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Job Corps: Better Targeted Career Training and Improved Preenrollment Information Could Enhance Female Residential Student Recruitment and Retention

GAO-09-470 Published: Jun 02, 2009. Publicly Released: Jun 22, 2009.
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Highlights

Established in 1964, Job Corps is the nation's largest residential, educational, and career training program for economically disadvantaged youths. Administered by the Department of Labor (Labor), Job Corps received about $1.6 billion in program year 2007 and served about 60,000 students. Some have expressed concern that Job Corps centers are not meeting planned enrollment goals, particularly for women. To address these concerns, GAO reviewed the (1) extent to which Job Corps centers are operating at or near capacity for residential students; (2) major factors that affect the recruitment and retention of residential students, particularly females; and (3) steps, if any, Labor has taken to address the recruitment and retention of residential students. To address these objectives, GAO analyzed Labor's enrollment data, surveyed Job Corps recruiters and center directors, and visited seven Job Corps centers.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To improve the recruitment and retention of residential students, the Secretary of Labor should review the availability and selection of career training offerings at centers--particularly those centers that are experiencing difficulty with female enrollment-- and assess whether centers need to adjust their career training options to offer more career training that is both attractive to women and that could lead to careers that will enable women to become self-sufficient.
Closed – Implemented
Job Corps reviewed and refined its overall approach to female engagement and retention in support of that goal. For example, Job Corps has created female-targeted recruitment and outreach materials that provide a clear picture of the Job Corps program and detailed descriptions of the career training offered at each Job Corps center. In addition to identifying high-growth, high-demand occupations for all students, Job Corps continues to align career technical training programs with industry certifications, several of which will create higher earning potential for female graduates. Job Corps also launched new green-collar training targeted at attracting more female participation in the Job Corps program. For example, Job Corps launched nine pilot programs in Electronic Health Records (EHR). This new green occupational area is a crossover between health information technology and business, involving electronic recordkeeping and health informatics. The EHR certification is issued by the National Healthcareer Association, the largest provider of certification for allied health professions. Currently, 60 percent of Job Corps pilot participants are female.
Department of Labor To improve the recruitment and retention of residential students, the Secretary of Labor should expand current efforts to ensure that outreach and admissions contractors across all six regions consistently provide potential students with complete and accurate information on all aspects of Job Corps, including providing specific information about the center in which the student will be enrolled.
Closed – Implemented
Job Corps has developed and updated materials to provide clear and concise program information to prospective students and their families. The outreach and recruitment materials have been improved to provide clear expectations of what to expect whiled enrolled as a Job Corps student. The materials that have been updated include: recruitment brochures, center-specific one-pagers, parents' guide, and a female recruitment magazine. The new materials developed include Career Technical Training (CTT) sheets. In addition to the update and development of recruitment and outreach materials, Job Corps has also conducted quarterly webinar meetings and trainings with all Outreach and Admissions (OA) contractors in an effort to have more direct communication with contractor staff and managers. The webinars are an opportunity to inform OA contractors on policy issues and programmatic updates to insure that OA contractors provide consistent information across sites, and that the information is current.
Department of Labor To improve the recruitment and retention of residential students, the Secretary of Labor should explore the feasibility or cost-effectiveness of developing video or online virtual tours for all centers.
Closed – Implemented
The Job Corps DVDs are complete and have been distributed in both English and Spanish to Outreach and Admissions (OA), center, and career transition staff. The DVDs will assist recruitment efforts by providing applicants with complete and accurate information on all aspects of the Job Corps program. Center-specific information is available to assist prospective students in selecting a Job Corps center that best meets their needs and interests. The center DVDs are being transcribed for closed-caption so they can be posted on the Job Corps Web site and available for virtual tours for prospective students who are not able to travel and visit a center prior to enrollment.

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Topics

Career planningCost effectiveness analysisData collectionDisadvantaged personsEducation program evaluationEmployee trainingEmployment assistance programsJob corpsProgram managementQuality assuranceQuality controlQuality of lifeStudentsSurveysTraining utilizationWomenYouthYouth employment programsProgram goals or objectives