Improving Basic Skills: The Effects of Adult Education in Welfare-to-Work Programs. National Evaluation of Welfare-to-Work Strategies.

Overview & Synopsis

The effects of adult education in welfare-to-work programs were examined in a national evaluation of welfare-to-work strategies. The evaluation used a random research design to estimate the overall effects of welfare-to-work programs in the following states: Georgia, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, and California. The study focused on the following issues: the quality of the education services provided; the extent to which welfare recipients participate in education and earn education credentials; the value of the education services provided; and the value of basic skills and education credentials in the labor market during the mid-1990s. The following were among the key findings: (1) even when welfare recipients preferred not to enter adult education, welfare-to-work programs substantially increased their receipt of such education; (2) assignment to education-focused programs did not generally appear to have substantial payoffs for welfare recipients in terms of education outcomes; and (3) earning a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, increasing basic skills, or subsequently participating in postsecondary programs yielded substantial benefits in terms of employment, earnings, and self-sufficiency. The following items are appended: discussions of the data sources and research samples; five supplementary tables; and descriptions and discussions of the survey instruments and subgroups.( Contains 63 references and 54 tables/figures.) (MN)