Job Corps: Need for Better Enrollment Guidance and Improved Placement Measures
HEHS-98-1
Published: Oct 21, 1997. Publicly Released: Oct 23, 1997.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Job Corps program's recruitment and placement contractors, focusing on: (1) whether Job Corps' policy guidance regarding eligibility criteria is consistent with the legislation and regulations; (2) how the use of recruiting contractors could be improved to increase participant retention in the program; and (3) how the use of placement contractors could be improved to enhance positive outcomes.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Labor | To help ensure that Job Corps' resources serve the most appropriate participants, the Secretary of Labor should provide clear and complete guidance on program eligibility criteria, ensuring that the guidance is consistent with the law, and provide better guidance to ensure that outreach and admissions contractors assess each applicant's capability and aspirations to complete training and attain a positive outcome. |
Policy guidance was issued and a new assessment tool was developed. This tool is to be used by admissions contractors to assist them in identifying youth who need and could benefit from the program.
|
| Department of Labor | Improvements are also needed to make the measures used to assess placement contractor performance more meaningful. Therefore, the Secretary of Labor should modify certain measures for placement contractors, including eliminating from the placement pool participants whom contractors realistically could not or should not be expected to place, such as participants who were expelled for criminal or violent behavior. |
Performance standards have been modified to focus on program graduates. Accordingly, participants who were expelled for criminal or violent behavior are no longer counted in the primary placement contractors' performance measure.
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| Department of Labor | Improvements are also needed to make the measures used to assess placement contractor performance more meaningful. Therefore, the Secretary of Labor should modify certain measures for placement contractors, including replacing the current job-training match system with one that captures realistic information and providing guidance to regional offices to ensure that the data are accurately recorded. |
The Office of Job Corps instituted a new system in July 1999, based on the Occupational Employment Statistics, a design established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to DOL officials, the new system is more accurate and easier to maintain and monitor in terms of eliminating egregious matches.
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| Department of Labor | Improvements are also needed to make the measures used to assess placement contractor performance more meaningful. Therefore, the Secretary of Labor should modify certain measures for placement contractors, including establishing separate placement performance standards for participants with different levels of program accomplishment--for example, those who completed program requirements and those who dropped out early. |
Labor has established new performance standards for program graduates and separate lower standards (that are also reduced weight in assessing contractor performance) for non-graduates.
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Topics
Attrition ratesContract performanceDisadvantaged personsEligibility criteriaPerformance measuresState-administered programsTraining utilizationVocational educationYouth employment programsJob corps