Located in:
- III. Operational Planning Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that supports the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a description of the State operating systems and policies that will support the implementation of the State strategy described in section II Strategic Elements. This includes—
- b. State Operating Systems and Policies
III. b. 6. B. Assessment of Participants’ Post-program Success
Describe how lead State agencies will use the workforce development system to assess the progress of participants who are exiting from core programs in entering, persisting in, and completing postsecondary education, or entering or remaining in employment. States may choose to set additional indicators of performance.
Current Narrative:
All Title I-B performance measures, except measurable skill gains, are measured after exit from the program. Credential and employment outcomes may be measured up to one year after exit from the program. Staff continue to work with clients to provide follow-up services that will ensure success in employment and/or education.
In addition to staff-entered credential attainment data, the Bureau of Employment Services works with training providers to gather data on overall completion and credential attainment rates for all students attending approved programs of study listed on the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL). The ETP report combines participant outcome data tracked in Maine JobLink with all student data submitted by each training provider to the Center for Workforce Research and Information (CWRI). Data submitted to CWRI is cycled through their MaineEARNS data base to simplify this reporting requirement for eligible providers and data is combined with Maine JobLink data to produce the annual ETP report required under WIOA and required in Maine for continued approval as an eligible training provider. This report format is very new resulting in sparse data; however, as time moves on it is anticipated this report will be quite robust and promote sound decisions by WIOA participants in regard to how they will invest their training accounts.
Developing long-term participant outcomes is essential to creating a continuous cycle of program and system improvement. Moreover, as discussed in the first section of this Unified Plan (Economic and Workforce Analysis), Maine has a variety of workforce challenges that require measurement, tracking and assessment. As such, Maine’s core partners are committed to producing an evaluation system that extends beyond what’s required for federal reporting.
MaineEARNS will play an integral role in measuring long-term participant outcomes. It presently measures first year wage and employment outcomes of university and community college graduates at the campus, credential, and area of study level. As part of this plan, the system will be used to measure the outcomes of workforce development system program participants. To do so, the WIOA Steering Committee, core program managers and the SWB will collaborate to define the data that is required to inform decision making and program improvement.
The Department will explore other programs that are not presently using wage data for performance accountability evaluations to be added to the wage-matching system. There is an opportunity for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Maine Department of Labor for the purposes of evaluating the outcomes of Department of Health and Human Services participants.