This paper investigates the effectiveness of a small experimental pilot addressed to foreign adolescents with low language skills and high dropout risk in lower secondary school in Turin, North-West Italy. The intervention aims at reducing Early School Leaving while supporting standard school curricula. In order to facilitate students’ re-motivation and their attachment to the school environment, the pilot proposes an original VET approach that alternates standard school activities to innovative vocational training. In particular, treated students substitute 290 h VET courses for 10 standard school weeks along a scholastic year. First of all, the analysis aims at evaluating effects on Early School Leaving. Then, since the pilot requires a long period in VET away from school, the study evaluates effects on educational outcomes. Oltre I Muri is a very small pilot experiment, involving seven schools and offering 11 VET positions to migrant students. We investigated the effectiveness of the program by an experimental counterfactual approach: participants have been randomly assigned to a treated and a control group with similar characteristics. They are adolescent migrants attending the 2nd year of lower secondary school and manifesting very high drop-out risk. Treated students attend the alternating VET/school pilot, while control students attend standard school classes. Randomization inference allows assessing average treatment effects, but the very small sample size does not guarantee statistical significance at standard levels. Results anyhow suggests some effectiveness of the project in contrasting Early School Leaving. In particular, while some non-treated students dropped out from school during the pilot, all treated students regularly completed their scholastic year. This can be interpreted as a 20% increase in school attendance, with an 80% confidence level assessed by Montecarlo randomization. Finally, extreme value bound techniques applied to test scores suggest that treated students do not prejudice their learning by attending VET instead of standard school classes during the pilot. On the contrary, their school attachment is reinforced.

本文调查了针对意大利西北部都灵市初中低语言技能和高辍学风险的外国青少年的小型实验性飞行员的有效性。该干预旨在减少早期离校率，同时支持标准的学校课程。为了促进学生的动力和他们对学校环境的依恋，飞行员提出了一种原始的VET方法，该方法将标准的学校活动替代为创新的职业培训。尤其是，经过学习的学生在整个学年中，将290小时的VET课程替换为10个标准学周。首先，该分析旨在评估对早期辍学的影响。然后，由于飞行员需要长时间离开学校进行VET，因此该研究评估了对教育成果的影响。Oltre I Muri是一个非常小的试点实验，涉及7所学校，并为移民学生提供11个VET职位。我们通过实验性反事实方法研究了该计划的有效性：参与者被随机分配到具有相似特征的治疗组和对照组。他们是进入初中2年级的青少年移民，辍学风险很高。接受治疗的学生参加轮换的VET /学校飞行员，而对照学生参加标准的学校课程。随机推断可以评估平均治疗效果，但很小的样本量并不能保证标准水平的统计学意义。无论如何，结果表明该项目与“早期退学”形成对比。特别是，在试点期间，一些未接受治疗的学生辍学了，而所有接受治疗的学生都定期完成了学业。这可以解释为上学率提高了20％，而通过蒙特卡洛随机评估得出的置信度为80％。最后，应用于测试分数的极值绑定技术表明，在试点期间，接受治疗的学生不会参加VET而不是参加标准的学校课程，因此不会损害他们的学习。相反，他们的学校依恋得到了加强。应用于测试分数的极限值限制技术表明，在试点期间，接受过治疗的学生不会参加VET而不是参加标准的学校课程，因此不会影响他们的学习。相反，他们的学校依恋得到了加强。应用于测试分数的极限值限制技术表明，在试点期间，接受过治疗的学生不会参加VET而不是参加标准的学校课程，因此不会影响他们的学习。相反，他们的学校依恋得到了加强。