Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE)

2007-2018

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In 2007, ACF initiated the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project, a multi-site, random assignment evaluation of promising strategies for increasing employment and self-sufficiency among low-income families. During the project’s development, consensus emerged that the evaluation should:

  • study interventions with potential for substantial effects on earnings and income rather than just modest effects;
  • prioritize strategies focused on skills development; and
  • focus on a relatively wide population of low-income individuals (not limited to TANF recipients).

Based on stakeholder input, the PACE team came to focus on career pathways as the main intervention framework to study. Please see the Career Pathways Research Portfolio page for more information on career pathways and OPRE’s investments in research in this area.

The PACE team, led by Abt Associates, randomly assigned participants in nine sites operating innovative career pathways programs around the country. These PACE partners include:

PACE partner (Career Pathways Program)

Description

DES MOINES AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE (Workforce Training Academy Connect)

Students in the Workforce Training Academy Connect (WTA Connect) program received contextualized basic skills instruction, instruction in employment and life skills, and vocational training through a short-term certificate course. Each short-term certificate offered in the WTA Connect program laddered into one or more specific certificate, degree, or diploma programs.

I-BEST Programs in Washington State

The Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program operates in all 34 of Washington’s community colleges to provide basic skills or English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction and training in a range of credit-based occupational training programs along with counseling and other supports. PACE evaluated the program at Bellingham Technical, Everett Community, and Whatcom Community Colleges.

INSTITUTO DEL PROGRESO LATINO (Carreras en Salud)

Instituto del Progreso Latino is a large, non-profit education and employment organization in Chicago that serves the city’s growing Latino population. Launched in 2005, the goal of the Carreras program is to help low-income Latinos improve their basic skills and enroll in occupational training to gain the necessary skills and credentials for jobs as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), and ultimately Registered Nurse (RN). This site received some support from the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program.

MADISON AREA TECHNICAL COLLEGE (Patient Care Pathway Program)

Patient Care Pathway program provided short-term condensed training that allows lower-skilled students to take courses for college credit and prepare them for health care degree and diploma programs. The program was split into two tracks depending on the student’s skill level.

PIMA COMMUNITY COLLEGE (Pathways to Healthcare)

The Pathways to Healthcare program offered training to students in sixteen different healthcare professions. Some of the trainings include certified nursing assistant, medical records technician, EMT-Paramedics, and pharmacy technician. The length of training was as short as the five-week Nursing Assistant training, or up to two or three years for any of the associate degree programs. This site received support from Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program.

SAN DIEGO WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIP (Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry)

The Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry program enabled eligible adults to develop the skills and knowledge needed for emerging career opportunities in health care by providing financial assistance, extensive case management, and support services for training. This site received support from Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program.

VALLEY INITIATIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ADVANCEMENT

Serving four large counties in southern Texas, the non-profit Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement’s (VIDA) primary goals are for participants to graduate with an associate’s degree or industry-recognized certificate in a high demand occupation and achieve living-wage employment in their area of study. VIDA provides comprehensive and intensive counseling services and substantial financial assistance to students, and in exchange requires students to enroll full-time and attend weekly counseling sessions.

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL OF SEATTLE-KING COUNTY (Health Careers For All)

Health Careers for All (HCA) was designed to meet the region’s expanding healthcare labor needs while simultaneously addressing the training, employment, and advancement needs of its low-income residents by preparing them for jobs such as Nursing Assistant, Medical Office, and Phlebotomist. The program provided students with access to tuition-free occupational training, individual case management, and employment or other supports. This site received support from the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program.

Year Up

Year Up operates in nine nationwide sites to provide urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. Their intensive one-year program provides high school graduates and GED recipients between the ages of 18-24 with a combination of hands-on skill development and corporate internship opportunities.

Random assignment in all sites concluded in the fall of 2014. Short-term program impacts were assessed using program administrative data, a participant follow-up survey administered approximately 15-months after random assignment, and, in some cases, administrative data from the National Directory of New Hires. Implementation and early impact reports for all nine sites were released on a rolling basis in 2017 and 2018.

The Career Pathways Intermediate Outcomes (CPIO) Study and the Career Pathways Long-term Outcomes (CPLO) Study are continuing to track PACE participants, following up approximately three and six years after random assignment, respectively, to assess intermediate- and long-term impacts of the PACE programs.

More information on the PACE project is available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/project/career-pathways

NOTE: From 2007 until the fall of 2014, PACE was known as the Innovative Strategies for Increasing Self-Sufficiency (ISIS) project.

Point(s) of contact: Nicole Constance.

 

This study has registered the following impact evaluations on the Open Science Framework:

Information collections related to this project have been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under OMB #0970-0397. Related materials are available at the PACE Information Collection page on RegInfo.gov.

