Study Details | Pathways to Work

1193.01-Study of To Strength

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because the implementation of the randomized controlled trial was compromised and it does not adjust estimated impacts for potentially important differences between the program and comparison groups.

Program: To Strengthen Michigan Families (TSMF)

Characteristics of study participants:

Cash assistance recipients, Parents, Public benefits recipients, Single parents

Services provided:

Earned income disregards, Job placement, Job search assistance, Performance- or behavior-based financial incentives

Setting: Tested in multiple settings

Methods and Standards Protocol version used for review: Version 1.0

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Study design

Design:

Cluster randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

The study included families (cases) served at four Michigan welfare offices who were receiving cash assistance through Michigan's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) or State Family Assistance (SFA) programs as of October 1, 1992. All families were randomly assigned to the program and comparison groups. Random assignment was conducted at the caseworker level, with all families with the same caseworker assigned to the same study group (about 200 cases were assigned to each caseworker). Evaluators conducted analysis at the case level. Within their analytic sample, the authors excluded cases that were active for only one month, cases that moved to other locations within Michigan that were not part of the study, and cases that included an individual who was originally randomly assigned to one study group but later joined a case that was assigned to the other study group. Other studies for this evaluation estimate effects of TSMF on (1) families that became eligible for AFDC or SFA from October 1992 to September 1994 and (2) families that became eligible from October 1994 to September 1995.

Time period of study:

Random assignment occurred on October 1, 1992, and outcomes were measured for four years thereafter.

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

Sample characteristics

Sex

Female	86%
Male	14%

Race and ethnicity

Black or African American	42%
White	51%
Unknown, not reported, or other	7%

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

Parents	100%
Single parents	87%

Employment and public benefit status

Public benefits recipients	100%
Cash assistance recipients	100%

Program implementation

Implementing organization:

Michigan Family Independence Agency (the state AFDC agency)

Program services:

Families in the program group were subject to a set of 21 policy changes that constituted TSMF. The first set of policies, enacted on October 1, 1992, included a social contract that clients were required to sign, agreeing to engage in employment, education, training, or other self-improvement activities for at least 20 hours per week; expanded cash assistance earnings disregards; loosened cash assistance eligibility restrictions related to work history and work hours for two-parent families; and the exemption of AFDC child earnings and savings from eligibility and benefit amount determination. A second set of policies was implemented starting on October 1, 1994 that strengthened AFDC's job search requirements by imposing higher financial sanctions for noncompliance, mandated immunizations for preschool-age children, and exempted the value of vehicles from the eligibility determination process. In addition, clients were allowed to deduct investments related to self-employment in the eligibility determination process. Program group members were subject to both sets of policies after the second set was implemented.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

Families in the comparison group were subject to Michigan's preexisting AFDC policies. There was no social contract requirement, and recipients were subject to the standard AFDC earnings disregards and work-related eligibility requirements for two-parent households. Dependent children's earnings and savings were counted when determining benefit amounts and eligibility. On October 1, 1994, a new job search and placement program called Work First was implemented for all AFDC applicants and recipients, including those in the program and comparison groups. Under Work First, AFDC applicants and recipients were assigned to a period of job search, with activities varying from unstructured individual job search to job club activities. Individuals in the comparison group who did not participate in their assigned Work First activities were subject to a potential sanction at most equal to the value of the noncompliant individual's portion of the cash benefit (a lesser sanction than in the program group).

Study publications

Werner, Alan, and Robert Kornfeld (1997). The evaluation of To Strengthen Michigan Families: Final impact report, Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates.

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Pathways to Work refers to programs by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some program names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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Study of To Strengthen Michigan Families (TSMF)—Ongoing cases