Study Details | Pathways to Work

3021.02R-Study of Maximum Cus

Study quality: Low

Low

Reason for the rating: This study received a low study quality rating because it did not use a method for addressing missing data that is known to limit bias.

Intervention: Maximum Customer Choice (as compared with Structured Customer Choice)

Population and employment barriers:

Educational attainment (At least a high school diploma or equivalent), Employment status (Unemployed)

Services provided:

Job readiness, Tuition assistance/financial aid

Setting: Tested in multiple settings

Study design

Design:

Randomized controlled trial

Study group formation:

All customers who were eligible to receive training funded by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) during the study intake period were randomly assigned by study staff as their names were submitted by site staff on a rolling basis. (To be eligible for services, clients first had to consent to participate in the study.) They were randomly assigned to one of three groups: the Maximum Customer Choice group (considered the treatment group in this review), the Structured Customer Choice group (considered in other reviews on this site), or the Guided Customer Choice group (considered the comparison group in this review). For this study, researchers randomly selected a sample of cases for a follow-up survey that was conducted seven years, on average, after random assignment. The survey sample included 1,590 cases in the Maximum Customer Choice group (which had a 67.8 percent response rate), 1,612 cases in the Structured Customer Choice group (which had a 68.6 percent response rate), and 1,598 cases in the Guided Customer Choice group (which had a 67.7 percent response rate).

Time period of study:

Enrollment in the study sample took place from December 2001 to March 2004. The long-term follow-up survey was conducted between August 2009 and May 2010 (on average, seven years after random assignment).

Pathways only reports results from studies with a study quality rating of high or moderate.

Sample characteristics

Age

Mean age

41 years

Sex

Female	56%
Male	45%

Participant race and ethnicity

Black or African American	38%
White, not Hispanic	44%
Hispanic or Latino of any race	10%
Unknown or not reported	8%

The race and ethnicity categories may sum to more than 100 percent if the authors reported race and ethnicity separately; in these cases, we report the category White, rather than White, not Hispanic.

Family status

Married	41%
Parents	54%

Participant employment and public benefit status

Were employed	10%
Were unemployed	90%
Public benefits recipients	17%
Had low incomes	100%

Participant education

Had some postsecondary education	34%
Had a high school diploma or GED	95%
Did not have a high school diploma or GED	5%
Postsecondary credential	34%
English learners	9%

Intervention implementation

Implementing organization:

Local workforce agencies provided services and funding for training. Individuals could obtain training from multiple public and private locations.

Intervention services:

Dislocated workers and adults (18 years and older) eligible for WIA training who were assigned to the Maximum Customer Choice group did not automatically receive counseling (from counselors in local workforce agencies) but could request it to guide them to appropriate training selections given their skills and experience. They received a fixed Individual Training Account (ITA) established for their area ($3,000 to $5,000). Customers were not required to participate in any additional activities, but counseling was available if requested.

Mandatory services:

None

Comparison services:

Dislocated workers and adults (18 years of age and older) eligible for funding for training through WIA and assigned to the Structured Customer Choice group received intensive, mandatory weekly counseling. Counselors directed clients to training selections that maximized return on investment and could reject client selections that did not do so. Individuals in this group could also use an ITA to cover the full cost of training (up to $8,000). Counseling sessions covered high-return training, high-wage occupations that were in demand, training options in customer’s selected occupation, returns-to-training for prospective programs, and the feasibility of customer’s training selection.

Study publications

McConnell, Sheena, Elizabeth Stuart, Kenneth Fortson, Paul Decker, Irma Perez-Johnson, Barbara Harris, and Jeffrey Salzman (2006). Managing customers’ training choices: Findings from the Individual Training Account experiment, Final report, Series: ETAOP 2007-01, Washington, DC: Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Available at https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/managing_customers_choices.pdf.

Perez-Johnson, Irma, Quinn Moore, and Robert Santillano (2011). Improving the effectiveness of Individual Training Accounts: Long-term findings from an experimental evaluation of three service delivery models, Series: ETAOP 2012-06, Washington, DC: Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. Available at https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/ETAOP_2012_06.pdf.

View the glossary for more information about these and other terms used on this page.

The Pathways Clearinghouse refers to interventions by the names used in study reports or manuscripts. Some intervention names may use language that is not consistent with our style guide, preferences, or the terminology we use to describe populations.

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Study of Maximum Customer Choice (as compared with Structured Customer Choice)