Career Pathways Design Study: Findings in Brief - Julie Strawn and Deena Schwartz, ABT

The rapid rise of career pathways strategies, including an emphasis on them in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), creates a need for more evidence on this approach. Although substantial career pathways research is in progress, more research is needed to enhance the field’s knowledge about career pathways strategies, how best to configure them, and their long-term effects. To inform future research on career pathways approaches, the U.S. Department of Labor’s(DOL) Chief Evaluation Office contracted with Abt Associates to understand the state of the field and develop evaluation design options. Abt conducted knowledge development by scanning career pathways studies and initiatives implemented as of February 2017 and consulting with 44 experts, then created a menu of evaluation design optionsto answer priority research questions. This brief gives a short overview of the project’s four reports http://www.abtassociates.com/AbtAssociates/files/d9/d988d67a-9fa3-40c5-93d9-0a579fd76330.pdf