To expand workforce development programs that link funding to successful economic mobility outcomes for the individuals they serve, it is essential to reliably and effectively measure outcomes by building stronger data systems.
Many national and state-based initiatives are working to improve the measurement of earnings and career outcomes for participants in workforce training programs, to assess returns on investment for trainees and funders, help training providers improve their programs, increase transparency and accountability, and inform policy decisions. States have linked workforce and education records with wage data to track individual progress through education and training and into the labor market, with federal support from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Data Quality Initiative, the U.S. Department of Education’s Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems program, and other sources.
The list below includes a summary of several initiatives that are currently underway, which use a variety of methods to estimate the measurable economic impacts of workforce development programs. This is not a comprehensive list; given the dynamic ongoing changes in this field, we plan to update this list on an ongoing basis.
- Credential Engine (CE) is designed to ensure awareness across all types of credentials by streamlining efforts, enhancing credential transparency and facilitating the publication of credentials to the Credential Registry.
- Type/Source of Data. Credential Engine creates credential definitions through the Credential Transparency Description Language (CDTL) and engages states in making credential and competency information available as linked open data through processes like data mapping, publication, connection, and pathway creation.
- Use Case/Purpose. Champion credential transparency to help states achieve their education and workforce goals and elevate the quality of non-degree credentials.
- The Credential Value Index (CVI) is a navigation tool to track the outcomes of certifications and non-degree credentials and measure their quality.
- Type/Source of Data. The CVI, created by The Burning Glass Institute, collects data from postsecondary institutions, workforce boards, and local communities on workers’ career histories. The Index leverages data analytics to provide outcome data such as wage gains, job growth, and in-demand skills to showcase the attributes of non-degree credentials, guiding future careers.
- Use Case/Purpose. Guide career pathways and develop talent by understanding the real-world outcomes of certifications and other non-degree credentials.
- CredLens is a national data trust for non-degree credentials that provides insights to issuers of credentials about learner outcomes.
- Type/Source of Data. CredLens collects verified individual-level records from credential issuers and matches them against various public and private sources such as wage records and employment data to provide both timely and longitudinal analytics on outcomes and returns.
- Use Case/Purpose. Provide credential issuers and policymakers with verified data on their credential holders’ employment, economic, and educational outcomes. These data enable leaders and decision makers to evaluate credential success and make data-driven decisions to strengthen the overall education-to-employment pipeline and allow individuals to make informed decisions about their career pathways.
- Data Collaborative for a Skills-Based Economy is a project of the Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit dedicated to driving the nation’s shift toward a more equitable skills-based economy.
- Type/Source of Data. The Data Collaborative is building a data hub that connects and aggregates data on wage outcomes from a range of sources.
- Use Case/Purpose. Uncover how non-degree credentials, including micro-credential pathways, can support economic mobility for learners.
- Multi-State Data Collaborative (MSDC) is an initiative of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) that brings state agency programs, policy, and data experts together to focus on using agency administrative data, including wage records from state unemployment insurance systems, to address critical program and policy questions. MSDC partners closely with the Coleridge Initiative, State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, and the American Public Human Services Association.
- Type/Source of Data. Work is conducted with de-identified microdata stored in a common data platform operated by the Coleridge Initiative. Individual state agencies approve and oversee access to their data for approved projects—state autonomy and agency oversight are paramount principles—and can separately pursue their own projects relying on the shared infrastructure.
- Use Case/Purpose. Develop data projects and products that answer questions critical to state and local needs that impact policy or practice.
- Non-degree Credential Research Network (NCRN) is a multi-disciplinary community of 320 scholars, practitioners, and policymakers focusing on the little-understood role of certificates, certifications, and other non-degree credentials in the labor market.
- Type/Source of Data. Members of NCRN study non-degree credentialing—including licenses, industry-awarded certifications, certificates, apprenticeships, and micro-credentials—and provide relevant information to the learn-and-work ecosystem regarding what credentials are being offered and their value in the labor market.
- Use Case/Purpose. Clarify what is known about non-degree credentials and their role within the broader credentialing ecosystem; determine what new research is needed; identify lessons learned in research and implications for policy and practice; and share findings with practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders.
- Opportunity Insights (OI) at Harvard University and The Social Finance Institute are partnering to build the base of knowledge about the effectiveness of workforce training.
- Type/Source of Data. Using linked U.S. Census and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, the team is working with multiple cohorts of training providers – across a range of sectors and institutional formats – to examine the impact of non-degree workforce training and education programs on learners’ economic outcomes, such as employment, earnings, and wage growth over time.
- Use Case/Purpose. Develop robust causal estimates of the economic mobility impacts for individuals who participate in various types of workforce development and education programs.
- Postsecondary Employment Outcomes Coalition (PSEO Coalition) is a network of representatives from more than 30 state governments, public higher education institutions, and state college and university systems, that partner with the U.S. Census Coalition members network and share ideas about methods to measure and share the outcomes of postsecondary education with decision makers of all types.
- Type/Source of Data. The PSEO Coalition collaborates with the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics program at the U.S. Census to link higher education data with national unemployment insurance wage data to provide detailed earnings and employment outcomes for college graduates.
- Use Case/Purpose. Make informed decisions about postsecondary education and career paths and lessen student debt.
- Secure Query System (SQS) is a project of the Georgetown University Massive Data Initiative and the Georgetown Federal Statistical Research Data Center for the Internal Revenue Service to process state agency requests for linked earnings data.
- Type/Source of Data. The SQS will allow state agencies across social services, education, health, and beyond to obtain privacy-protected aggregated statistics on their constituents’ tax filing statuses from IRS data.
- Use Case/Purpose. Inform state-level program evaluation and evidence-based policymaking efforts.
- State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) SHEEO is the national association of the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education.
- Type/Source of Data. The SHEEO Noncredit Mobility Academy is designed to expand understanding of the value of noncredit education as a precursor to further education and to identify and promote best practices to serve as a model for the field.
- Use Case/Purpose. Working with a select group of states, build the data and policy infrastructure needed to increase economic mobility for students in non–credit programs.
- State Noncredit Data Project (SNDP) is developing a national taxonomy to aid in linking non–credit data to postsecondary employment outcome (PSEO) data.
- Type/Source of Data. The SNDP is developing a more robust data infrastructure for non-credit education and non-degree credentials by generating research to advance the field, creating a taxonomy to guide data collection efforts, and creating learning opportunities to share successful practices.
- Use Case/Purpose. This project is a resource for states to share information, to help connect non–credit data to PSEO data, and ultimately guide future data collection at federal, state, and institutional levels.
- TrainingProviderResults.gov is a website maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, which allows job seekers to search and compare available career-training options on the state Eligible Training Provider Lists (ETPL) for the public workforce development system.
- Type/Source of Data. The Training Provider Results search tool displays outcomes data such as training completion, credential attainment, employment and wages earned by participants in training programs that are eligible for funding through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
- Use Case/Purpose. The tool helps jobseekers locate training programs that meet their needs and are aligned with the jobs available in their region, by providing information on the participant outcomes, costs, and locations of training programs on the ETPL. The site also helps states, employers, and policymakers compare local training providers and programs, to assess how local training providers are meeting industry needs.