment in 2010, and the second in 2011. In November 2008, SRDC published its first report on the project entitled, BC AVID Pilot Project: Early Implementation Report. This report documented the design and early implementation of the project. The interim impacts report was published in November 2010, and the final report was published in August 2014.

Funding

The BC AVID pilot project was funded by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

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The project, funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, has three components: it enhances and expands the Raise the Grade program (supported by RBC Future Launch) with academic supports, career discovery, mentoring, and other activities at 40+ BGC Clubs across Canada; it expands BGC Canada’s COVID-response pan-Canadian virtual programming, including support for young Canadians in accessing Club-based virtual programs and services; and it is developing and launching a Youth Hub, a multi-purpose platform for Club staff and youth that will enhance program access, quality, and youth member experience.

As evaluation partner, SRDC will assess the successes and opportunities of the Youth Engagement Initiative to support access to services, skills development, and other supports, while developing insights into how the combined in-person and online programming plays a role in expanding and deepening youth engagement.

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Other questions include: What does graduation mean for students? What factors influence transitioning into post-secondary education or training programs? What factors influence transitioning into sustaining employment? What are some of the barriers or limitations faced by students who don’t graduate within six years of entering secondary school in Surrey?

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