Assessing Outcomes through Data Collection and Establishing Benchmarking Goals

• Metro South/West Regional Workforce Investment Board, MA
• Seattle/King County Workforce Development Council, WA
• Illinois Workforce Investment Board and Illinois Department of Employment Security, IL
• Maryland State Workforce Investment Board

Overview

The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (WDC) developed a database to track detailed information on customers’ progress toward economic self-sufficiency. This database works in tandem with the WDC’s Self-Sufficiency Calculator (described in Promising Practice #2), which is used by one-stop case managers.

The WDC’s long-term vision is to shift the focus of their workforce development system beyond short-term job placement and toward longer-term vocational counseling, wage progression, and economic self-sufficiency.

The WDC has begun tracking customer income and expense information and progress toward economic self-sufficiency as measured by the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Washington. Analysis of this data will allow the WDC to assess how well clients are closing the gap between income and expenses and whether or not they move closer to their self-sufficiency wage over the period of time they receive services through the one-stop system. The progress toward self-sufficiency measure is based on the customer’s percent gain. The WDC appreciates that progress can be slow and nuanced, but it can still be substantial. A percentage measure demonstrates that a client’s success in moving toward self-sufficiency is relative to his/her own situation rather than only part of an aggregate measure.

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History

Over a two year period, the WDC joined other state stakeholders in developing the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Washington which includes information about the costs of living in the Seattle-King County area. This cost of living information provided the context for the WDC leadership to promote development of tools to support a real focus on moving customers toward economic self-sufficiency. Employment case managers in the one-stop system are currently required to collect—via the Self-Sufficiency Calculator—basic income and expense information for customers at program registration and again at program exit . This information is housed in a database that is separate from the formal customer tracking system maintained by the WDC. The database is presently being used to develop a more detailed picture of customers’ economic situations at entry, and to observe and analyze their progress toward self-sufficiency over the time they receive services through the one-stop system.

As mentioned above, the self-sufficiency measure is based on a customer’s percent gain between program entry and exit. For example, a customer who is a single parent with two children might have a self-sufficiency wage of $27 per hour in Seattle (the wage at which she could meet all of their living expenses without any outside help). If that customer had been making $10/hour at enrollment, she would have begun at 37% of the family’s self-sufficiency wage. If after career counseling and training she moved up to a wage of $17/hour, she would then be at 63% of the family’s self-sufficiency wage.

The self-sufficiency measure demonstrates the complexity of a particular customer’s situation—a customer can make substantial progress toward self-sufficiency and still have steps remaining to achieve full self-sufficiency after program exit. The information also can demonstrate how additional training and education along the customer’s chosen career path can move her/him closer to self-sufficiency.

The WDC has also emphasized access to work supports in their service delivery system and the Calculator is used to support this goal. A customer not yet earning self-sufficiency wages needs work supports to bridge the gap between income and self-sufficiency, and the WDC’s Self-Sufficiency Calculator helps the customer factor the value of work supports into budget calculations.

The WDC Board of Directors was interested in developing policies that responded to the needs of the community, rather than merely meeting WIA performance requirements. This approach demanded the development of more complex measures to address the realities of local costs of living, and the fact that many residents need ongoing education, training, career counseling and support to become truly economically self-sufficient.

The self-sufficiency measure demonstrates the complexity of a particular customer’s situation—that s/he has made substantial progress toward self-sufficiency, yet still has steps remaining until they achieve full self-sufficiency. The information also can demonstrate how additional training and education along the customer’s chosen career path can move her/him closer to self-sufficiency.

WDC has emphasized access to work supports in their service delivery system and the calculator is used to accomplish this goal. A customer not yet earning self-sufficiency wages needs work supports to bridge the gap between income and self-sufficiency, the WDC’s self-sufficiency calculator helps the customer factor the value of work supports into their budget calculations.
The WDC has set a goal to ensure they are developing policies that responded to the needs of the community, rather than merely meeting WIA numbers requirements. This approach demanded the development of more complex measures that addressed the realities of local costs of living, and the fact that many residents need ongoing education, training, career counseling and support to become truly economically self-sufficient, and to fully contribute to the community where they live.

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Partners and Funding

The WDC contracted with the University of Washington and Dr. Diana Pearce, the author of the WA Self-Sufficiency Standard, and a software development company to design and develop the Calculator and related database.

At present, two other workforce investment boards (WIBs) in Washington State have used Seattle-King County’s platform to develop calculators populated with cost of living information specific to their local areas. In response to interest from other areas, the WDC is currently exploring the possibility of creating a statewide calculator and database in partnership with other WIBs across the state.

Challenges

The initial requirement that One-Stop case managers use the Calculator and save income and expense information to the database for all of their customers proved impractical. Even with assurances that they could not be identified by name, some customers refused to permit their data to be entered. In addition, some dislocated worker and incumbent worker customers are already earning a self-sufficiency wage and use of the Calculator and tracking data did not always feel appropriate. In response to these issues, the WDC established a policy to allow case managers to exempt customers who are already at self-sufficiency from use of the Calculator and saving data, and may, at their discretion, exclude up to 25 percent of their other customers in cases where they determine that is appropriate. This provides some flexibility for case managers to respond to customers who have grave concerns about sharing their information, or in cases where forcing the issue may get in the way of providing services.

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Keys to Successful Implementation

• Strong leadership from private sector chair who believed in the development of clear measures to meet the goals established by the WDC.
• Extensive gathering of input from stakeholders that created solid buy-in for all the measures that were developed, including self-sufficiency.
• Creation of measures that could be addressed through existing data collection.

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