Employment and Training Program Resources - Welfare to Work Vouchers

Tools for Implementing and Evaluating Job Training Programs

The following tools are designed to help PHAs and their partners with the implementation and evaluation of job training programs. They are intended only as guides - PHAs and/or their partners should read through them and revise them, as appropriate, to fit their specific needs. Tool descriptions are ordered below to reflect the sequence of common job training activities: recording a participant's work history, establishing expectations, conducting an interim evaluation, and conducting final evaluations.

Tool Descriptions

Employment Inventory (Adobe PDF, 1 page)
Used by PHAs and partners to determine a participant's skills and work experience. The inventory reflects activities, jobs, and volunteer work in which the participant has participated over the past ten years.

Mutual Expectations Agreement (Adobe PDF, 3 pages)
Intended to be used in the context of a job training program to ensure that the expectations of each party - the program participant, the employer, the PHA or appropriate partner, and the school through which the job training program may be operated - are clearly communicated and understood.

NHHFA Sample Requirements and Participatory Agreement for WtW Program Participants (Adobe PDF, 1 page)
A mutual-expectations agreement used by the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.

Participant Interim Evaluation (Adobe PDF, 3 pages)
Designed to assist PHAs and partners in monitoring the progress of Welfare to Work Voucher participants who are involved in job training or employment programs. It allows participants and their supervisors to evaluate the participant's performance and is intended to foster communication and provide feedback to participants, PHAs, and partners, as well as to supervisors and "coaches" at the participant's place of employment.

Reflections on Work Experiences (Adobe PDF, 2 pages)
Provides PHAs and partners with feedback from participants who have completed a job training program - their experience with the program and if/how they think the program has helped them. PHAs and partners will want to consider these participant opinions and comments when evaluating their programs.

Evaluating Work-based Employment/Learning Programs (Adober PDF, 4 pages)
A diagnostic and planning tool for PHAs that are evaluating potential or actual work-based employment or learning programs for WtW voucher recipients. Programs are evaluated on the extent to which participants improve certain competencies and skills related to work performance, as identified by the U.S. Department of Labor. By rating the quality of a particular program or plan, PHAs can identify strengths and limitations and set priorities for program development. PHAs can create a progress record by repeating the evaluation at different times.

SCANS Participant Evaluation (Adobe PDF, 4 pages)
Helps PHAs or partners determine a program participant's competency level and skill sets related to employment. It is based on the U.S. Department of Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) criteria developed in 1991, which identify basic competencies, skills, and qualities required by all young people to meet the demands of America's workplaces. Since that time, SCANS has become the foundation for many work preparation programs in the United States.

Participant Technical Competence Log (Adobe PDF, 2 pages)
A monitoring tool for employment programs (operated by PHAs or partners) that rotate participants through various departments, teaching them a variety of skills. The log includes a record of the departments in which the participant has worked and how long she worked in each one. The log also tracks skill development.