13-05 Discontinuing the WIA Gold Standard Study Enrollment

Purpose

This issuance provides instruction for discontinuing WIA Gold Standard Study customer enrollment and replaces Issuance 11-33 Implementing the WIA Gold Standard Evaluation.

Background

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) contracted with Mathematica Policy Research Associates to evaluate the effects of the Workforce Investment Act.  Thirty Board areas participated in the national study.

The Gulf Coast Workforce Board began random assignment of customers into study groups on December 7, 2011.  As of today, we have completed the customer enrollment phase of the study.

Customers who were randomly assigned must remain in their study group for 15 months from the date of study group assignment.

Procedures

Career offices will immediately discontinue the study enrollment process which includes: the study orientation, random assignment and collection of study forms.

 Career office staff must ensure customers randomly assigned to one of the two limited-services study groups receive only the level of service associated with the assigned study group.  (For a complete list, see pages E-12 and E-14 of the Gold Standard Evaluation Procedures Manual.)

Effective immediately, when a customer requests financial aid over $200, staff will:

1. Check TWIST to see if the customer is a WIA Gold Standard study participant*.
2. If yes, staff will verify the customer's study group assignment and end date.
3. If the customer has not yet reached the end date, staff will provide only services that correspond to the assigned study group. 
4. If the customer has passed the end date, staff will provide the customer with any services for which they would normally be eligible.

*On the Customer Information window, immediately to the right of the WDA name field, TWIST will display a yellow-highlighted field if the customer is enrolled in the study.  For example: WIA Gold Standard: 07-03-2013 Core and Intensive. The fields indicate that the customer is enrolled in the study, the end date for the customer’s study group assignment and the customer’s assigned study group.

Action

1. Make sure managers, supervisors, and other appropriate staff immediately discontinue enrolling customers into the WIA Gold Standard study.
2. Make sure staff verifies a customer’s study group in TWIST before providing financial aid services.
3. Run a customer list from the Random Assignment System. From the date of your last shipment to Mathematica, verify that staff has updated the TWIST record and collected all study forms for each customer.
4. Ship final package of study forms to Mathematica using pre-printed air bills.

Questions

Staff should first ask questions of their managers or supervisors.  Direct questions for Board staff to the staff web Q&A at Contract Management in the Staff Resources.

 Direct questions about the WIA Gold Standard Evaluation to Michelle Ramirez michelle.ramirez@wrksolutions.com.

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