Study Details | Pathways to Work

28355-Study of Project GRO

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it is a quasi-experimental design that does not adjust estimated impacts for potentially important differences between the program and comparison groups.

Program: Project Growing Regional Opportunities for the Workforce (GROW)

Services provided:

Basic skills/bridge programs, Case management, Integrated education and training, Job development, Job placement, Job readiness, Occupational or sectoral training

Setting: Tested in multiple settings

Methods and Standards Protocol version used for review: Version 1.0

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Study design

Design:

Quasi-experimental design

Study group formation:

Project GROW participants were recruited to participate at the individual level. Participants were adults with low levels of job skills and college readiness living along the U.S. Texas-Mexico border and eligible for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) services. To participate in Project GROW, recruited individuals had to consent to participation and commit to a targeted occupation in the offered workforce area(s). The evaluation team used one-to-one nearest neighbor propensity score matching with replacement to form the comparison group. Evaluators first pooled all Project GROW participants across service cohorts according to initial college readiness and Tests of Adult Basic Education scores. Then, evaluators drew the comparison pool from individuals listed in Texas Workforce Commission administrative data who had received services under WIA. The evaluation team matched each Project GROW participant to a comparison group participant who had similar observable characteristics.

Time period of study:

Evaluators studied the program for 52 months between September 1, 2012, and October 31, 2016.

Pathways to Work only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Age

Mean age

30 years

Sex

Female	47%
Male	53%

Race and ethnicity

Black or African American	2%
White	93%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	93%
Unknown or not reported	35%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Married

26%

Employment and public benefit status

Were employed	40%
Were unemployed	60%
Public benefits recipients	44%
Cash assistance recipients	1%

Education

Had a high school diploma or GED	72%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	28%

Program implementation

Implementing organization:

Multiple partners, including five Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), Jobs for the Future (JFF), Abt Associates, and Business Access.

Program services:

Project GROW (Growing Regional Opportunities for the Workforce) provided education and occupational training to adults with low job skills at five Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) spanning the U.S. Texas-Mexico border. Participant eligibility was determined in accordance with Workforce Investment Act (WIA) criteria. The study team sorted program participants into services on the basis of education and college readiness at study enrollment. Adults with a high school diploma or GED whose Tests of Basic Adult Education (TABE) reflected a 9th through 12th grade score equivalency received case management and college readiness training in preparation for subsequent enrollment in occupational training. Participants with high school-level TABE scores who were not enrolled in school and did not have a high school diploma or GED received accelerated GED preparation and occupational training simultaneously. Finally, out-of-school participants with TABE scores below a high school level and without a GED or high school diploma received adult basic literacy education and English as a Second Language (ESL) services alongside case management.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

Participants in the comparison condition were selected from a pool of individuals who received traditional WIA services but were not recruited to participate in Project GROW. Evaluators identified comparison group participants on the basis of their similarity to Project GROW participants, as measured using available observable characteristics in Texas Workforce Commission administrative data.

Study publications

O'Shea, Dan, Ashweeta Patnaik, and Heath Prince (2016). Growing Regional Opportunity for the Workforce: Project GROW goes to seed in the Texas-Mexico border areas: Final implementation analysis report, Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Available at https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/74398/Final_WIF_GROW_Implementation_Report_Rev-June-2016.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y.

Patnaik, Ashweeta, Dan O'Shea, and Heath Prince (2016). Growing Regional Opportunity for the Workforce (Project GROW): Final evaluation report, Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Available at https://sites.utexas.edu/raymarshallcenter/2017/02/17/growing-regional-opportunity-for-the-workforce-project-grow-final-evaluation-report/.

O'Shea, Dan, Heath Prince, Ashweeta Patnaik, Amna Khan, and Greg Cumpton (2014). Growing Regional Opportunity for the Workforce: Project GROW taking root in the Texas-Mexico border areas: Interim process analysis report, Austin, TX: Ray Marshall Center, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin. Available at https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/28440/Growing%20Regional%20Opportunity%20for%20the%20Workforce_Project%20G.R.O.W.%20Taking%20Root%20in%20the%20Texas-Mexico%20Border%20Areas.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y.

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Study of Project GROW