Washington State's Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training Program: Three-Year Impact

The program’s signature feature is a team-teaching approach where students receive instruction from two instructors in the same course: one provides job training, and the other teaches basic skills in reading, math, or English. To further support students, the I-BEST programs in this evaluation included dedicated advisors to provide students with guidance on academic issues, navigating the college’s procedures, and career planning. It also offered “fill-the-gap” financial support beyond typical sources for training and associated materials.

The I­‑BEST evaluation used an experimental design that randomly assigned program applicants to either a treatment group that could access the program or a control group that could not and then compared their average outcomes. Between November 2011 and September 2014, program staff randomly assigned 315 program applicants to the treatment group and 317 to the control group. The study included a cost-benefit analysis.

The research questions were:

1. Three years after random assignment, what were the effects of I-BEST on educational outcomes, entry into career-track employment and higher earnings, and individual and family well-being, including income and other life outcomes?
2. Did the benefits of the I-BEST program outweigh the costs from the perspectives of government, treatment group members, and society as a whole?

This evaluation is part of the Career Pathways Intermediate Outcomes Study, which extends the follow-up period to three years for programs in the PACE project. Future reports produced by the Career Pathways Long-term Outcomes Study will extend the follow-up period further.

I-BEST is part of the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) project. Funded by the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, PACE is a multi-site experimental evaluation of nine programs for adults with low incomes that incorporate some features of a career pathways framework. The I-BEST evaluation was conducted at three of Washington’s 34 community and technical colleges: Bellingham Technical College, Everett Community College, and Whatcom Community College.

(This report is 83 pages long.)

The three-year findings summarized below focus on the pre-specified confirmatory and secondary outcomes.

1. I-BEST had no impact on receipt of credentials requiring a year or more of college study—the confirmatory outcome in the education domain;
2. I-BEST had a significant impact on the receipt of any college credential; and
3. I-BEST had no detectable impact on average quarterly earnings in follow-up quarters 12-13, using administrative data—the confirmatory outcome in the employment domain.

In sum, three years out, the impact estimates show that I-BEST assisted low-income, low-skilled participants in attaining short-term workforce credentials and workforce credits (meaning they were not transferable to a four-year college). However, I-BEST had no detectable effect on receipt of credentials requiring a year or more of college study (the confirmatory education outcome). In this same period, I-BEST did not have a detectable impact on average earnings in follow-up quarters 12-13 (the confirmatory earnings outcome), based on administrative records. However, the impacts on other earnings-related outcomes suggest that I-BEST likely produced earnings impacts by the end of the three-year follow-up period.

Based on results from both the implementation and the impact studies, the authors suggested programmatic areas where adjustments could potentially improve economic outcomes.

• Stronger connections between the I-BEST programs and job placement related to the training.
• Support and guidance to help students transition from short workforce training programs to more extended academic programs that provide college credit and lead to degrees.
• A consistent focus on structuring I-BEST programs around in-demand positions with high wages.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2021
• Author(s): Martinson, K.; Cho, SW.; Loya, K.; Dastrup, S.; Glosser, A
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies