Entrepreneurship Program for At-Risk Middle School Students
This paper reviews an entrepreneurship intervention program implemented in the Arkansas Delta with 53 at-risk middle school students. Organized by the SIFE team at a regional university's College of Business and funded by a Sam's Club grant, the program introduced students from low-income families to core business concepts, economics, finance, and entrepreneurship over a full semester. Students developed products and competed at a public "Celebration Fair." Pre- and post-test results showed dramatic improvement in business knowledge, with participants rising from the 62nd to the 91st national percentile. The paper also highlights findings from national dropout research, contextualizing why such interventions matter for students who might otherwise leave school before graduation.
- Introduction: At-Risk Students and the Dropout Crisis: Introduces at-risk students and dropout problem
- National Context and the Case for Intervention: National dropout data and rationale for intervention
- The Arkansas Delta Entrepreneurship Program: Overview of SIFE program design and participants
- Curriculum, Business Concepts, and Hands-On Learning: Business topics and Excel skills taught to students
- The Celebration Fair and Program Outcomes: Fair results, sales figures, and test score gains
- Conclusion: Entrepreneurship as an Academic Intervention: Argument for expanding entrepreneurship-based interventions
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its argument in concrete quantitative evidence — the pre-test to post-test jump from the 62nd to the 91st national percentile makes the program's impact immediately convincing.
- It situates a single local case study within national dropout statistics from the Gates Foundation report, giving broader relevance to a program that might otherwise seem narrowly regional.
- The paper uses a clear review structure: establish the problem, describe the intervention, report the results, and draw a policy-relevant conclusion — making it easy to follow and evaluate.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the technique of using a single well-documented case study to argue for broader policy adoption. By carefully reporting demographic data, methodology, and outcome statistics from Bevill et al. (2009), the writer builds a replicable evidence base and invites the reader to consider scaling the intervention to other schools.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by establishing the dropout problem as a national crisis, then narrows to the Arkansas Delta context and the specific population served. The body details the program's design, curriculum, and semester-long activities, culminating in the Celebration Fair results. The conclusion pivots from evidence to recommendation, arguing that entrepreneurship programs deserve broader adoption as an at-risk intervention strategy. The Works Cited section follows APA-adjacent formatting consistent with the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education source.
Introduction: At-Risk Students and the Dropout Crisis
According to the available literature, if at-risk students do not receive the academic support they need while in middle school, the chances are very good that they will drop out by the time they reach high school. While the high school dropout rate has declined in recent years, it remains far too high — an indication that at-risk students in both middle school and high school are not receiving the specialized academic help they may need to complete their basic education.
This paper reviews a program put into place in the Arkansas Delta involving 53 at-risk middle school students. The intervention was designed to engage these students with business and entrepreneurship concepts. The success of this intervention is seen as a potentially replicable tool for other schools, because when young people from low-income families who are considered academically at-risk become excited about participating in a profitable and engaging business venture, their attention to classwork and learning is positively affected.
Works Cited
Bevill, Sandra Hrabovsky, and Glasgow, Susan. (2009). Motivating At-Risk Students in the Arkansas Delta: An Entrepreneurship Simulation. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, Vol. 12, 35–42.
Bridgeland, John M., Dilulio, John J., and Morison, Karen Burke. (2006). The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts. A Report by Civic Enterprises & the Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Retrieved January 24, 2011, from www.civicenterprises.net/pdfs/thesilentepidemic3-06.pdf.
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