In 1992, the U.S. Departments of Defense and Education jointly created a new high school program aimed at encouraging at-risk youth to remain in school until graduation. The program, which is a marriage of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) and the comprehensive high school reform initiative known as career academies, was called JROTC Career Academy (JROTCCA). The JROTCCA's effectiveness was evaluated by examining administrative records for two to three complete cohorts of students in each of eight pairs of urban high schools in the United States. The cohorts contained a total of 27,490 students. In 6 of 10 cases, the grade-point averages of the JROTCCA students were substantially higher (by one-fourth to one-half a grade point higher on a 4-point scale) than those of their counterparts in the general academic programs. Absenteeism for the JROTCCA students was also significantly lower than would have been expected for students in the general academic program in 7 of 10 cases. In the two cases for which four-year graduation information was available, nearly twice as many of the students enrolled in the JROTCCA program in grade 9 graduated as would have been expected had they been in the general academic program. (Contains 21 references.) (MN)