The most currently approved documents are accessible by clicking on the ICR Ref. No. with the most recent conclusion date. To access the information collections (E.g. interviews, surveys, protocols), click on View Information Collection (IC) List. Click on View Supporting Statement and Other Documents to access other supplementary documents.

Data from the PACE project is archived through the Child and Family Data Archive under the title Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education Evaluation .

Related Resources

This analysis of data from 3,719 students in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation highlights risk factors that disadvantaged students face in college success. The data indicates a strong relationship between college success and past educational experience; economic status; expected work hours...

There is longstanding interest among policy makers and program operators in finding ways to increase the skill levels of low-income individuals, improve their enrollment in and completion of post-secondary education, and improve their economic prospects. The career pathways approach is gaining steady acceptance as a promising strategy to address these challenges and improve post-secondary education and training for low-income and low-skilled adults.

This summary is an easy-to-read...

The Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation is a next-generation test of…

Three programs increased college credential receipt and one program had earnings impacts at the six-year follow-up.

Year Up’s large positive impacts on young adults’ earnings extended over a seven-year follow-up period, and the program’s net benefits to society substantially exceeded its costs.

This document serves as the technical appendix for the Six-Year Impact Reports for all of the PACE sites.

In the six years since random assignment, VIDA produced substantial increases in receipt of degrees and longer-term college certificates, but these impacts on college credentials did not lead to detectable impacts on earnings.

I-BEST had a large impact on the receipt of short-term college credentials but had no impact on receipt of credentials requiring a year or more of college study—the confirmatory outcome in the education domain, and no detectable impact on average quarterly earnings after six-years—the confirmatory outcome in the employment domain.

Carreras increased receipt of a college credential requiring at least one year of full-time college but not average quarterly earnings at the six-year follow-up, the two confirmatory outcomes in this report.

Out of the 10 evaluations (9 PACE evaluations plus the HPOG 1.0 Impact Study), most programs had large impacts on credential receipt and more modest impacts on training duration but only one had earnings impacts.

Explore the analysis plan for the six-year follow-up study for the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project.

This report presents further evidence on the impacts of Year Up, a national training program for young adults aged 18-24 with high school credentials. Specifically, it extends earlier analyses to cover a three to five-year follow-up period and provides a cost-benefit analysis.

This report documents the impacts of the Patient Care Pathway Program (PCPP) three years after random assignment. Operated between 2011 and 2014 by Madison Area Technical College (hereafter referred to as “Madison College”) in Madison, Wisconsin, PCPP aimed to help low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training in the growing healthcare sector.

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle—King County’s Health Careers for All program aimed to help low-income adults, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, access and complete healthcare occupational training that could lead to increased employment and higher earnings. It is one of nine programs being evaluated under the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the...

This report documents the impacts three years after random assignment for the Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry program, operated between 2010 and 2015 by the San Diego Workforce Partnership in San Diego, California. Bridge to Employment aims to help low-income adults, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) recipients, enroll in and complete occupational healthcare training and find healthcare employment...

This report documents the impacts three years after random assignment for the Pathways to Healthcare program, operated by Pima Community College and Pima County One Stop in Tucson, Arizona. The program aimed to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training that could lead to increased employment and higher earnings. Pathways to Healthcare consisted of five elements...

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Patient Care Pathway program, operated by Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. The program aimed to help low-skilled adults remediate their basic skills so that they could quickly access occupational training in the growing healthcare sector. The Patient Care Pathway program is one of nine career pathways...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Washington State Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program at three colleges: Bellingham Technical College, Everett Community College, and Whatcom Community College. I-BEST is a nationally known program that...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Workforce Training Academy Connect (WTA Connect) program, operated by Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in Des Moines, Iowa. WTA Connect aimed to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA), a program that aims to meet the needs of low-income students and local employers for skilled workers. VIDA is one of nine career pathways programs in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study sponsored...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Carreras en Salud (Careers in Health) program, operated by Instituto del Progreso Latino, in Chicago, Illinois. The Carreras en Salud program aims to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training that can lead to increased employment and higher earnings. A distinctive feature of this program is a full healthcare...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Health Careers for All program. Health Careers for All aimed to help low-income adults access and complete occupational training that can lead to increased employment and higher earnings. It is one of nine career pathways programs being evaluated under the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study sponsored...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry program. Designed by the San Diego Workforce Partnership and operated by three community-based organizations in San Diego County, California, Bridge to Employment is one promising effort to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training...

This brief summarizes the implementation and early impacts of the Pathways to Healthcare program, operated by Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. Pathways to Healthcare is one promising effort to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training that can lead to increased employment and higher earnings. It is one of nine career pathways programs...

