Linking Welfare and Education. A Study of New Programs in Five States. Papers for Practitioners.

Overview & Synopsis

A study aimed to provide education and welfare officials with information on the experiences of welfare/education programs as they had been implemented in five states. The states (California, Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin) represented a range of noteworthy approaches to providing education to welfare recipients, including some dramatic departures from past practices. Operational issues were identified that had to be resolved for programs to succeed: the quality of education, tailoring education programs to the welfare population, attendance, program capacity and flow, differences among education providers, and policy gaps that affected program operations. Three areas for improvement without federal action were identified: more attention to the education-employment transition, alternative education programs in programs targeting teenagers on welfare, and elimination of redundant achievement testing of participants in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Program. New institutional roles for welfare and education agencies had caused new issues to emerge: institutional priorities, cooperation and resistance of educational institutions, funding, innovations, and service gaps. Several recurring design issues affected the welfare/education programs in all five states: program goals, exit standards, use of volunteerism in mandatory programs, and returning teen dropouts to school. The importance of negotiations between welfare and education agencies was stressed. (Appendixes include a brief summary of California's program and list of 42 selected publications.) (YLB)