Instituto del Progreso Latino’s Carreras en Salud Program Six-Year Impact Report

Carreras aims to provide training to Latino adults with low income with a seven-course pathway that starts with Career ESL and concludes with Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). It incorporates a range of academic and non-academic services and supports to help participants complete their first course and advance to subsequent ones. This research was undertaken to evaluate whether Carreras was successful in providing training to low-income, low-skilled adults and whether the program’s efforts led to impacts on credentials, earnings, healthcare employment, and other life outcomes.

Analyses in this report indicate that after six years, Carreras en Salud:

• Increased by 4 percentage points receipt of college credentials requiring at least one year of full-time college, the confirmatory outcome in the education domain for the six-year impact study. Seventeen (17) percent of the treatment group received such a credential, compared to 13 percent of the control group. LPN is the Carreras course of study that fits this category.
• Had no detectable impact on average quarterly earnings in follow-up quarters 23 and 24, the confirmatory outcome in the earnings and employment domain for the six-year impact study. The average quarterly earnings for treatment group members were $6,343, compared to $6,053 for the control group.
• Had a 6 percentage point impact on the percent receiving quarterly earnings averaging $6,825 or more across quarters 23 and 24. Forty-nine percent of the treatment group earned this threshold compared to 43 percent of the control group. Further analysis found that the impact occurred in quarter 24 only and disappeared the following quarter.
• Had a 6 percentage point impact on employment in the healthcare field. Thirty-two (32) percent of treatment group members reported working in the healthcare field at the time of the follow-up survey, compared to 26 percent of control group members. The program had no detectable impact on other measures of employment outcomes or career progress.
• Had no detectable impact on measures of financial wellbeing. The evaluation found no impact on ability to handle an emergency of $400 or more or financial distress. Nor did Carreras have a detectable impact on receipt of means-tested public benefits.

To assess the effectiveness of Carreras, the PACE project used an experimental design in which program applicants were randomly assigned to a treatment group that could access the program or to a control group that could not, then compared their outcomes. From November 2011 to September 2014, Carreras staff randomly assigned 800 program applicants (402 treatment, 398 control). The six-year impact study used data from a follow-up survey conducted six years after randomization, earnings records from the National Directory of New Hires, and college enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse.

Gardiner, Karen, and Amanda Grittner. 2022. Instituto del Progreso Latino’s Carreras en Salud Program: Six-Year Impact Report. OPRE Report 2022-47. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.