Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) Program in Three Colleges: Implementation and Early Impact Report. Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education. OPRE Report No. 2018-87
Martinson, Karin; Cho, Sung-Woo; Gardiner, Karen; Glosser, Asaph (2018). Administration for Children & Families. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED608003
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examining463Students, gradePS
Publication
Review Details
Reviewed: January 2021
- Publication (findings for Adult Education)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Working in a job paying $12/hour or more |
Adult Education vs. Business as usual |
24 Months |
Full sample;
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23.00 |
23.80 |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Working in a job requiring at least mid-level skills |
Adult Education vs. Business as usual |
24 Months |
Full sample;
|
5.10 |
9.50 |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Received an occupational or educational credential from any source |
Adult Education vs. Business as usual |
18 Months |
Full sample;
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33.50 |
18.20 |
Yes |
|
|
|
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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Received a credential from a college |
Adult Education vs. Business as usual |
24 Months |
Full sample;
|
17.20 |
4.90 |
Yes |
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Received a credential from a licensing/certification body |
Adult Education vs. Business as usual |
18 Months |
Full sample;
|
32.00 |
16.70 |
Yes |
|
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Received an occupational credential at a place other than college |
Adult Education vs. Business as usual |
18 Months |
Full sample;
|
0.90 |
4.20 |
No |
-- | ||
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 58%
Male: 43% -
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Washington
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Race Black 8% Other or unknown 38% White 55% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 26% Not Hispanic or Latino 74%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in three two-year colleges in the Northwest.
Study sample
The initial sample consisted of 632 learners. These learners had scores on the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System test that fell within a range consistent with low skills, but not very poor skills. The range of scores that determined eligibility varied by program and college. Fifty-eight percent of learners were female. Fifty-five percent of learners were White, non-Hispanic; 8 percent were Black, non-Hispanic; and 26 percent were Hispanic. Twenty-two percent of learners were age 20 or younger, 15 percent were ages 21 to 24, 30 percent were ages 25 to 34, and 33 percent were age 35 or older. Thirty-one percent had less than a high school degree, and 40 percent had a high school diploma or the equivalent. Learners reported an average income at baseline of $22,110. On measures of socioeconomic status, 59 percent reported receiving benefits from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); 21 percent reported receiving public assistance or welfare, and 49 percent reported experiencing financial hardship.
Intervention Group
The Integrated Basic Education and Skills (I-BEST) program is intended to provide low-skill learners with a career pathway through a community or technical college to obtain a credential or degree that is valued in a particular occupation (such as automotive, electrical, nursing assistant, or welding positions). The programs offered courses that provided learners with occupational credit that could lead to workforce credentials within one or two quarters. The courses offered integrated occupational training and basic skills instruction. Learners could also take additional basic skills classes designed to support the integrated courses. The program also gave learners financial assistance to completely cover tuition, and advisors to support them during enrollment, while they were taking courses, and to plan for their career.
Comparison Group
The comparison group continued to enroll in existing courses and receiving typical supports at the colleges. This included non-contextualized remediation courses and access to advising services that were unaffiliated with the I-BEST program.
Support for implementation
The study does not provide specific information about support for implementation.
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
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Martinson, Karin; Cho, Sung-Woo; Gardiner, Karen; Glosser, Asaph. (2018). Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) Program in Three Colleges: Implementation and Early Impact Report. Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education. OPRE Report No. 2018-87. Administration for Children & Families.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).