Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) program on education, employment, earnings, and public benefits receipt outcomes. This profile focuses on the Achieving Success by Promoting Readiness for Education and Employment (ASPIRE) program. The authors investigated similar research questions for other sites, the profiles of which can be found here:
- The study was a randomized controlled trial at the six-state consortium. Using participant surveys and administrative data, the authors conducted statistical models to compare the outcomes of the treatment and control group participants five years after randomization.
- The study did not find any significant differences between the ASPIRE participants and control participants on education, employment, earnings, or public benefits receipt outcomes.
- This study receives a high causal evidence rating. This means we are confident that any estimated effects are attributable to ASPIRE, and not to other factors. However, the study did not find statistically significant effects.
Intervention Examined
Achieving Success by Promoting Readiness for Education and Employment (ASPIRE)
Features of the Intervention
The Promoting Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) was a program jointly created by the U.S. Department of Education, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Labor to provide supports and services to youth with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in their transition to adulthood.
The Achieving Success by Promoting Readiness for Education and Employment (ASPIRE) is one of six programs that make up PROMISE. ASPIRE is a consortium of six states that delivered services in urban, rural, frontier, and Native American communities beginning in October 2014. Each state included in the ASPIRE consortium had a lead agency to implement ASPIRE services and each ASPIRE site had its own site coordinator to manage program service delivery. The cornerstone of ASPIRE was to provide intensive case management to youth and families. Case managers met with youth and families to connect them to career exploration services, work-based learning, educational services, benefits counseling, financial education, training and information on advocacy and community resources to help parents support their childes educational and employment outcomes, and self determination to help youth understand their strengths. ASPIRE served youth between the ages of 14 and 16 who had a disability and received SSI benefits.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial. Of the 1,953 eligible youth, 978 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 975 were randomly assigned to the control group. The treatment group received ASPIRE services while the control group received services that were available through their community. ASPIRE was allowed to nonrandomly assign five youth to the treatment group; however, their data were not included in the analysis. Additionally, siblings of youth who were already enrolled in ASPIRE were assigned to the same group as their siblings and were withheld from the study analysis. The analytic sample consisted of 797 youth in the treatment group and 795 youth in the control group. The sample was primarily male (67%) with an average age of 15.4 years. Most of the sample were Non-Hispanic White (46%) or Hispanic (32%) and had an intellectual or developmental disability (45%). Primary data sources included surveys administered at 18 months and five-years post-randomization to participants, ASPIRE baseline survey and intake form, SSA records, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) records, and Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) records. Study authors used statistical models to compare the outcomes of the treatment group and control group members.
Study Sites
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Montana
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Utah
Findings
Education and skills gains
- The study did not find a significant difference between the groups in obtaining a GED, high school diploma, or certificate of completion during the study period.
Employment
- The study did not find a significant difference between the groups in paid employment.
Earnings and wages
- The study did not find significant differences between the groups in earnings in the past year or during the 5 years since random assignment.
Public benefits receipt
- The study did not find significant differences between the groups in receipt of SSA payments, total SSA payments in the past year or during the 5 years since random assignment.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study authors report a less stringent statistical significance level, considering p-values of less than 0.10 to be significant, though it is standard practice to consider statistical significance if the p-value is less than 0.05. Only results that demonstrate a p-value of less than 0.05 are considered statistically significant in this profile.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is high because it was based on a well-implemented randomized controlled trial. This means we are confident that any estimated effects are attributable to ASPIRE, and not to other factors. However, the study did not find statistically significant effects.