SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.—For the first-time spectator, the commencement ceremony for Grizzly Youth Academy probably looks strange. The students are wearing gray uniforms instead of graduation gowns, and they’re following their flag-bearing platoon leader across a parking lot, marching in cadence, instead of following a teacher across a lawn in perfect silence. Grizzly is a public charter boarding school that, along with another three dozen or so institutions participating in the National Guard’s Youth ChalleNGe Program, uses a “quasi-military” style of discipline to help students with a history of failure at traditional schools. After 22 weeks of classes, the “cadets” commemorate their accomplishments by parading in formation, doing synchronized push-ups, and shouting out to their family members.....

.....Evidence of student success at Grizzly goes much deeper than superficial happiness and temporary pride. The announcer at the ceremony proclaimed that the graduating cadets had earned an average 3.4 GPA during their time at Grizzly—surely a vast improvement for these students, almost half of whom said that they had earned “mostly Ds and Fs” at their former schools, and three-fifths of whom are low-income. According to an MDRC study of former ChalleNGe students three years after they had participated in the program, close to three-fourths of them had attained a high-school diploma or GED certificate, compared to just a little over half of the control group; 35 percent of the former had earned college credit, versus 19 percent of the latter. (Admission to the school is based on a lottery; the study’s control group consisted of students who had applied but weren’t admitted.) These are considerable distinctions considering that more than 100,000 students have completed the program.....

.....The Youth ChalleNGe Program attempts to strike a balance between seemingly conflicting philosophies with its “quasi-military” structure, one that draws inspiration from the armed forces to provide support for civilian students and teachers. The same three-year study by MDRC, a nonpartisan education and social policy think tank, shows that the program’s alumni aren’t significantly more likely to join the military than the control group. And the teachers at Grizzly are credentialed civilians.....

.....At this point, it’s easy to conclude that the alternative charter school offers a significant respite from turbulent lives, but when it comes to “real life,” it’s up to the individual child whether they’re successful, and to what extent. In-depth interviews conducted by the MDRC showed that even among the teens who sought to get on the right path still struggled to pay for college, balance their studies and work, find reliable transportation, and help their own parents and siblings. But when there’s evidence that a radically different educational culture can dramatically and visibly improve a student’s opportunity for success, maybe it’s time to reconsider the source of failure in “real life.” Because it’s clear that when these kids are simply protected, unplugged, fed well, held to certain standards of decorum, and given space to concentrate, they naturally create music, speeches, friendships, and muscle tone.....

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