Absence of conflict of interest.
Citation
Dauphinee, T., Davis, M., & Carr, S. (2017). New Mexico Junior College TAACCCT evaluation report. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, Center for Education Policy and Research.
Highlights
- The study’s objective was to examine the impact of New Mexico Junior College’s (NMJC) TAACCCT program on employment and earnings outcomes.
- The authors used a nonexperimental design to compare employment and earning outcomes of NMJC TAACCCT program participants to a matched comparison group using NMJC administrative data and data from New Mexico’s Department of Workforce Solutions.
- The study did not find a significant relationship between program participation and employment or earnings outcomes.
- The quality of causal evidence presented in this report is low because the authors did not use sufficient controls in their analysis. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the NMJC TAACCCT program; other factors are likely to have contributed program.
Intervention Examined
New Mexico Junior College’s (NMJC) TAACCCT 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.
The goal of New Mexico Junior College’s (NMJC) TAACCCT program was to address the lack of skilled workers for high demand energy industry professional technician occupations in the region. These industries included oil and gas production, commercial driving, instrumentation and controls, and electrical transmission technology. NMJC collaborated with local industry representatives to expand existing programs and create new innovative training modules to increase the number of professional technicians in high demand fields. The curriculum focused on industry needs, developed critical thinking skills, provided opportunities for practice and training, and included ongoing evaluation of training outcomes against industry needs and expectations.
Features of the Study
The study used a nonexperimental design to compare the outcomes of students who participated in the NMJC TAACCCT program to students who did not participate. The comparison group students were selected from non-TAACCCT programs in Automotive Technology, Welding, Energy Technology/Technician, Ford Motor Asset Program, General Motors ASEP Program, and a CDL course. These programs were similar to the TAACCCT programs in terms of entry level of education, academic rigor, length of program, skill level, number of students enrolled, and shared student background characteristics. The authors matched NMJC TAACCCT program participants to similar nonparticipants using propensity scores developed from background characteristics. Data sources included student-level administrative data from NMJC as well as employment and earnings data from New Mexico’s Department of Workforce Solutions. The authors used statistical analyses to examine differences between the groups in employment and earnings outcomes; however, the authors do not state the analysis sample size for the treatment and comparison groups.
Findings
Earnings and wages
- The study did not find a significant relationship between program participation and earnings outcomes.
Employment
- The study did not find a significant relationship between program participation and employment outcomes.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
Although the authors stated that they conducted propensity score matching, they did not present these findings in the report or baseline tables with the demographic information for both groups. Therefore, it is unknown whether the groups were balanced on baseline characteristics. For the earnings impact analyses, the authors controlled for baseline wages. However, the authors do not account for baseline employment outcomes, as required in the protocol. These preexisting differences between the groups—and not the NMJC TAACCCT program—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 use sufficient controls in their analysis. This means we are not confident that the estimated effects are attributable to the NMJC TAACCCT program; other factors are likely to have contributed program.