Narrative: II. b. 4.

The Governor’s Workforce Development Board (GWDB), in partnership with the Minnesota Workforce Council Association (the association that supports the 16 local workforce development boards and chief elected officials) and DEED, will be establishing an evaluation process that monitors, assesses and shares best practices as it relates to the state’s vision, goals and performance goals. STATE VISION - ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Assessing the State’s vision will include measurement of system change indicators related to the three factors in the stated vision - 1) the growth of career pathways, 2) the number of individuals enrolled in pathways that lead to family sustaining wages, and 3) the vacancy rates of in-demand occupations. Measurements will look at state, regional and local performance in these three areas. Assessments will include looking at policies, funding strategies, and resources that support the development of the career pathway system, assessing new practices for effectiveness and designing a best-practices network. The Operations Committee of the GWDB would be responsible for establishing the state vision assessment in conjunction with the state administrators of the required WIOA titles and the Minnesota Workforce Council Association. The process would be designed during the first year of the plan but would align with the planning cycle of the regional and local plans with full implementation to follow. GOALS - ASSESSMENT PROCESS

The state’s goals would be based on the progress made by the state strategies and the six elements of a career pathway approach. Business Engagement - Each region will be assessed on how their development of 1-3 business led sector partnerships in new career pathway sector partnerships are progressing, looking at membership of the partnerships and the processes they apply to establishing a career pathway strategy for the identified occupations in demand. Community Engagement - Each region will be assessed on how they have engaged populations and service providers of communities experiencing inequities in educational and employment outcomes. Census and state demographic data will be used to identify and inform the regions about the communities that need to be included in regional planning and in their sector strategy development. Customer-Centered Design - Each region will be assessed on how they have utilized input from business and communities in their planning and design of the sector approaches to career pathways. Currently, the State is looking at providing technical assistance to assist regions with this approach, as it is a relatively new way of looking at serving job seekers and our State’s growing diversity. Funding & Resource Needs - Each region will be assessed on the results of a resource mapping activity to assist with understanding the resource capacity of federal, state, local and philanthropic organizations. This will aid in understanding resource needs of each region and how efforts to leverage resources can be enhanced or expanded. This will also result in considerations for a state legislative platform for the State agencies and the GWDB. Policy and System Alignment - Each region will be assessed on how local and regional policies need to or have been modified to address the needs to move toward a career pathway system. This will also provide a frame of reference for looking at state level policies within state agencies and the necessary changes that will be needed to support regional and local activities and success. System Management - Each region will be assessed on how they need to be supported through a shared measurement system that supports both process and outcome improvements. Process improvements will emphasis alignment challenges and opportunities and outcome improvements will look at WIOA performance measures and other measures, as determined by other funding sources, the State Board or Local Boards. The Operations Committee of the GWDB would be responsible for establishing the specific goals assessment in conjunction with the state administrators of the required WIOA titles and the Minnesota Workforce Council Association. The Career Pathways Partnership under the GWDB will complete the assessment design during the first six months of this plan for recommendation to the Operations Committee, state administrators, and the Minnesota Workforce Council Association. Once approved and resources identified, implementation of the assessment and development of the best-practices report will begin.

PERFORMANCE GOALS - ASSESSMENT PROCESS

The performance goals would be based on serving youth and other individuals with barriers to employment including Minnesota’s communities of color. Under the direction of the Operations Committee of the GWDB, DEED’s Performance Management staff will prepare models of analysis that assist system partners with understanding the impact of career pathways and other strategies that address disparate impact populations within the WIOA programs and the system at large.

Minnesota’s Department of Management & Budget has been supporting state agencies with the implementation of Results Based Accountability (RBA) to support the evaluation and improvement of state services and outcomes. The Operations Committee of the GWDB will appoint a sub-committee to assist with coordinating the development of an RBA approach that engages local boards and stakeholders from across the system to ensure a transparency and sensitivity to the various challenges faced by targeted populations.