Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE), a 10-year impact evaluation of 9 promising career pathways programs, began with a knowledge development process to determine what the field wanted to learn about the next generation of self-sufficiency programs.  Over 250 policy, programmatic and foundation stakeholders provided input into the direction of the study.  The PACE team then worked with foundations and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to help prepare programs for rigorous evaluation.  Each program’s Evaluation Design and Implementation Plan outlined the steps needed before the study could launch.  A large grant from the Open Society Foundations, along with other foundation grants, provided resources to help programs attain the scale needed for the study (a minimum of 500 program group slots) as well as strengthen some program components to create a stronger contrast with service available to the control group.  ACF resources bolstered each program’s ability to implement the evaluation by providing support for outreach, recruitment, data collection and intake staff.  The PACE team and program staff members then undertook a robust process to pilot the program and study procedures before officially launching random assignment.