Research and Evaluation
Projects
Collaborationg for the Advancement of Nursing: Developing Opportunities
(CAN DO)
Collaborating for the Advancement of Nursing: Developing Opportunities (CAN DO)
The CAN DO Partnership is addressing the Pioneer Valley nursing workforce shortage by developing a unique collaboration between academic institutions, healthcare service providers, workforce development agencies and local foundations. Collectively these institutions are working together to redesign the region's nursing education system. The partnership is part of a unique collaboration supported by Partners Investing in Nursing, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation. CAN DO is one of ten projects selected in 2006 for the program based on demonstrated institutional commitment and the use of promising practices.
Commonwealth Corporation has conducted a qualitative evaluation of the three components of the work of the partnership:
- a strategic plan to reform the nursing education system in the region,
- the STAR pilot program, which provides financial, academic and employer support for graduate nursing students studying to become nursing faculty, and
- the Nurses Succeed pilot program, which provides employer-based academic and other support for entry-level long-term care workers seeking to pursue nursing degrees.
The CAN DO partnership is convened by the Hampden County Regional Employment Board in partnership with the Irene and George A. Davis Foundation and includes American International College, Greenfield Community College, Holyoke Community College, Our Lady of Elms College, Springfield Technical Community College, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Baystate Health System, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Genesis/Heritage Hall Mercy Hospital, MA Longterm Care Federation, and Noble Hospital.
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Critical
Vacancies
Commonwealth Corporation under the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development has developed a list of critical vacancies based on the job vacancy survey conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development’s Division of Career Services. The purpose is to identify occupations for which there is critical and persistent demand, to help inform the state’s workforce development system. View the latest critical vacancies.
To view the job vacancy reports issued by the Division of Career Services, visit their web site at http://lmi2.detma.org/Lmi/LMIjobvacancy.asp
Data
Resources
Census
Files: Commonwealth Corporation and the Center
for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University
partnered in early spring 2003 to analyze U.S. 2000
Census data and produce reports to meet the planning
and other needs of workforce development professionals
in the state and its sixteen regions.
Postsecondary
Education Needs and Participation: Commonwealth
Corporation and Northeastern University's Center
for Labor Market Studied partnered to make available
the Assessment of Postsecondary Education Needs
and Participation by Working Adults. The data are
available by the five Regional Competitiveness Council
Areas and by the 16 Local Workforce Investment Areas.
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HomeWork
HomeWork is a five-year project
to provide chronically homeless people in Boston with
coordinated services so they can find and retain both
jobs and stable housing. The project is funded jointly
by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability
Employment Policy, and the US Department of Housing
and Urban Development. It is administered by the Boston
Private Industry Council in collaboration with the
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and a variety
of community-based organizations.
As the local evaluator of HomeWork,
Commonwealth Corporation has engaged in a series of
activities to analyze project benchmarks and outcomes
and to document the project's implementation. Evaluation
activities to date have included:
Year 1:
Formative evaluation of the planning and implementation
process
Year 2: Formative evaluation
of the processes of interagency coordination
Year 3: Preliminary outcomes
analysis; series of case studies and comparative
analysis
Year 4: Outcomes update
and a comparative analysis of outcomes achieved
by different program models (housing focus, employment
focus, and concurrent services model).
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Hotel
Teach
Hotel TEACH is a two-year project
that prepares workers with limited English proficiency
for well-paying jobs in the hotel industry. The project
is funded by the US Department of Labor and is administered
by the Center for Immigrant Education and Training
at LaGuardia Community College in New York City. It
has two phases: first, to prepare a group of low-level
employees of the Sheraton Hotels of New York City
for positions that require significant interaction
with hotel guests and higher levels of responsibility;
and, second, to prepare limited English speakers who
are not currently employed in hotel jobs for employment
in area hotels.
The Center for Immigrant Education
and Training has contracted with Commonwealth Corporation
to conduct a third-party evaluation of the Hotel TEACH
project. The evaluation includes an analysis of the
characteristics of the program's participants, changes
in their skill levels (English language, computer,
and "soft skills"), and employment outcomes; a formative
evaluation of the project's first phase; and a summative
evaluation of final outcomes and lessons learned.
