DOES TRAINING FOR THE DISADVANTAGED WORK

By Larry L. Orr and Hans Bos

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0877666474
• ISBN13: 9780877666479
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Urban Institute Press
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A Solid Study: Best of Breed

The publisher's description is very accurate. This is the best study ever conducted on the impact of job training for the disadvantaged. Basically, study finds very modest successes for certain groups of adults, women in particular, but does not show general success. To put it mildly, most government job training programs are abysmal failures, hiding behind meaningless statistics (with no control groups for comparison, and methods of data collection that overstate success). This study actually provides a randomly assigned control group for comparison!By now, 2003, the study is quite dated. JTPA is a dead program, but its successor is still living. Despite the hype, the Workforce Investment Act is not much different in terms of the actual services being delivered (and by many of the same providers or individuals). The main difference between then and now is the process for participant selection, some degree of integration and/or co-location of services, and the methods of paying for support services. Unfortunately, for mainly political reasons, the WIA program will probably not be subjected to the same level of rigorous scrutiny as found in this book. This study is an outstanding example of how a program evaluation should be done. For that reason alone, it should be standard reading for practioners in workforce development and in program evaluation.As the performance analyst assigned to the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) at the Legislative Budget Board in Austin, I found this book to be a superb reference and guide to the program and its performance. When I became TWC's first director of planning, I ordered it for the agency library. It is a tragedy that few practitioners have read it, much less addressed its findings.