About the Report

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The rapid rise of career pathways strategies nationally, including an emphasis on them in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), creates a critical need for sound evidence that shows what works well, why, under what circumstances and for whom. The WIOA legislation requires the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to “conduct a multistate study to develop, implement, and build upon career advancement models and practices for low-wage health care providers or providers of early education and child care” (29 U.S. Code § 3224(b)(4)(I)).

In response, DOL contracted with Abt Associates to conduct the Career Pathways Design Study to develop evaluation design options that could address critical gaps in knowledge related to the approach, implementation, and overall effectiveness of career pathways strategies generally, and in early care and education specifically (given the scarcity of information on it relative to healthcare). To inform thinking about evaluation design options, Abt produced reports on (1) research and evaluation relevant to career pathways approaches, (2) the implementation of career pathways initiatives, and (3) the potential for career pathways approaches in early care and education (ECE).

The main purpose of the report is to support development of evaluation design options. With that in mind, the review focuses primarily on the type, scope, and setting of career pathways initiatives that are currently active, as well as those whose periods of performance have ended.

Research Questions

• How Are Initiatives and the Experts Interviewed Defining Career Pathways Approaches?
• What Do Career Pathways Initiatives Look Like in Practice?

Key Takeaways

• All program-level career pathways initiatives emphasize helping individuals to enter or advance within a specific occupation or occupational cluster, one of the elements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) career pathways definition.
• Most program-level career pathways initiatives (61 percent to 76 percent) also emphasize the other elements of the WIOA career pathways definition.
• Less than half of system-level career pathways initiatives (28 percent to 49 percent) emphasize most elements of DOL’s Six Elements career pathways definition.
• The most commonly identified element of DOL’s Six Elements career pathways definition put into practice by system-level initiatives is building cross-agency partnerships (49 percent); the least commonly identified elements are identifying funding needs and sources (28 percent) and measuring system change and performance (30 percent).
• Very few initiatives explicitly defined career pathways approaches, based on information from website descriptions, program materials, and published reports.
• The experts interviewed believe that a shared definition of the career pathways approach is critically important and that such a definition should clearly distinguish it from traditional education and training strategies. They called for career pathways initiatives to be comprehensive (i.e., including foundational education, occupational training, and support services); include more than one step of training; contain both secondary and postsecondary education; and incorporate partnerships and employer engagement.
• Among the 128 career pathways initiatives identified, 67 focused on the program level (52 percent); 23 on system-level change (18 percent); and 38 on both (29 percent).
• Among the 110 initiatives for which we identified a target population, 43 targeted low-skilled individuals (39 percent) and 42 targeted low-income individuals or those living in poverty (38 percent), the two most common target populations. The next most common target populations were unemployed workers (21 initiatives), dislocated workers and youth (14 initiatives each), underemployed workers (13 initiatives), and veterans (12 initiatives). Other potential populations of interest, such as ESL/English language learners (ELL)/limited English proficiency (LEP), incumbent workers, people of color, and people with disabilities, were targeted by 10 or fewer of the 110 initiatives.
• Among the 109 initiatives for which researchers identified a targeted sector, healthcare was the most common (83 initiatives, or 76 percent), followed by manufacturing (40 percent), information technology (28 percent), construction (22 percent), and shipping/logistics/transportation (22 percent).
• 84 initiatives offered training in multiple sectors; of the 44 single-sector ones, 30 targeted healthcare.
• Community colleges (49 percent) most commonly led career pathways initiatives, followed by non-profit organizations (38 percent), other State/local agencies (26 percent), Workforce Development Boards (15 percent), and other educational institutions (12 percent).

Citation

Sarna, M., Strawn, J. (2018). Abt Associates. Career Pathways Implementation Synthesis. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.