Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
TAACCCT enhanced training. (2017). Southwest Arkansas Community College Consortium: Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Training grant final report. Retrieved from https://www.skillscommons.org/bitstream/handle/taaccct/15686/SWACCC_Final_Report_9_27_2017.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to evaluate the impact of the South West Arkansas Community College Consortium’s (SWACCC) grant-enhanced programs on education outcomes. This summary contains the findings from University of Arkansas Community College at Hope.
- The author used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of students enrolled in the grant-enhanced Supply Chain Management and Electric/General Technology programs to those enrolled in the Medical Office Management and Information Systems programs at the same community college.
- The study found that there was no statistically significant relationship between participation in the grant-enhanced programming and program completion.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this study is low because the author 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 SWACCC’s grant-enhanced program; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
The South West Arkansas Community College Consortium (SWACCC)
Features of the Intervention
The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Trade Adjustment Assistance for Community Colleges 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.
Upon receipt of a TAACCCT grant, seven colleges within the South West Arkansas Community College Consortium (SWACCC) implemented several strategies to upskill advanced manufacturing workers while engaging new employer relationships across the community colleges. Strategies included enhancing stacked and latticed credentials and certifications at each college, creating on-site work-based learning opportunities for students, and enhancing career counseling and advising opportunities while partnering with employers.
Features of the Study
The study took place the University of Arkansas Community College at Hope (UACCH) in Hope, Arkansas. The author used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of students enrolled in the grant-enhanced programs to those enrolled in comparable programs at UACCH. Each grant-affected program was matched to a comparable program at UACCH that was similar in terms of being in the same department, having the same credit/non-credit status, having a similar program duration, and its students having a similar demographic composition (Supply Chain Management versus Medical Office Management and Electric/General Technology versus Information Systems). The treatment group included 163 students pursuing certificates in Supply Chain Management or Electric/General Technology between 2014 and 2017. The comparison group included 564 students pursing certificates in Medical Office Management or Information Systems during the same time period. Data sources included institutional data from UACCH, data from the Arkansas Research Center, and intake and survey forms given to students in cases of missing data. The author used a statistical model with controls for demographic and employment information to examine differences in the odds of program completion between the treatment and comparison groups.
Findings
Education and skills gain
- The study found no statistically significant relationship between SWACCC grant-enhanced program participation and program completion.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Although the author accounted for baseline demographic characteristics, the author did not account for a pre-intervention measure of education which is required by the review protocol. The preexisting differences between the groups on this variable—and not the SWACCC grant-enhanced program—could explain the observed outcomes. Therefore, the study is not eligible for a moderate causal evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because author 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 SWACCC grant-enhanced program; other factors are likely to have contributed.