In 2009, President Obama and his administration sought to overhaul the existing educational reform program and launched their initiative titled Race to the Top (RTTT). RTTT, a competitive grant program, comprised six priorities designed to help states reform their current educational systems. Priority five calls for states to evaluate their…

This report summarizes the final impact results for the national Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project. This project tested, using a random assignment design, the effectiveness of numerous programs intended to promote steady work and career advancement. All the programs targeted current and former welfare recipients and other low-wage…

Research completed since the 1980s has yielded substantial knowledge about how to help welfare recipients and other low-income individuals prepare for and find jobs. Many participants in these successful job preparation and placement programs, however, ended up in unstable, low-paying jobs, and little was known about how to effectively help them…

This report presents an assessment of the implementation and the two-year impacts of a program in Texas that aimed to promote job placement, employment retention, and advancement among applicants and recipients to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The program in Texas is part of the Employment Retention and Advancement…

Achieving Change for Texans (ACT) was a demonstration program designed to help participants achieve independence from welfare through employment, training, temporary assistance, and support services. The ACT included the following four primary components: Time-Limited and Transitional Benefits (TL); Responsibilities, Employment, and Resources…

The first round of site visits to welfare-to-work programs in Texas examined the nature and degree of program coordination at three sites: El Paso, Houston, and San Antonio. A brief overview of the growing literature on program coordination paid particular attention to welfare-related studies. At the state level, evidence was found of increasing…

An evaluation was conducted of the Better Opportunities for New Directions (BOND) demonstration that tested the conformance between the Texas Food Stamp Employment and Training (E&T) and Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) programs. The research design was a longitudinal panel approach. First-round interviews with 54 individuals probed…

A process evaluation was conducted of the Better Opportunities for New Directions (BOND) demonstration that tested the conformance between the Texas Food Stamp Employment and Training (E&T) and Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) programs. JOBS policies and procedures were applied to eligible Food Stamp recipients; staff serving the two…

A Texas study examined the effects of coordination on Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program services for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients, the REFOCUS-to-JTPA referral process, and rural program coordination issues. The impact of coordination on JTPA services to AFDC caretakers was determined by conducting a…

The second-year impacts of Texas' Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program for early participants were analyzed. A quasi-experimental study design was used to analyze data about 13,396 JOBS participants and 13,303 comparison group members. The analysis focused on the labor market outcomes of JOBS participants and their exits from and…

Students in the Culebra Road GED/JOBS (General Educational Development/Job Opportunities and Basic Skills) class, an adult education class for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) students, created their own website. First, students completed a computer literacy survey to gauge their computer skills. Next, students were encouraged to…

This report on the early implementation of the Texas Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) program and its impact on participants begins with an executive summary. An introduction outlines key research questions, components, and timelines. Section II covers program design and implementation and substate variations. The next five sections…

This paper reports results of a baseline analysis of Job Training Partnership Act-welfare coordination efforts in Texas. Following an introduction, section II provides a brief overview of the literature on welfare dynamics and program participation and describes Texas programs to move Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients into…

An evaluation was conducted of the Texas Food Stamp Employment and Training(E&T)/Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program Conformance Demonstration. The cost analysis determined the impact of the demonstration, the BOND (Better Opportunities for New Directions) program, on costs of administering and providing activity components and support…

A study reviewed the efforts of six states (California, Florida, Minnesota, Oregon, Texas, and Washington) to create new policies and strategies to support low-income individuals as they work. The study found the following: (1) working steadily initially after leaving welfare is linked to being employed in later years but is not linked to higher…