Performance Accountability, Eligible Training Providers, Labor Market Information, and Evaluation Requirements Under WIOA

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 included multiple provisions to strengthen service quality, access, accountability, and alignment across many programs. This report focuses on implementation of WIOA’s changes to various aspects of performance accountability and in other data-driven areas under the law, as related to the “core” workforce programs for Titles I and III, administered at the Federal level by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL). The report explores reactions to regulations and guidance related to not only performance accountability, but also on eligible training providers (ETPs), labor market information (LMI), and evaluation.

Data for this report are drawn primarily from site visit interviews, conducted in early 2019, with administrators, board chairs and members, employer and agency partners, and frontline staff in 14 states and 28 local areas. Other sources of information include administrative data and relevant state and local documents. The site visit locations were purposively selected to assure diversity geographically and in size, among other criteria. The findings here, based on those interviews, should therefore be viewed as suggestive of common experiences and not assumed to be nationally representative. Also, it should be noted that, subsequent to the site visits, ETA provided extensive additional guidance, including Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGLs) and Training and Employment Notices (TENs), as well technical assistance, including webinars, in-person national convenings, and online electronic tools, that covered many of the issues and concerns identified by study respondents.