Bhutan's overarching development paradigm of Gross National Happiness (GNH) promotes a harmonious balance between material and non-material dimensions. But Bhutan's evaluation practice has not yet adopted the principles of GNH, preventing evaluation findings and recommendations from aligning with the priorities of GNH. This article makes the case…

This instrumental case study documents a community-based participatory evaluation research (CBPER) project that involved a community partner, two graduate students, a faculty member, and an external funder. It highlights the fact that a participatory evaluation model is a viable way to conduct community-based research (CBR) when a community…

The Institute for Work, Skills and Training was assigned to evaluate a labor market program aimed at the integration of long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 or older. The integration should have been achieved not only by training and coaching of individuals, but also by building regional networks between labor market stakeholders within a…

The author comments on significant methodological issues emerging from substantial studies of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act which are highly relevant to evaluations of the Job Training Partnership Act. (JOW)

Using a multilevel statistics framework, a study examined the role of multiple sites in evaluation of three programs: Greater Avenues to Independence (GAIN), Job Training Partnership Act, and Food Stamp Employment and Training. Although multisite evaluations have great potential, they are more difficult and expensive and have limited success in…

The impact of the Employment Action Pilot Project on employable immigrants on welfare in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada), was studied with 24 immigrant clients, 15 single-parent female immigrants, and over 300 comparisons. Significant differences were not found between program and comparison groups. Impacts other than cost-effectiveness are discussed.…

The problem of measuring impacts of employment and training programs when workers not receiving services are affected by the program is explored, using a reemployment bonus program as an example. The conventional measures of bonus impacts may significantly overestimate the net impact of the bonus offer. (SLD)

Net impact estimates of Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) programs vary widely and can be explained by the different evaluation methodologies used. Estimates are sensitive to the inclusion of recently unemployed persons in the comparison sample and assumptions about the time of decision to enroll in CETA. (GDC)

Describes a peer support approach to evaluating outcomes within supported employment programs for people with developmental disabilities. Presents a case study of one Canadian county agency's experience with peer support evaluation and draws several lessons from the implementation experience of several agencies. (SLD)

A methodology was developed for conducting a benefit-cost analysis of an innovative supported employment intervention for the psychiatrically disabled. Results indicated that the program, which targeted 19 participants, approached cost efficiency of almost .90 of benefits to costs. The value of the methodology for program evaluation is discussed.…

Seven studies commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor measuring the net market impacts of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act are reviewed. Their purpose was to generate informed debate on the efficacy of quasi-experimental designs and structural economic models to evaluate federally subsidized employment and training programs. (BS)

An overview of the methods and problems in evaluating employment and training programs is presented. Process and impact evaluation are compared in relation to the Job Training Partnership Act. (Author/LMO)

Estimates are presented for net earnings impact of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act programs. Net impact was linked to the human capital model and estimated for numerous subgroups. The matching procedure and the use of quasiexperimental versus experimental design are also discussed. (Author/GDC)

Recent evaluations of manpower training claim that: (1) nonexperimental methods produce unreliable estimates of program impacts and (2) randomized experiments are necessary for reliability. National Supported Work Demonstration data are used to reexamine nonexperimental estimates of net program impact on posttraining earnings of high school…

Two studies used experimental data to evaluate nonexperimental methods of program evaluation for employment and training programs. Results of both studies indicated that the nonexperimental methods might not accurately replicate the experimental estimates. Also, new methods for constructing comparison groups yielded little improvement over…