This brief summarizes findings of the implementation and early impacts study of Year Up, a national sectoral training program for young adults aged 18-24. It is among nine programs Abt Associates is evaluating in Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE)—a study sponsored by the...

This report summarizes implementation and early impact findings for nine programs employing “career pathways” strategies for low-income and low-skilled adults. These programs were evaluated as part of the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) Evaluation. The paper describes...

This brief summarizes findings from interviews conducted with leadership and staff from eight programs that participated in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) Evaluation, a rigorous, multi-site evaluation of “career pathways” programs.

The Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation is a study of nine promising programs that use a “career pathways” framework for increasing education, employment, and self-sufficiency among low-income individuals and families. Funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)...

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Workforce Training Academy Connect (WTA Connect) program, operated by Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in Des Moines, Iowa. WTA Connect...

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Patient Care Pathway program, operated by Madison Area Technical College (Madison College) in Madison, Wisconsin. The program aimed to help low-skilled adults remediate their basic skills so that they could quickly access...

This report describes the implementation and early impacts of the Washington State Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program at three colleges: Bellingham Technical College, Everett Community College, and Whatcom Community College. I-BEST is a nationally known program that aims to increase...

This report assesses the implementation and early impacts of Year Up, a national sectoral training program for young adults aged 18-24. Year Up aims to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete training leading to employment in high-demand, well-paying occupations. It is among nine programs Abt Associates is evaluating in Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE)...

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Carreras en Salud (Careers in Health) program, operated by Instituto del Progreso Latino, in Chicago, Illinois. The Carreras en Salud program is one promising effort aimed at helping low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training...

This brief summarizes findings from in-depth interviews with 39 members of the control group in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study. PACE is a rigorous evaluation of nine career pathways programs. PACE used an experimental design in which eligible program applicants were randomly assigned to a treatment group that...

This brief summarizes findings from interviews conducted with participants in Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE), a rigorous evaluation of nine career pathways programs. Program applicants were randomly assigned to a treatment group...

This report provides evidence on the implementation and early impacts of one promising effort to meet the needs of low-income students and local employers for skilled workers, the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA). VIDA, a community-based organization...

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry program, designed by the San Diego Workforce Partnership and operated by three community-based organizations in San Diego County, California. Bridge to Employment is one promising effort to help low-income...

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Pathways to Healthcare program, operated by Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. Pathways to Healthcare is one promising effort to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training that can lead to increased employment and higher earnings...

This paper discusses the experiences of and lessons learned from scaling up the Year Up program, a one-year program for low-income 18-25 year olds with a high school diploma.

This brief highlights the supports received by respondents in a qualitative study that is part of the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) evaluation, focusing on responses from 84 study participants. Respondents discussed program-provided supports and assessed their usefulness...

This brief describes the perceived challenges of 84 study participants in career pathways program evaluated in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study. In these interviews, respondents discussed in detail what they viewed as the difficulties they currently experience in the program, as well as challenges they foresaw in the future as they moved along a career pathway...

This brief describes 84 study participants’ motivations for enrolling in career pathways programs evaluated in the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study. In these interviews, participants discussed several topics, including...

This report provides detailed information about the planned impact analyses for the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project. The PACE Impact Study is designed to answer questions about the overall program effectiveness for the nine programs in PACE, each involving a different configuration of career pathways design components...

This report documents the structure, study components and data sources of the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project. In recent years, career pathways have emerged as an innovative framework for improving education, training and skills, and improving economic self-sufficiency. PACE is the first-ever randomized trial of career pathways programs, featuring 9 of the country’s leading and innovative programs...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like Year Up, are an approach to fill a vital need for skilled workers in the economy and offer low-wage...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) Program, are an approach to fill a vital...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Workforce Training Academy Connect (WTA Connect) Program, are an approach to fill a vital need for...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County Health Careers for All (HCA) program, are an...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA), are an approach to fill a vital need...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like Instituto del Progreso Latino Carreras en Salud, are an approach to fill a vital need for skilled...

There is longstanding interest among policy makers and program operators in finding ways to increase the skill levels of low-income individuals, improve their enrollment in and completion of post-secondary education, and improve their economic prospects. The career pathways approach is gaining steady acceptance as a promising strategy to address these challenges and improve post-secondary education and training for low-income and low-skilled adults.

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the San Diego Workforce Partnership’s Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry Program...

A substantial skills gap exists between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers in many high growth industries, including healthcare and manufacturing. This gap results in unemployment while good paying jobs go unfilled. At the same time, many low-skilled adults persist in low wage work with little opportunity for advancement.

Career pathways programs, like the Pima Community College (PCC) Pathways to Healthcare HPOG programs, are an approach...

There is a substantial skills gap between the education and training of the labor force and the needs of employers...

Career pathways is gaining steady acceptance as an integrative framework for promising approaches to…