Performance Standards and Workforce Accountability
Commonwealth Corporation prepares Annual Performance Reports of Massachusetts Workforce Development Programs and Services covering a wide range of education, employment, and training programs receiving state or federal funds. The annual report is required by M.G.L. Chapter 23H, Section 11(f) [also referred to as the Economic Stimulus Bill of 2006, Section 23(f)].
The latest Annual Performance Report available is for FY2009.
FY2008 Annual Performance Report
FY2007 Annual Performance Report: Updated
FY2007 Annual Performance Report
These Performance reports were orginally developed in conjunction with the Performance Standards and Workforce Accountability Task Force, co-chaired by Senator Jack Hart and Representative David M. Torrisi in partnership with the Executive Office of Labor and Workfroce Developement.
The Performance
Standards and Workforce Accountability Task Force was created through the 2006 Economic Stimulus Bill,
and was charged with developing and recommending policies
that “advance the skills and workforce development
opportunities for incumbent, unemployed and underemployed
youth and adult workers whose lack of skills prevent
or limit their successful employment.”
The task force membership was
specified in the legislation to include members of
the legislature, key workforce development agencies,
major business, community, labor and advocacy groups
with an interest in workforce development in Massachusetts.
The responsibilities of the Task Force were transferred to the performance subcommittee of the Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board in January 2008 after the Task Force filed a December 2007 report to the legislature providing a summary of its work and recommendations for subsequent activities.
Regional
Workforce Profiles
The Regional
Workforce Investment Profiles is an annual publication
that is part of a series of Regional Workforce Profiles
publications. The Regional Workforce Investment Profiles
are produced by an interagency workgroup of state
agencies, facilitated by Commonwealth Corporation,
under the auspices of the State Workforce Investment
Board and the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce
Development. To view current and past Workforce Investment
Profiles, click here.
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The
Skills Gap Project
The Skills
Gap Project is a comprehensive research project
which looked at various data sources to determine
whether Massachusetts is, or soon could be, experiencing
gaps between the labor needs of businesses and the
availability of skilled workers. CommCorp partnered
up with several research organizations and an advisory
team of public and private sector leaders.
CommCorp, in partnership with
the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development,
has developed industry chartbooks which provide a
snapshot of a particular industry, including employment,
occupational distribution, salary, regional and other
data. The first in the series is the Massachusetts
Healthcare Chartbook.
United
Way of Massachusetts Bay/Training, Inc. Post-Employment
Services Project
As part of its Sustainable
Employment Initiative, the United Way of Massachusetts
Bay has awarded a grant to Boston's YMCA/Training,
Inc. to provide post-employment retention and advancement
services to graduates of its computerized office skills
training program. Commonwealth Corporation is evaluating
this program to determine whether program graduates
who receive post-employment services achieve higher
levels of job retention and advancement than other
program graduates who do not receive those services.
"Treatment" and comparison groups have been selected
for this purpose. The CommCorp evaluators will analyze
the services provided and the outcomes achieved, extract
the key lessons learned, and suggest what implications
those lessons may have for the further development
of the United Way Sustainable Employment Initiative.
Women
Offenders Reentry Collaborative (WORC)
WORC is a Boston-based program
that provides job readiness, job placement and support
services to woman offenders, both while they are in
prison and after their release from prison. The program
is a three-year project funded by the US Department
of Labor and administered by The Work Place, a One-Stop
Career Center operated by Boston's Jewish Vocational
Services. The goal of the project is to reduce the
recidivism rate of woman offenders.
Commonwealth Corporation is
conducting both a quantitative and qualitative evaluation
of the WORC project. This includes a baseline quantitative
report; a series of interim updates examining participant
characteristics, services received and outcomes; a
formative evaluation of the project's first year;
an interim process evaluation update; and a summative
evaluation of the project and its outcomes.
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