Narrative: III. b. 6. B.

Through WIOA and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), Congress requires states to track participants’ post-program success using a series of measures. For the WIOA Title I Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs, Title II Adult Education and Literacy programs, Title III Wagner-Peyser employment services, and Title IV VR, the primary indicators of performance are, as follows: 

•    Employment during 2nd quarter after exit
•    Employment during 4th quarter after exit
•    Median earnings
•    Credential attainment rate (excluding Wagner-Peyser)
•    Measurable skills gain (excluding Wagner-Peyser)
•    Effectiveness in serving employers
 
For the WIOA Title I Youth program, the primary indicators of performance are, as follows: 

•    Employment, education, or training during 2nd quarter after exit
•    Employment, education, or training during 4th quarter after exit
•    Median earnings
•    Credential attainment rate
•    Measurable skills gain
•    Effectiveness in serving employers 

For the TANF Program, the primary indicator of performance, based on PRWORA requirements, is the WPR. The WPR is a measurement of families getting TANF cash assistance that include an adult “engaged in work”—that is, participating in a qualifying work-related activity for a sufficient number of hours per week. Maryland is fully committed to tracking these mandated outcomes, but recognizes that the WIOA system’s mark of success goes beyond these measures. Utilizing the technical assistance provided to Maryland through its participation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Systems to Family Stability National Policy Academy, the WIOA partners have worked collaboratively to determine how best to measure success. As Maryland seeks to strengthen and enhance its workforce system through implementation of the State Plan, success requires a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and a true systems approach among the state’s many workforce partners. 

The WIOA partners are committed to driving resources, services, and collaboration towards strategies that will effectively and efficiently push the system to make progress in reaching its goals. The WIOA Alignment Group will work with the WIOA Work Groups and the GWDB to find ways to effectively measure and strategize how best to meet benchmarks across the system . Additionally, the GWDB and WIOA Alignment Group will continually revisit these benchmarks to gauge progress and to determine whether additional measures should be tracked.

Workforce Data Quality Initiative Grant (WDQI)  

In July 2021, Maryland received a three-year WDQI Round VIII grant award to create a more comprehensive database within the MLDS. The “Maryland WIOA Data Aligned” project will integrate WIOA Titles I and III data, as well as the MHEC’s community college non-credit training data, into the MLDS. This project supports the vision articulated in Maryland’s WIOA State Plan. The Maryland WIOA Data Aligned project will help the workforce system think systematically about how services are delivered, whether they effectively reach priority populations, and eliminate existing gaps to build a better equipped and more equitable State workforce. Connecting workforce, UI, and education data contained in MLDS and improving the quality and breadth of WIOA data in the MLDS is critical to workforce system advancement. 

 MD Labor cannot determine needs, gaps in services, and system-wide outcomes without a data-informed understanding. The Maryland workforce system agrees that this project is a worthwhile effort. The WDQI award will enable MD Labor and grant partners to accomplish projected goals within the next three years.  By connecting this workforce and education data not previously available longitudinally, all partners will accurately measure the successes and challenges of the State’s workforce system to inform policymakers and other stakeholders.