CEO Library

In 2021, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor Manhattan Strategy Group to conduct a literature review on the employment impacts of training vouchers and cash transfer programs.

The report is the first of three to present findings from the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) Evaluation implementation study. This initial report primarily uses data from an online survey completed by all grantees, which documented the planning and implementation of grant-supported programs, including characteristics of grantees and their partners, strategies to engage employers, registering apprenticeship programs, identifying and recruiting apprentices, and the major components of apprenticeship programs, including related technical instruction and on-the-job learning.

The literature review examined studies related to cash transfers and training voucher programs, through a search of the literature using the bibliographic databases/search engines Google Scholar, JSTOR, and ProQuest Social Science Premium and searched for terms expressing the concepts of interest: cash transfers and training vouchers, as well as specific training voucher programs identified in the search. The resources database of the National Bureau of Economic Research was also searched for additional relevant works.

View Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program Evaluation Addendum to this plan published in March 2024.

The report presents findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS), collected from face-to-face interviews with 2,586 crop workers interviewed between October 1, 2016, and September 30, 2018. It is organized into nine chapters, each beginning with a summary of the chapter’s key findings.

The report describes recent and long-term economic and policy developments with relevance for the public workforce system. This research evidence scan is one of a pair of reports developed as part of DOL’s WIOA Research Portfolio project. The companion report is A Research Evidence Scan of Key Strategies Related to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Report  (Deutsch et al. 2021).

Ongoing research and evaluation that produce actionable, widely disseminated evidence are central to the continuous improvement of U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs. In addition, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) requires DOL to conduct periodic, independent evaluations to inform the effective operation of WIOA programs and services. To support the development of DOL’s research portfolio, this scan examines existing evidence on key topics related to WIOA programs and services.

The report documents findings from an implementation study, describing how the Ready to Work (RTW) Partnership grantees’ programs were implemented over the full term of the grants, the institutional benefits the grantees anticipated would be sustained after the grants ended, and lessons for current workforce programs. Future reports, to be released in 2021 and 2022, will examine the impact of the four RTW programs on participants’ education and employment outcomes. Findings from this implementation study will be important in interpreting those impact results.

This brief documents findings from the Ready to Work (RTW) Partnership Grant Evaluation, describing how the grantees’ programs were implemented over the full term of the grant, the institutional benefits the grantees anticipated would be sustained after the grants ended, and lessons for current workforce programs. Future reports, to be released in 2021 and 2022, will examine the impact of the four programs on participants’ education and employment outcomes. Findings from this implementation study will be important in interpreting those impact results.

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Urban Institute, George Washington University, Capital Research Corporation, and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies to conduct an analysis of employer performance measurement approaches required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

The summary details the research activities and highlights key findings from all components of the five-year Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) evaluation. First, researchers describe the implementation study, and provide an overview of the study’s findings. Then, they describe the evaluation technical assistance activities provided to grantees and their local evaluators and present findings from the synthesis of Cohort 1 pilots’ local evaluation reports. Lastly, they offer brief considerations of how the lessons learned from P3 can inform future efforts.

COVID-19 has caused hiring freezes and business and institutional closures, which affected disconnected youth’s ability to continue working with service providers to meet employment and education goals and basic needs. In response, and in order to continue supporting youth, providers have adapted their services. To assess these adaptations, Mathematica and its subcontractor, Social Policy Research Associates, conducted a supplemental study as part of the National Evaluation of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3).

The Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2014 authorized the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3), which provided awarded pilots the flexibility to use funding from across multiple Federal discretionary programs to support efforts to improve the systems serving youth and youth’s outcomes. The report assesses the 14 awarded pilots’ implementation of the Federal vision for P3. Findings showed that pilots took a variety of approaches to try to improve youth outcomes, which commonly included new or enhanced services.

The brief provides a case study of the Sacramento Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) pilot. As such, it seeks to understand the context for the pilot and describe the pilot’s approach to supporting homeless youth. First, drawing on current literature, the brief provides an overview of the state of youth homelessness and housing insecurity in Sacramento, along with a review of approaches that may have promise in supporting this population.

In the brief, the Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3) study team has placed pilots’ efforts to sustain systems change along a continuum. At one end of this continuum, two pilots approached P3 as a platform to facilitate systems change in their communities. Next along the continuum is a pilot that had taken initial steps toward systems change by the end of its P3 grant. Next, two pilots reported that through P3 they had strengthened partnerships and broken down silos but that the systems for serving disconnected youth did not experience much change as a result of P3.

In 2018, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor The Urban Institute to design and conduct an evaluation that examines critical policy issues, lessons learned, and challenges states faced administering Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs during the Great Recession that began in 2007 and the economic recovery that followed.

In 2018, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor The Urban Institute to design and conduct an evaluation that examines critical policy issues, lessons learned, and challenges states faced administering Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs during the Great Recession that began in 2007 and the economic recovery that followed. Additionally, the opportunity to study these topics as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic was incorporated into the study.

In 2015, the Chief Evaluation Office partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Mathematica, Social Policy Research Associates, and MDRC to design and conduct an evaluation to better understand the implementation and outcomes of the National Guard Youth Challenge (YC) and Job Challenge (JC) program. The implementation study and outcome evaluation of three Job Challenge grants includes an analysis of post-JC outcomes between 2016 and 2018 for justice-involved graduates.

The toolkit provides a basic overview of evaluation elements for program management purposes. It also draws from and provides information about other generally accepted and available evaluation resources that may be useful as an entry point for state Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessments (RESEA) programs that may not make full use of evaluations in program planning or implementation or that may need additional evaluation reference to expand their evaluation activities.

In 2017, the Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Urban Institute, George Washington University, Capital Research Corporation, and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies to conduct an analysis of employer performance measurement approaches required by Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Many youth in America are not on track for labor market success. One factor that increases the risk of poor labor market outcomes among these youth is dropping out of school (Rumberger 2020). Youth who drop out of school are at greater risk for job instability and for lower long-term earnings (Hair et al. 2009). They are also more likely to struggle with mental health and substance abuse issues (Maynard et al. 2015). These challenges are compounded for youth who have early involvement with the juvenile or criminal justice systems.

The brief examines one aspect of the Job ChalleNGe grants – the goal of serving more court-involved youth. It draws on findings from multiple data sources including two rounds of site visits, a background information form, a follow-up survey with Job ChalleNGe participants, program records, and postsecondary and criminal justice administrative records.

In 2018, the Chief Evaluation Office partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractor The Urban Institute to design and conduct an evaluation that examines critical policy issues, lessons learned, and challenges states faced administering Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs during the Great Recession that began in 2007 and the economic recovery that followed. 

This project evaluated subsidized and transitional employment approaches for critical low-income populations, potentially including welfare recipients and low-income non-custodial parents. The project examined subsidized employment strategies designed to address two distinct goals: (1) provide work-based income support for people who were not able to find regular, unsubsidized jobs; and 2) to improve the employability of disadvantaged groups.

In 2016, the Chief Evaluation Office partnered with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to fund contractors Mathematica and Social Policy Research Associates to conduct the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Implementation Study.