Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Martin, G., & Melzer, B. A. (2016). Kansas City Kansas Community College: Training for Employment (T4E) program. Kansas City, MO: Evalytics, LLC.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of the Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Training for Employment (T4E) program on student education, earnings, and employment outcomes.
- The study used a nonexperimental design to compare the education, earnings, and employment outcomes of T4E students to a comparison group. Using data from the college’s student database and the American Job Link Alliance, the authors conducted statistical models to examine differences in outcomes between the groups.
- The study found that participation in the T4E program was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of certificate completion.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the T4E program; other factors are likely to have contributed.
Intervention Examined
The Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Training for Employment (T4E) Program
Features of the Intervention
The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program provided $1.9 billion in grants to community colleges to improve skills and support employment in high-demand industries, notably manufacturing, health care, information technology, energy, and transportation. Through four rounds of funding, DOL awarded 256 TAACCCT grants to approximately 800 educational institutions across the United States and its territories.
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s (KCKCC) Training for Employment (T4E) program was developed with TAACCCT funds to increase student skills, knowledge, and employment outcomes in the construction and advanced manufacturing fields. The T4E program, piloted from 2014-2016, included six primary course pathways: 1) Building and Property Management Technology, 2) Construction Technology, 3) Electrical Technology, 4) Heating and Refrigeration, 5) Machine Technology, and 6) Welding Technology. In addition, students could enroll in a green construction program called Green-Up. The T4E program targeted TAA-eligible workers and other community college students in the advanced manufacturing and construction industries and strategies included creating stacked and latticed industry credential pathways that moved students toward employment and further education, alternative technology-based teaching and instruction, basic adult education and technical training, financial literacy, employability skills, and entrepreneurship training.
Features of the Study
The study used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of students who participated in the T4E program to students who did not participate. KCKCC’s main campus is located in Kansas City, Kansas, while its two extension campuses are located in Leavenworth, Kansas. The treatment group included 153 students enrolled in one of the six T4E treatment programs or the Green-Up program and exited in 2014. The comparison group included 117 students who took one of the six T4E programs (excluding Green-Up) and exited the program in fall 2011, spring 2012, or summer 2012. Outcomes included certificate completion, program completion, withdrawal or dropout status, employment retention, and earnings. Using data from KCKCC's Ellucian student database and the American Job Link Alliance databases, the authors used statistical tests to examine differences in the outcomes between treatment and comparison groups.
Findings
Education and skills gain
- The study found that T4E participation was significantly associated with higher rates of certificate completion (59%) than comparison group students (44%).
- The study found no significant relationship between T4E participation and program completion or withdrawal/dropout rates.
Employment
- The study found that T4E participation was associated with higher employment retention two quarters after exit than the comparison group (90% vs. 87%, respectively). However, no tests of significance were performed.
Earnings and wages
- The study found that T4E participation was associated with lower average earnings over two quarters than the comparison group ($12,826 vs. $14,341, respectively). However, no tests of significance were performed.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
When reporting employment and earnings outcomes, the authors noted that the comparison group had been in the workforce longer, so differences in average earnings may represent a difference in pay related to length of employment. The authors also did not perform tests of statistical significance on employment and earnings data. Additionally, the authors used a singular cohort from previous enrollment years as the comparison group and compared them to a three-cohort treatment group. Because the outcome data on the two groups were collected from participants at different times, differences in outcomes could be due to time-varying factors (such as overall changes in the economy or course difficulty) and not the intervention. Lastly, the authors did not account for preexisting differences between the groups before program participation or include sufficient control variables. These preexisting differences between the groups—and not T4E—could explain the observed differences in outcomes. Therefore, the study is not eligible for a moderate causal evidence rating, the highest rating available for nonexperimental designs.
Causal Evidence Rating
The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not ensure that the groups being compared were similar before the intervention. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the T4E program; other factors are likely to have contributed.