Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) program on education, employment, earnings, and public benefits receipt outcomes. This profile focuses on the New York State PROMISE (NYS PROMISE) program. The authors investigated similar research questions for other sites, the profiles of which can be found here:
- The study was a randomized controlled trial at the New York site. Using participant surveys and administrative data, the authors conducted statistical models to compare the outcomes of the treatment and control group participants five years after randomization.
- The study did not find any significant differences between the NYS PROMISE participants and control participants on education, employment, earnings, or public benefits receipt outcomes.
- This study receives a high causal evidence rating. This means we are confident that any estimated effects are attributable to NYS PROMISE, and not to other factors. However, the study did not find statistically significant effects.
Intervention Examined
New York State Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (NYS PROMISE)
Features of the Intervention
The Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) was a program jointly created by the U.S. Department of Education, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Labor to provide supports and services to youth with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in their transition to adulthood.
The New York State Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (NYS PROMISE) is one of six programs that make up PROMISE. NYS PROMISE was led by the New York States Office of Mental Health which was implemented in three geographic regions across New York state in October 2014. Seven research demonstration sites were contracted to provide NYS PROMISE services statewide. The research demonstration sites provided case management to youth, while local community providers were used to deliver employment and education services, benefits counseling, financial literacy training, and access to parent centers to provide family coaching and training to parents. NYS PROMISE served youth between the ages of 14 and 16 who had a disability and received SSI benefits.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial. Of the 1,967 eligible youth, 986 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 981 were randomly assigned to the control group. The treatment group received NYS PROMISE services while the control group received services that were available through their community, but NYS PROMISE assigned each control group youth a case manager. NYS PROMISE was allowed to nonrandomly assign five youth to the treatment group; however, their data were not included in the analysis. Additionally, siblings of youth who were already enrolled in NYS PROMISE were assigned to the same group as their siblings and were withheld from the study analysis. The analytic sample consisted of 847 youth in the treatment group and 815 youth in the control group. The sample was primarily male (67%) with an average age of 15.4 years. Most of the sample were Non-Hispanic Black (38%) or Hispanic (33%) and had an intellectual or developmental disability (58%). Primary data sources included surveys administered at 18 months and five-years post-randomization to participants, SSA records, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) records, and Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) records. Study authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes of the treatment group and control group members.
Findings
Education and skills gains
- The study did not find a significant difference between the groups in obtaining a GED, high school diploma, or certificate of completion during the study period.
Employment
- The study did not find a significant difference between the groups in paid employment.
Earnings and wages
- The study did not find significant differences between the groups in earnings in the past year or during the 5 years since random assignment.
Public benefits receipt
- The study did not find significant differences between the groups in receipt of SSA payments, total SSA payments in the past year or during the 5 years since random assignment.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Since the control group received case management from NYS PROMISE, it is possible that the control group may have received access to more services than they normally would have had access to without study participation. This may have muted some effects that the NYS PROMISE had on outcomes. Also, the study authors report a less stringent statistical significance level, considering p-values of less than 0.10 to be significant, though it is standard practice to consider statistical significance if the p-value is less than 0.05. Only results that demonstrate a p-value of less than 0.05 are considered statistically significant in this profile.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that any estimated effects are attributable to NYS PROMISE, and not to other factors. However, the study did not find statistically significant effects.