The Training, Education, and Apprenticeship Program Outcomes Toolkit

During Phase I in 2019, BrightHive and partners developed a prototype ROI calculator to guide decision making on education programs and careers by students in the state of Colorado. The calculator combined data about wage outcomes for program graduates with program cost, time-to-completion, and baseline expected wages for high school graduates. This new ROI data was made available to test users through a statewide college and career application (My Colorado Journey) used by high school students to explore education and career pathways. Ninety-one high school students were presented with ROI information and asked to provide feedback and make suggestions for improvements. The research team found that students were more engaged overall by ROI data, spending 10 times the average amount of time on the ROI calculator page than they spent on other My Colorado Journey pages. They also found that institutions benefited from increased student interest and that students hoped to be able to access the tool again in the future.

In Phase II, BrightHive and partners will refine and build out the TEAPOT open source code base to support additional data sources and a menu of ROI calculation methods depending on data availability. The team will also develop training materials and toolkit supports for both postsecondary data collaboratives producing ROI data using the toolkit and embedding ROI information into their apps. At the end of Phase II, research partners will measure the impact of the ROI tool on student outcomes for 300 students, including determining whether ROI information improves the discovery of educational opportunities, increases the likelihood of enrollment overall, and leads to measurable changes in enrollment in high- versus low-ROI programs.