School, drugs, mentoring, and peers: Evidence from a randomized trial in the US

This paper finds that the expensive, comprehensive, and controversial mentoring program, Quantum Opportunity Program (QOP), was successful among youths with ex-ante high-predicted risk of drug-use as it increased their likelihood of graduating from high-school by 15%, attending post-secondary education by 21%, and completing 2 years of post-secondary education by 32%. It also finds some evidence that, for this group, QOP improved employment and wages. Many of these impacts persisted 10 years after random assignment. The lack of QOP effects on curbing these youths' risky behaviors while they were in their late teens hides beneficial results for those with ex-ante bad peers, and detrimental effects for those with ex-ante good peers as other treated youths during QOP group activities may have been a bad influence.