Career Pathways Secondary Data Analysis Grants

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ACF plans to fund Career Pathways Secondary Data Analysis Grants to support secondary analysis of data collected to rigorously evaluate a collection of career pathways programs. Career pathways programs provide post-secondary education and training organized as a series of manageable steps leading to successively higher credentials and employment opportunities in growing occupations. Programs also provide financial, academic, and non-academic support to help primarily low-income, non-traditional students enroll and persist in education. OPRE oversees a robust research portfolio evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of career pathways programs including the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) Study and the rigorous evaluation of the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program (more information is available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/career-pathways-research-portfolio). Data from PACE, the HPOG National Implementation Evaluation (NIE), and the HPOG Impact Study will be archived and available for secondary analysis through the Inter-university Consortium on Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Data documentation files are currently available and data files will be available for download in late Summer 2019. The archived data will be available as restricted-use files. These grants will support rigorous, policy-relevant secondary analysis of the core data sets to add to the body of knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of the implementation and effectiveness of career pathways programs. The specific goals of the Career Pathways Secondary Data Analysis Grants are to: examine research questions relevant to career pathways programs’ goals and objectives; augment OPRE's multi-pronged evaluation of career pathways programs by focusing on particular questions relevant to career pathways, key program implementation characteristics, mediators and moderators of career pathways programs, and measurement of key constructs related to career pathways programs, such as innovative approaches to basic skills education and/or occupational training, provision of supportive services, career progress, and job quality; support research to inform and improve program design, implementation, and performance; address issues of current relevance to decision makers at the local, state, and national levels in order to inform policy decisions and solutions, particularly those related to career pathways for TANF recipients and other low-income populations. Award funding depends on availability and continued interest of the government.

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