Questions

What is PACE?

Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE), the project formerly known as ISIS, is a ten-year project funded by the Office of Planning, Research & Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) that seeks to refine, evaluate and promote knowledge building about career pathway models and programs.  Abt Associates and its partners will evaluate the effectiveness of nine innovative career pathway programs across the country in helping adults obtain jobs providing good wages and benefits and ultimately move up the economic ladder.

What questions is PACE trying to answer?

Through a random assignment research design supplemented by implementation and cost benefit studies, PACE will attempt to answer the following research questions:

Implementation Study

• What is the design of each site’s career pathway program, including the underlying logic?
• How was the program implemented and what changes were made during implementation and why?
• What were the treatment group’s participation patterns and experiences with career pathway program services?
• What are the differences in service receipt between treatment and control group members?
• What are the implications for scalability and sustainability?

Impact Study

• What is the net impact of each program on higher levels and quicker achievement of certificates and degrees?
• What are the net impacts of each program on earnings?
• What are the net impacts of each program on individual and family well-being?
• Do impacts vary by subgroups, and, if so, which characteristics are associated with larger or smaller effects?
• Are there different levels of impacts on program services or intermediate outcomes that are associated with differential impacts on achievement of certificates and degrees, or earnings?

Cost-Benefit Study

• What are the gross and net costs of each program?
• From a social, participant and taxpayer perspective do the benefits of providing services and implementing policies outweigh the costs of each program?

How long is the PACE project?

PACE is a ten-year project.

What is a career pathway program?

Career pathways programs posit that post-secondary education and training should be organized as a series of manageable steps leading to successively higher credentials and employment opportunities in growing occupations.  Each step is designed to prepare students for the next level of employment and education and also provide a credential with labor market value.  To effectively engage, retain, and facilitate learning of a diverse population, programs integrate promising instructional strategies, supports, and employer connections.  The career pathways model assumes interventions should be comprehensive and intensive to address effectively the learning and life challenges facing adult students.

What sites are in PACE?

PACE will evaluate nine career pathway programs.

• Bridge to Employment, San Diego Workforce Partnership in California;
• Carreras en Salud, Instituto del Progreso Latino in Chicago, Illinois;
• Health Careers for All, Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County in Washington;
• Pathways to Healthcare, Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona;
• Patient Care Pathways, Madison Area Technical College in Wisconsin;
• Prepared Learner Program, Des Moines Area Community College in Iowa;
• Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement (VIDA) in South Texas; and
• Washington State Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) program in Bellingham Technical College and Whatcom Community College;
• Year Up—located in eight metropolitan areas across the country;

How were programs selected?

PACE site recruitment was a multi-stage process.  Program selection began with conversations between key stakeholders, PACE association partners (American Public Human Services Association, National Conference of State Legislatures and National Governors Association) and the PACE research team to identify promising programs.  Through calls and visits, the PACE team assessed candidate programs on a number of criteria, including a strong existing career pathways intervention or a core program and the ability to implement enhancements; the size and scale to meet the statistical requirements of the evaluation; and the willingness and capacity to implement a random assignment evaluation.  The PACE team then recommended sites to ACF for inclusion in the study.

How will the PACE programs be evaluated?

PACE is using a random assignment research design to evaluate the career pathway programs in the study.  Potential program participants are assigned at random to one of two groups: the “treatment” group that may participate in the career pathway program and the “control” group that will not, although control group members may receive other services available in the community. PACE will also include an implementation study and cost-benefit study.

To learn more about the random assignment research design process, please look at the flow chart below.

How can I learn more about these programs?

To learn more about the nine programs participating in PACE, please visit the Partner Sites page.

Who do I contact for additional information about the study?

To get in touch with either the PACE Project Director or the Federal Project Officers, please visit the Contact Us page. To receive email updates from the PACE team regarding project updates, publications, and information about PACE events, please visit the Get PACE Updates page.