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To better understand the efficiency and practicality of the State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) initiative, the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in collaboration with the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), conducted a formative evaluation. The formative evaluation would engage with stakeholders as the initiative was being developed and implemented through identifying fidelity of implementation and providing midstream assessments so that the implementers could make real-time adaptations. The report provides formative evaluation findings. It describes what the SEED model is and how the initiative was being implemented and evolving. In addition, it explores how the initiative is progressing toward achieving its goals and presents summaries of stakeholder interviews and survey data related to the helpfulness of the SEED initiative. The findings are based on three rounds of interviews with stakeholders, surveys of state legislators and staff who interacted with SEED, and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) policy tracker data.

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Research Questions

• What progress did SEED make toward short-term outcomes specified in the SEED logic model (those expected to take 1 to 2 years to achieve)?
• What progress did SEED make toward medium-term outcomes specified in the SEED logic model (those expected to take 2 to 4 years to achieve)?
• What progress did SEED make toward long-term outcomes specified in the SEED logic model (those expected to take 5 or more years to achieve)?

Key Takeaways

• Key SEED stakeholders reported progress being made toward short-term objectives, including raising awareness, knowledge sharing, developing partnerships (particularly with intermediaries, but less so with other advocacy groups with similar focus), and increasing motivation to address disability employment.
• SEED intermediaries report progress toward some medium-term goals, including positioning disability employment policy as a key workforce issue (at least for those that SEED has reached), creating champions, creating positive shifts in perspectives, and elevating the focus on inclusive workforce policy.
• Data collected so far indicated that SEED is making progress toward achieving its long-term goals.

Research Gaps

• Future research is needed to inform whether State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) has aligned intermediary objectives with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) or created true system change that may facilitate the creation of better systems and services for the employment of people with disabilities. (page iv)

Citation

Weissbein, D., Coffey, L., Yin, M., Overton, C., Smith, D.-M., Lee, D. H. (2019). Coffey Consulting. State Exchange on Employment and Disability (SEED) Formative Evaluation Final Report. 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.