Evaluation of Travis County investments in workforce development: 2020 update
Juniper, C., Rodriguez, P., & Prince, H. (2020). The University of Texas at Austin, Ray Marshall Center.
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examining1,212Students, gradePS
Project QUEST Intervention Report - Postsecondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) Interventions
Review Details
Reviewed: March 2022
- Quasi-Experimental Design
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it uses a quasi-experimental design in which the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.
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.
Please see the WWC summary of evidence for Project QUEST.
Findings
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Employment |
Project QUEST vs. Business as usual |
1 Year |
Full sample;
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75.62 |
69.00 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Employment |
Project QUEST vs. Business as usual |
2 Years |
Full sample;
|
78.67 |
68.00 |
Yes |
|
||
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: 70%
Male: 30% -
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Race Asian 5% Black 24% Other or unknown 15% White 56% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 41% Not Hispanic or Latino 59%
Study Details
Setting
This is a study of Capital IDEA, which is a sectoral workforce development program implemented in Travis County, Texas, and is based on the Project QUEST model. Participants attend training at LifeWorks workforce development sites, including Austin Community College's (ACC) Highland Campus (95% of students) and Temple College (5% of students).
Study sample
Eligible applicants had to be at least 18 years old, have a High School Equivalency Certification (HSEC) or high school diploma, lack an associate's or higher degree, meet reading and math skills requirements, and report a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty threshold. Of the Capital IDEA participants in the study, 56% were White, 24% were Black, and 5% were Asian. Forty-one percent of the sample were Hispanic, and 70% were female. Nearly half (49%) had attended some college, and over one-quarter (27%) were receiving public benefits. The program recruited low-wage workers and encouraged them to continue working part-time throughout the program. No information was provided on the demographic characteristics of the comparison group.
Intervention Group
Capital IDEA is a sectoral workforce development program that offers non-traditional students with the opportunity to pursue training in high-wage, high-demand occupations in health care, information technology, and other leading industries such as professional trades or applied technologies. The program coordinates and collaborates with Austin-area community colleges and employers to help prepare participants for jobs with good wages and benefits. Applicants who are unlikely to pass a college admissions assessment can enroll in Capital IDEA's College Prep Academy, an intensive 6.5 hour per day, five-day a week, 12-week program designed to build math, reading, writing, and study skills. Most participants required only one semester of the College Prep Academy (10% of participants received an additional semester of support). The program assigns a career navigator to each student. Career navigators meet students at the beginning of each semester, then communicate and work with students throughout the semester. Group support sessions are also offered, with topics for these sessions driven by student needs and their ability to navigate the college experience. The career navigators also communicate over telephone, text message, email, and video conferencing to help guide students through the higher education system. The program encourages students to work part-time throughout the program. The program covers tuition, fees, books, uniforms, tools, training software, and other course-specific required items. In addition, Capital IDEA provides support with basic office supplies, backpacks, and eye examinations and eyeglasses, and offers emergency financial assistance for students who need help with utility bills, rent, and mortgage payments, and childcare. There is also free Cap Metro public transportation for students enrolled at ACC.
Comparison Group
Comparison group members received employment assistance services available to the community through the state’s WorkInTexas (WIT) program and local Workforce Investment Act-funded Workforce Solutions CareerCenters. Data for the comparison group were drawn from The Workforce Information Systems of Texas (TWIST) records.
Support for implementation
No additional implementation details are provided in the study.
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).