Overview

Sector training programs prepare people for quality jobs in specific industries and occupational clusters with strong employer demand and the opportunity for career advancement. Over the past two decades, rigorous evaluations have shown that sectoral training programs can produce lasting earnings gains for individuals looking to enter and advance in the labor market. These evaluations, however, have evaluated the full set of services offered by these programs, the most common of which are career readiness training, occupational skills training, support services, job placement support, and employment retention and advancement services. There is little evidence about which services are most crucial in helping job seekers obtain quality jobs. As sectoral training programs seek to serve more and different types of job seekers, understanding what is driving the effectiveness of the programs is critical for workforce policy.

The Accelerating Sector Program Innovation (ASPI) project seeks to start filling this gap. MDRC will partner with three to four sectoral training programs to test and refine services they offer using rigorous A/B tests. These tests will compare the effects of two versions of the sector program on participants’ outcomes: one with the current version of the service (A) and one with a more streamlined, refined, or limited version of the service (B). The goal is to learn whether programs can offer some services in cheaper or less resource-intensive ways, while maintaining the same level of impact. 

In an initial planning phase, MDRC will conduct an review of the existing research evidence, recruit programs, and develop an initial list of A/B tests. In a later implementation phase, MDRC will implement the selected A/B tests in partnership with the programs and disseminate findings. Insights from ASPI will directly inform how sectoral training programs are designed, funded, and scaled, advancing the field’s ability to deliver equitable economic mobility at lower cost.