The Effects of Customer Choice: First Findings from the Individual Training Account Experiment
Release Year :
2005
Abstract :
The Individual Training Account (ITA) experiment tested three approaches to the administration of training vouchers, or ITAs, for customers of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) programs. The first (Approach 1) was a highly structured approach in which customers could receive generous, customized ITA awards but were directed to training expected to yield a high return on the investment in which counselors could reject customers’ training selections. At the other end of the spectrum, Approach 3 was a “true voucher” approach in which customers were awarded a modest-value, fixed ITA and allowed to opt out of counseling if they so desired. In the middle of the spectrum, the experiment tested Approach 2, which resembled the policies that workforce agencies were likely to adopt without the experiment. Customers assigned to this approach were awarded the same fixed ITA as under Approach 3 and were required to participate in counseling as they made their training decisions. This report presents preliminary findings from the evaluation of the ITA experiment.
Publication Author(s)
1.
Department of Labor
2.
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Author(s):
Decker, Paul T. ;
McConnell, Sheena ;
Perez-Johnson, Irma L.
