On November 1st, 2011, the Northwest PA workforce investment area will begin their participation in a national study of adult and dislocated worker programs. This research, “The WIA Dislocated Worker and Adult Programs Gold Standard Evaluation” aims to measure the effectiveness of WIA-funded intensive and training services on customers’ employment-related outcomes.
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA), passed in 1998, funds many of the services and training programs, currently offered at PA CareerLink® locations across Northwest Pennsylvania. When the Act was passed, Congress required that the employment and training services funded by WIA be evaluated. Rigorous evidence of the effectiveness of the WIA-funded services is needed to justify continued funding for WIA. Moreover, findings from the evaluation can help policymakers and program administrators improve services. For these reasons, the U.S Department of Labor has funded “The WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Gold Standard Evaluation” to evaluate the effects of WIA-funded intensive and training services.
The Northwest PA workforce investment area is one of about two dozen local areas across the nation that were randomly selected for this important study. The findings from our area, combined with the findings from other areas across the country, will allow researchers to describe the effectiveness of WIA services nationwide. All of the Pennsylvania CareerLink® Centers in the local workforce investment area which includes: Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Venango, and Warren counties, including access points, are participating in the study.
Just like in clinical drug trials, an important part of this study is the random assignment of customers. Customers who are found eligible and suitable for intensive services will be randomly assigned by computer to one of three study groups.
The three groups are:
Full-WIA Group. Customers in this group can receive all services that they normally would in the absence of the study. Nationwide, about 90 percent of customers will be assigned to this group.
Core-and-Intensive Group. Customers in this group can receive any core or intensive service, but not training.
Core Group. Customers in this group can receive only core services.
The study has been designed so that the majority of customers will be assigned to the Full-WIA Group. Moreover, customers who are only interested in accessing core services, the vast majority of customers in most local areas, will not be affected by the study at all. All customers can receive other employment-related services that are available in the community. Customers must remain in their Study Group for 15 months after they are randomly assigned.
Although all customers seeking intensive or training services will be given a detailed orientation about the study and are required to sign a letter of consent if seeking intensive and/or training services, we realize that some citizens may have questions or concerns about the study.
Citizens who have questions or grievances are encouraged to call the Customer Hotline at: (800) 925-0356, 9am – 8pm (EST)
The Northwest Workforce Investment Board (WIB) recognizes that this evaluation presents a tremendous opportunity for the workforce investment system to document the importance of WIA-funded services to the participants we serve, our oversight bodies including Congress, the Office of Management and Budget, and the general public. For this reason, the WIB is very excited to take part in this study and looks forward to analyzing the results so that targeted improvements can be developed to serve our customers in our region more efficiently.