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Category: Project

Description: Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) is a 10-year evaluation of nine promising career pathways strategies that aim to increase employment and self-sufficiency among low-income, low-skilled adults and youth. The study, funded by the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the first rigorous evaluation of career pathways strategies nationwide. PACE utilizes an experimental study design to assess the impact of the nine programs on educational attainment, employment and earnings, and other outcomes. Eligible applicants at each of the nine programs are assigned at random to either a treatment group that can access program services or a control group that cannot, but that can access other services in the community. Random assignment ensures that the characteristics of the two groups have no systematic differences at baseline and thus makes it possible to estimate impacts without bias by comparing average outcomes for treatment and control group members over time. PACE includes an implementation study that will describe and document the design and operations of each of the nine PACE programs. The implementation study also provides contextual information for understanding and interpreting the impact estimates and findings on implementation experiences can guide future program designs and implementations. The impact study will measure differences between the treatment and control group members on educational outcomes (e.g., persistence in education, receipt of certificates and degrees) and employment- and earnings-related outcomes. The PACE team will analyze and report findings for each program separately. The rationale for separate studies is that, although all nine programs utilize basic building blocks in career pathways, they vary on a substantial number of fundamental design features, including eligibility criteria and target populations; services provided; goals for participants; and timeframes for expecting goals to be achieved. The PACE impact reports will cover 15 months of follow-up after the point of random assignment.