Preparing Brazil's Youth

In Brazil, over 500,000 young people drop out of high school each year, often because they need to work. But the jobs these young people find are usually low-paid and offer little chance for growth. At the same time, access to high-quality technical education—training that could open doors to better jobs—is limited, especially for students from low-income families or rural areas.

This project aims to address that inequity by integrating vocational education into public high schools while building rigorous evidence to guide policy and practice. Our approach combines randomized and quasi-experimental evaluations with deep qualitative research to understand how different models of vocational education can improve student learning, employment, and higher education outcomes. We want to find and test new ways of making vocational training more relevant, practical, and accessible for young adults.

We are working in partnership with the State Secretariat of Education of Pernambuco, the Itaú Foundation, and the CESAR School to test two models. One brings hands-on courses in renewable energy to rural schools, connecting students to growing industries in their own communities. The other offers tech-focused electives in over 130 public schools across the state of 9.5 million people.

We’re combining real-time data, field visits, and feedback from students and teachers to learn what works. Our goal is to help the state improve its programs—and to build a roadmap that other regions in Brazil can follow.

By rethinking how technical education fits into high school, we hope to create more opportunities for young people to graduate with purpose, skills, and options—no matter where they live.