A key goal of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) is to provide people with choices in the types of services they receive. This goal was addressed by requiring that vouchers or individual training accounts (ITAs) be used for WIA-funded training. Workforce agencies were given a great deal of flexibility about how to implement ITAs, but had little information on which to base this choice. This report addresses this information need by presenting findings from an experimental evaluation of three approaches to implementing ITAs. The approaches varied by how much counseling was required, whether the counselor could veto a choice, and how the amount of the ITA was set. The evaluation examined the effect of each approach on the use of counseling, receipt of training, and employment and earnings outcomes.

Based on a randomized experiment to study the impact of Teach For America on student achievement and other outcomes, the authors find that TFA teachers had a positive impact on math achievement and no impact on reading achievement. The size of the impact on math achievement was about 15 percent of a standard deviation, equivalent to about one month of instruction. There were no impacts on other outcomes such as attendance, promotion, or disciplinary incidents, but TFA teachers were more likely than their peers to report problems with student behavior. The findings contradict claims that these types of alternative teacher preparation programs harm students.

Every year, thousands of new teachers pass through hundreds of different teacher preparation programs and are hired to teach in the nation’s schools. In recent years, alternative programs have expanded rapidly. Despite the expansion of these new routes into teaching, little research exists to provide guidance on the effectiveness of different teacher training strategies. This report presents the design for Mathematica’s evaluation of these issues.

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 requires that, with certain exceptions, training services funded by the U.S. Department of Labor be delivered through the use of Individual Training Accounts, which participants can use to procure the training of their choice, so long as the program is on a state's list of eligible providers. In March 2000, 13 states and local areas received grants to support system development and encourage innovative approaches and practices. This report presents findings from the evaluation of these efforts, describing grantees' accomplishments, policies and practices they formulated, the process for selecting providers, and information available to customers to make training choices.

Targeting reemployment bonus offers to unemployment insurance recipients likely to exhaust benefits may reduce benefit payments, although earlier research has not generated overwhelming support for this technique. The authors show that targeting benefits with profiling models similar to those used in state Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services systems can improve targeting's cost-effectiveness. Because estimated average benefit payments do not steadily decline as the eligibility screen is tightened, narrow targeting is not optimal. The best model is a low bonus amount with a long qualification period, targeted to the half of profiled claimants most likely to exhaust their benefits.

This report presents early findings from the evaluation of the ITA experiment, which aims to provide federal, state, and local policymakers with information on the effectiveness of, and trade-offs inherent in, three different approaches to managing customer choice in Workforce Investment Act training programs. The approaches vary in (1) how a customer's spending is determined, (2) whether counseling is required or voluntary, and (3) how much local staff can restrict training choices. The approaches implemented had an influence on receipt of counseling and likelihood of receiving an ITA but limited impact on training choices.

This four-page issue brief summarizes findings from Mathematica's evaluation of Teach For America. The researchers found that TFA teachers outperformed non-TFA teachers in the same schools in math and achieved the same results in reading. However, TFA teachers also reported greater challenges in managing their classrooms. TFA and non-TFA teachers had very different educational and teacher preparation backgrounds, with TFA teachers generally coming from more competitive undergraduate backgrounds but with less formal teacher training. However, non-TFA teachers came from a diversity of backgrounds and preparation, with many entering the profession without substantial teacher training.

This book reviews the effectiveness of major federal job training programs, examines features of current programs, and speculates about directions for future programs. The contributors discuss the implementation of training programs under WIA, assess methods for delivering training, examine performance management of U.S. training programs, and compare public training programs to private programs and to programs offered in other industrialized nations.

Students of Teach For America teachers outscored their schoolmates on math achievement tests, and matched their average performance in reading, according to the findings from the first national evaluation of the impact of TFA teachers on student learning. The large-scale random assignment study, which compared the performance of TFA corps members to that of other novice and veteran teachers in the same elementary schools, also found differences in classroom management and teacher backgrounds.

This two-page issue brief summarizes a concept originally proposed under the Back to Work Incentives Act (and subsequently included in the President's fiscal year 2005 budget) to give unemployed workers greater incentives and access to services to help them make a quick return to work. Targeted to those most likely to exhaust their UI benefits, PRAs are viewed as a device for maximizing individual control over the reemployment assistance received.

Personal Reemployment Accounts (PRAs) provide additional assistance and incentives to unemployed workers who are likely to exhaust their unemployment insurance by offering maximum flexibility in seeking the services that will best help them prepare for and find a new job. Drawing on a variety of research sources, the authors address the likely impacts of the reemployment bonus feature on recipients, ways states and local areas could set the amount and decide on who gets to participate, and procedures to manage and monitor the accounts.

A heated debate exists over the effectiveness of a teacher preparation approach called “alternative certification.” Alternative certification programs offer a means for bachelor’s degree holders to become a teacher of record, with far less training than required by traditional certification programs. Proponents of alternative certification programs argue that their fast-track structure entices highly qualified candidates to become teachers. Opponents, however, suggest that programs do not adequately prepare teacher candidates. This report explores the following questions: What is alternative certification? How do alternative certification programs and routes differ from traditional certification programs and from each other? What alternative certification models would be desirable to include in an impact study? Which alternative certification programs use these models and should be considered for inclusion in an impact study? As a whole, the existing literature suggests the need for a rigorous study of alternative certification programs to assess their effects on student achievement, a need that is growing as the number of teachers entering the profession through alternative programs expands rapidly.

Although research has clearly demonstrated that Unemployment Compensation introduces a reemployment disincentive, researchers disagree on the importance of this effect. The dispute arises partly because estimates of the effect of UC generosity on unemployment spells vary, and partly because different researchers describe similar estimates in different ways. Regardless, reemployment disincentives are inevitable in that they pay recipients for staying unemployed. The task of policymakers is to balance that disincentive against the need to provide adequate assistance to the unemployed. Notes that (1) expanding the generosity of UC lengthens unemployment spells, (2) state UC policies can shorten UC spells, and (3) reemployment bonuses can generate modest reductions in UC spells but are generally not cost-effective.

Targeting reemployment bonus offers to unemployment insurance claimants who are most likely to exhaust benefits may help reduce benefit payments. Notes that targeting bonus offers using profiling models similar to those employed in state Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services systems can improve their cost-effectiveness.