Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Pacific Research and Evaluation, LLC. (2016). Final evaluation report Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) Grant: Round 2. Portland, OR: Rogue Community College.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Pathways to Allied Health Professions (PATH) program on education, earnings, and employment outcomes.
- Using institutional and student survey data, the authors conducted a nonexperimental study to compare the outcomes of PATH program participants to non-participants.
- The study found no significant associations between PATH program participation and education, earnings, and employment outcomes.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the PATH program; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
The Pathways to Allied Health Professions (PATH) Program
Features of the Intervention
The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program provided $1.9 billion in grants to community colleges to improve skills and support employment in high-demand industries, notably manufacturing, health care, information technology, energy, and transportation. Through four rounds of funding, DOL awarded 256 TAACCCT grants to approximately 800 educational institutions across the United States and its territories.
In 2012, Rogue Community College (RCC) in Grants Pass, Oregon was awarded a TAACCCT grant to establish the Pathways to Allied Health Professions (PATH) program to address local healthcare worker shortages and provide the necessary skills and training to prepare individuals for employment in high-wage, high-skill occupations. The PATH program developed a series of courses and programs in the Allied Health field at RCC. The courses were designed to be completed in less than a year and offer employer/industry recognized credentials. The PATH program also created accelerated pathways for developmental education courses in reading, writing, and math. Additionally, several student services were provided to all program participants to assist with academic advisement and career guidance. Career guidance services included: The Job Council, work-based learning opportunities, informal guidance provided by instructors or a navigation coach.
Features of the Study
The nonexperimental study compared the outcomes of PATH program participants to non-participants. The treatment group consisted of RCC students enrolled in nursing, physical therapy/OT, clinical lab, or medical assisting programs between Fall 2012 and Spring 2015. The comparison group included RCC students enrolled in emergency medical technical, nursing, and dental assisting programs between Fall 2008 and Spring 2011. The students in the comparison group were comparable on learning objectives, credential attainment, and certification outcomes. Study participants included 97 students in the treatment group and 113 in the comparison group. Using RCC institutional data and participant survey data, the authors compared mean differences between the groups on program completion rates, retention rates, credential earned, continued enrollment, wage increases for incumbent workers, entered employment, and retained employment for non-incumbent workers. Due to data limitations and small sample sizes, the authors did not present findings for retention rates.
Findings
Education and skills gain
- The study did not find significant associations between participating in the PATH program and program completion, credentials earned, or continued enrollment.
Employment
- The study did not find a significant association between participation in the PATH program and entering employment or retaining employment.
Earnings and wages
- The study did not find a significant association between participation in the PATH program and wage increases for incumbent workers.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The authors did not account for preexisting differences between the groups before program participation or include sufficient control variables. These preexisting differences between the groups—and not the PATH program—could explain the observed differences in outcomes. The authors also used cohorts from previous enrollment years as the comparison group. Because the outcome data on the two groups were collected from participants at different times, differences in outcomes could be due to time-varying factors (such as overall changes in the economy) and not the PATH program. Lastly, the authors reported the findings of the analyses as statistically significant. However, the authors do not define the statistical significance threshold. Without further details about the specific p-value or the threshold used to establish significance, we could not be sure that the findings reported were significant at the 5 percent level, so we have reported that there were no statistically significant impacts.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before program implementation. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the PATH program; other factors are likely to have contributed.