Workforce Investment Act: Labor and States Have Taken Actions to Improve Data Quality, but Additional Steps are Needed

摘要

Federal programs carried out in partnership with states and localities continually balance the competing objectives of collecting uniform performance data with giving program implementers the flexibility they need. Our previous work identified limitations in the quality of performance data for the key employment and training program-the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA relies on states and localities to work together to track and report on participant outcomes, and it changed the way outcomes are measured. Given the magnitude of changes and the impact such changes can have on data quality, we examined (1) the data quality issues that affected states' efforts to collect and report WIA performance data; (2) states' actions to address them; and (3) the actions the Department of Labor (Labor) is taking to address data quality issues, and the issues that remain.