A study compared the Career Intern Program (CIP) with five other alternative youth programs. (The CIP is an alternative high school designed to enable disadvantaged dropouts or potential dropouts to earn regular high school diplomas, to prepare them for meaningful employment or postsecondary education, and to facilitate their transition from school to work by providing instruction, counseling, hands-on career exposure, diagnosis/assessment, and climate.) The programs compared to CIP were the Alternative Learning Center of Westover, West Virginia; the Harbor City Learning Experience-Based Career Education Program of Baltimore, Maryland; the Independence High School of Newark, New Jersey; the Kensington-Edison Youth Program of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Urban League Street Academy of New Orleans, Louisiana. Examined in the study were the following effectiveness measures: enrollment, attendance, retention, graduation, and placement. Enrollments were linked to reputation in the community, accessible location, and scheduling. While all programs had difficulty maintaining high attendance levels and retaining students, schools with support services had better attendance. Programs offering general equivalency degrees had more graduates than schools granting regular diplomas. Finally, CIP had fewer job placements than did comparable institutions. (Related reports evaluating various aspects of CIP are available separately through ERIC--see note.) (MN)