CEO Library

The report of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) national evaluation synthesizes impact findings from 23 Round 3 third party evaluations that used quasi-experimental methods to estimate the impact of the TAACCCT projects on participants’ education and employment outcomes. Evaluators used statistical strategies to draw comparison groups that were similar on observable characteristics to the TAACCCT participant groups.

In 2015, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Mathematica and Social Policy Research to conduct the Performance Partnership Pilots (P3) for Disconnected Youth National Evaluation. The goal of the study is to identify and document the extent to which the P3 initiative increased coordination across federal agencies and programs to allow local communities the flexibilities they need to support disconnected youth.

The brief provides reflections from four evaluation technical assistance (TA) liaisons based on their experiences in working with grantees awarded as part of a Federal interagency initiative, Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3). The brief, (1) describes the P3 program’s TA supports, (2) reviews the roles and responsibilities of different types of P3 partners, and (3) describes the hurdles faced when working with partners and strategies to mitigate those hurdles.

In an effort to evaluate the Workforce Online Learning Information Portal (WOLIP) project in four states and to learn more about how best to implement online learning in state-driven workforce investment systems, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funded the Rutgers University Center for Women and Work to conduct a formative evaluation of the WOLIP demonstration project and to provide technical assistance. The report summarizes the findings and observations from the evaluation research, which concluded September 2011.

As part of an ongoing research initiative, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) in the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has been actively exploring the use of technology-based learning (TBL) in the public workforce system and has sponsored several discrete but related studies. The report focuses on two areas of this research: 1) emerging state policies on TBL and 2) use of TBL at the local level in American Job Centers (AJCs).

The report—one component of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) National Evaluation—synthesizes findings from the local evaluations of the Cohort 1 pilots. This report assesses the extent to which the local evaluations established a causal impact between the studied intervention and participant outcomes and, for interventions that had such evidence, whether the evidence indicated the intervention had improved outcomes for youth.

The report systematically documents and analyzes the use of technology-based learning (TBL) across the entire network of Job Corps centers, reporting on the TBL implementation process, the challenges TBL faced during implementation, and the best practices for TBL that instructors, managers, and directors identified.

The report is one in a series of implementation study papers of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) National Evaluation, which was contracted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) on behalf of the Federal partners supporting P3. It assesses P3 four years after its initial authorization, and is based on data collected from interviews with Federal agency staff and two rounds of site visits to the nine original (Cohort 1) pilots, conducted between 2016 and 2018.

The literature review focuses on understanding more about technology-based learning (TBL), how it has been used for work-related skills and training, and whether it has been effective. It examines the literature on TBL interventions, factors associated with effectiveness, gaps in the knowledge base, and possible directions for future research.

The report from the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) evaluation’s implementation study reflects on the early experiences of the nine Cohort 1 pilots. The data primarily come from interviews with pilot stakeholders conducted in spring and summer 2017. Across the nine pilots, the evaluation team interviewed 169 stakeholders, including P3 administrators, staff, and partners. The report begins by describing P3 as envisioned by the Federal government, describes the nine pilots to provide context for the emerging findings, and then presents the early findings.

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Insight Policy Research to conduct the Estimating Job Corps Cost per Enrollee and Cost per Graduate study. This study examined six methodologies for estimating the cost per enrollee and cost per graduate for program year 2017 to help inform ETA’s performance reporting on the Job Corps program, as required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Job Corps program trains approximately 60,000 participants on workforce skills in a residential environment each year. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires DOL to present the cost per enrollee and cost per graduate of each Job Corps center every year. The report presents the methodology used to estimate cost per enrollee and cost per graduate for program year 2017. The average Job Corps center cost is $34,301 per enrollee and $57,312 per graduate.

The literature review summarizes evidence on three topics related to the intersection of employment and the opioid crisis: (1) effective and promising practices for providing employment services to people with opioid use disorder; (2) employer best practices for preventing negative effects of opioid use disorder in the workplace and creating recovery-friendly workplaces; and (3) key considerations for developing the health care workforce that is addressing the opioid crisis.

The guide provides resources to support the recipients of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) National Health Emergency (NHE) Dislocated Worker Grants, for demonstration projects and disaster recovery, as well as other interested parties, in their efforts to provide employment services to people affected by the opioid crisis, help employers address opioid use disorder in the workplace and support affected individuals, and develop the health care workforce to help address the opioid crisis.

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Mathematica Policy Research with Social Policy Research Associates and the Council of State Governments Justice Center to conduct the Pathway Home Reentry Evaluation. The study aims to develop design options for an impact and implementation evaluation to assess the feasibility of conducting an impact evaluation and examine the implementation of the Pathway Home Reentry Grant program.

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund Abt Associates to conduct the Support to Communities Grant Program Evaluation. This implementation study aims to provide new and critical information on promising practices and implementation challenges in providing services that address both employment and treatment needs for those with opioid use disorders (OUDs) and substance use disorders (SUDs).

The Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) and commissioned contractor ICF Incorporated to conduct the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Impact Evaluation and TAP Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot (ENPP) Formative Evaluation.

In 2020, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and funded contractor Mathematica Policy Research to conduct the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Research Portfolio Project.

The report, the second of the Youth CareerConnect (YCC) project’s implementation study, examines the evolution of YCC program implementation, and focuses on the third and fourth years of the grant, when grant funding was scheduled to end. It also examines grantee approaches to sustainability of YCC activities and services as they approached the end of grant funding.

In July 2012, Fort Scott Community College in Fort Scott, Kansas, received a grant totaling $1.5 million to develop and implement the water technologies training program for residents of the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex (KJCC) in Topeka. The goal of the training program was to increase incarcerated youth’s employment and earnings potential and reduce their recidivism rates after release from the correctional facility. Obtaining good job placements in high-demand occupations could help youth develop economic stability and, ultimately, self sufficiency.

Youth from low-income neighborhoods are at risk of poor outcomes throughout their lives. Many will drop out of school, which can lead to economic hardship and a greater chance of getting involved in the criminal justice system—making their lives even more difficult.

In 2014, law enforcement agencies made about 1 million juvenile arrests, each of which generated a record. Having a juvenile record reduces a youth’s prospects in life by limiting employment, educational, and housing opportunities long after the incident’s resolution. Yet a juvenile record does not have to permanently restrict a youth’s opportunities. Youth with juvenile records can reduce or completely bar public access to their records by expunging or sealing them.

In 2014, law enforcement agencies in the United States made nearly 1 million juvenile arrests. Roughly half of the cases formally processed resulted in youth being adjudicated delinquent. Youth with convictions face lasting collateral consequences such as decreased access to education, employment opportunities, and certain social welfare benefits, like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), aside from more direct consequences like fines, fees, or imprisonment. Recognizing this, the U.S.

Using data collected throughout the implementation of the Youth CareerConnect (YCC) grant, the final report describes how grantees recruited employer partners and maintained employer and workforce agency partnerships; the services and activities partners provided; and plans for sustaining partnerships after the grant ended. The report draws on a mix of quantitative and qualitative data from three sources that bring together information at different time points. Appendix B provides details on each of these data collection efforts relevant to this report.

In 2020, Chief Evaluation Office, in collaboration with VETS, commissioned an implementation evaluation of the VETS Transition Assistance Program (TAP) Apprenticeship Pilot Evaluation under the Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio of studies. Results of the study are intended to inform future efforts by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S.