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This report describes the design for the implementation evaluation of the Scaling Apprenticeship through Sector-Based Strategies grants (referred to throughout the report as Scaling Apprenticeship grants) and the Apprenticeships: Closing the Skills Gap grants (referred to throughout the report as Closing the Skills Gap grants).

The America’s Promise Job Driven Grant Program Evaluation Design Pre-Specification Plan follows the template that evaluators must use to meet the pre-specification practices articulated in OMB Memo M-20-12 Phase 4 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Program Evaluation Standards and Practices.

The Implementation Study Design report describes the implementation study of both the Apprenticeship Building America (ABA) category 2 Expansion Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP) Opportunities for Youth ABA grants and the category 3 Ensuring Equitable RAP Pathways through Pre-Apprenticeship Leading to RAP Enrollment and Equity Partnerships grants. The design report begins with background on the ABA grants, with a particular focus on the Category 2 and 3 grants. It describes the key features of a registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship program.

The report reviews the latest studies, reports, and documents on Registered Apprenticeship programs to help understand gaps in apprenticeship knowledge. It discusses what we know about the benefits of apprenticeship for employers, workers, and society; how the federal government has been investing in the apprenticeship system; and what we have learned from state efforts to expand apprenticeship. The report also reviews the evidence for what specific types of Registered Apprenticeship programs work and for whom.

The brief is part of the State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment Study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, which is aimed at understanding how state apprenticeship systems operate to achieve goals. This brief discusses how states use incentives to promote and expand apprenticeship, the benefits of incentives, and the challenges in the administration and implementation of incentives.

The brief is part of the State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment Study funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, which is aimed at understanding how state apprenticeship systems operate to achieve goals.

In 2023, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), funded independent contractor Abt Associates to conduct the evaluation of ODEP’s Equitable Transition Models (ETM) Demonstration Projects. The ETM Evaluation aims to build the evidence of strategies to enable low-income youth and young adults with disabilities (Y&YAD) ages 16-24, including those experiencing homelessness, leaving foster care, or involved in the justice system, to successfully transition into the workforce.

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA), funded contractor Mathematica, with Social Policy Research Associates, to conduct the Reentry Project Grants Evaluation.

The report presents the findings from the Reentry Project (RP) Grants implementation study, which includes analysis of data from virtual sites visits with 27 sites that received 2018 or 2019 grant or subgrant awards, a grantee survey administered to all 2017, 2018, and 2019 grantees, and Workforce Integrated Performance System (WIPS) records dating from program year (PY)2018 Q1 to PY2021 Q2 or July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2021. This report focuses on grantee survey findings and analysis of data from WIPS for 2018 and 2019 grantees.

The Reentry Projects (RP) Grant Evaluation Design Pre-Specification Plan follows the template that evaluators must use to meet the pre-specification practices articulated in OMB Memo M-20-12 Phase 4 Implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018: Program Evaluation Standards and Practices.

The brief draws on a variety of sources, including survey responses from 89 Reentry Project (RP) grantees, interviews with RP program staff and partner organizations from 27 sites, interviews with 37 RP participants, interviews with 41 employers, and national workforce data from the Workforce Integrated Performance System (WIPS) all with the aim of describing the types of work-based learning (WBL) provided to RP participants, RP programs’ experiences in offering WBL opportunities to justice-involved individuals, and some lessons learned from offering WBL to the reentry population.

Using data collected as part of the Reentry Project (RP) Grants Evaluation, the brief describes the differences and similarities between adult and young adult grantees in terms of the services they offered and the implementation challenges they reported. The analysis draws on quantitative data from a survey of all 116 organizations that received RP grants. Data from the grantee survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as chi-squared tests to determine whether differences across grant types were statistically significant.

The brief highlights the service needs that interviewed Reentry Project (RP) participants reported when leaving incarceration; their barriers to employment; their experiences during and after they participated in the programs; their perspectives on program elements such as vocational training, supportive services, and job placement; and their recommendations for improvement.

The brief describes the 116 Reentry Project (RP) grantees funded in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and aims to address the research question, “What are the variations in the model, structure, partnerships, and services of the grants?” To answer this question, descriptive statistics from survey data collected in all three grant years was used to summarize and highlight findings about RP program structures, partnerships, and services, in addition to chi-squared tests to determine whether any differences across grant years and grant types were statistically significant.

The brief draws on data collected from virtual site visits with 27 Reentry Project (RP) grantees to identify the industries grantees commonly focused on, describe industry-specific training they used, discuss the development of industry partnerships, and provide insights for connecting individuals with justice involvement to locally in-demand industries. Site visit data included interviews with 33 employers; together with grantee interviews, the visits highlighted successes and challenges grantees experienced when engaging and partnering with employers.

To assess the effectiveness of criminal justice policies, programs, or reforms, researchers frequently examine recidivism, defined as the return to criminal activity after a prior sanction (Council of State Governments Justice Center 2014; Deady 2014; National Institute of Justice 2022; Pratt and Eriksson 2013).

The brief draws on literature on risk/needs assessments in the criminal legal system and grantee survey data collected from 89 community-based organizations (CBOs) that were awarded U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Reentry Project (RP) grants from 2017 to 2019.

As part of its support of Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is committed to collecting and creating information in a way that supports data sharing and dissemination. Toward that end, DOL’s Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) hosted a series of three seminars during August 2022 on topics directly relevant to sharing data, protecting confidentiality, and building a culture to support sharing and responsible use. The one pager provides a summary of the seminars.

In 2019, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Urban Institute, Mathematica Policy Research, and Capital Research Corporation to design and conduct analysis to build and expand the evidence portfolio on apprenticeships, including models, components, partnerships, and strategies that often include the work of community colleges. 

The report provides background on youth apprenticeship programs in the U.S. to provide context for finalizing the design of the implementation evaluation of the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants (YARG). The report also summarizes the planned activities of the 14 grantees and the key features of each grantee’s youth apprenticeship model and discusses key issues to include in the implementation evaluation.

The brief develops a typology of five different models of youth apprenticeship expansion used by Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grants (YARG) grantees across their registered apprenticeship programs. The typology is based on information collected from the YARG grantee applications, follow-up clarification calls with grantees, and the grantees’ quarterly narrative reports to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The models are not proscriptive templates for individual registered apprenticeship program standards.

The environmental scan sets the stage for a series of briefs that will be published under the State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment study. The study will conduct a deep dive into state-level Registered Apprenticeship systems in the United States, exploring how the public sector and its partners are supporting and implementing Registered Apprenticeship programs, including the use of more inclusive and equitable strategies and models.

In 2016, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Abt Associates to conduct the Evaluation of the Cascades Job Corps College and Career Academy (CCCA) Pilot. The program evaluation aims to document the implementation and assess the impact of the CCCA pilot program.

The brief describes how Job Corps and community colleges serve young people, how Job Corps currently works with colleges, and how partnerships between Job Corps and colleges could benefit students, Job Corps, and the colleges. The brief also describes the evaluation’s methods and shares what the Job Corps centers identified as the core principles and practices undergirding their successful college partnerships. These core principles and practices include shared goals, clear roles and responsibilities, constant communication, and accommodating each organization’s different requirements.

The report from a Job Corps pilot focused on enrolling students in college to prepare for a career in healthcare or information technology (IT), conducted February 2017 through June 2019 with 488 students from the Pacific Northwest (ages 16-21) with at least a sixth-grade level of competency in reading and math) enrolled in Job Corps’ Cascades College and Career Academy (CCCA). This report describes the pilot vision and the pilot contract, summarizes the findings of the evaluation, and considers some discussion.