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This appendix volume supplements report NCEE 2025-005r, describing the effects of two experimental Pell Grant expansions: the first allowed income-eligible students with a bachelor's degree to obtain this form of federal financial aid for short-term occupational training programs and the second allowed income-eligible students to obtain this aid for very short-term programs lasting as little as eight weeks. The report updated earlier results from a rigorous evaluation of the experiments conducted by the U.S. Department of Education's (ED's) Institute of Education Sciences, adding new information about the experiments' effects on employment and earnings outcomes. This appendix volume similarly updates the evaluation's previous published appendix to detail the steps taken to assess these effects. The volume first describes the Pell Grant experiments as overseen by ED's Office of Federal Student Aid, including information about the schools offering the experimental Pell Grants. The next sections document how the study was conducted, including the research questions asked and the approach used to answer the research questions, additional details supporting the key findings of the study, and additional analyses to assess the sensitivity of the key findings.

Pell Grants are the cornerstone of federal financial aid for students with low income who are enrolled in postsecondary education. Currently, these grants are available only to those who seek an initial undergraduate degree or credential requiring at least a typical semester of instruction. Because these rules may restrict access to programs providing skills needed for new or better jobs, in 2011 the U.S. Department of Education (ED) began pilots of two experimental expansions to Pell Grant eligibility. The first experiment allowed income-eligible students with a bachelor's degree to obtain Pell Grants for short-term occupational training programs. The second experiment allowed income-eligible students to obtain Pell Grants for very short-term programs lasting as little as eight weeks. This report updates earlier results from a rigorous evaluation of the experiments conducted by ED's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), adding new information about the experiments' impacts on labor market success. This fuller picture could help Congress as it considers legislation to make Pell Grants for short-term occupational training permanent policy.

Ongoing research and evaluation that produce actionable, widely disseminated evidence are central to the continuous improvement of U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) programs. In addition, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) requires DOL to conduct periodic, independent evaluations to inform the effective operation of WIOA programs and services. To support the development of DOL's research portfolio, this scan examines existing evidence on key topics related to WIOA programs and services. The scan focuses on four main topic areas, selected through a series of discussions with DOL's Chief Evaluation Office, Employment and Training Administration (ETA), and other DOL staff: (1) case management; (2) integrated service delivery; (3) training programs; and (4) youth services. Although the first three sections on service strategies focus on evidence from studies on adults or general populations, these services also relate to programs serving youth. However, because of the policy importance of identifying effective strategies for disconnected youth ages 16 to 24, the final section is devoted to research on youth, focusing on the many strategies offered by the WIOA Youth program. The scan describes strategies associated with each of the four topic areas, discusses existing evidence on the effectiveness of those strategies and evaluations currently under way, and summarizes the knowledge gaps in the existing evidence base. The scan prioritizes studies of strategies used in WIOA and by partner programs, but it also incorporates studies on related programs to increase the pool of studies from which to draw evidence. This research evidence scan is one of a pair of reports developed as part of DOL's WIOA Research Portfolio project. [For the companion report, "A Scan of Key Trends in the Labor Market and Workforce Development System. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Research Portfolio," see ED614790.]

Enacted in 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was designed to increase collaboration among workforce systems at the federal, state, and local levels to integrate the array of programs and services available to job seekers and businesses through American Job Centers (AJCs). WIOA requires the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to conduct periodic, independent evaluations to inform the effective operation of WIOA programs. To support the development of DOL's research portfolio, this scan describes recent and long-term economic and policy developments with relevance for the public workforce system. The scan focuses primarily on topics and trends related to the changing world of work and their implications for the public workforce system. In consultation with DOL's Chief Evaluation Office and Employment and Training Administration (ETA), along with other stakeholders, the following topics were selected: (1) broad economic trends and recent changes in employment and wages; (2) changes to industries and occupations due to technology, automation, and the rise of the gig economy; (3) growth in remote workforce system services; and (4) federal policy trends related to the public workforce system. The report concludes with a brief discussion of the implications of these topics for the public workforce system. This research evidence scan is one of a pair of reports developed as part of DOL's WIOA Research Portfolio project. [For the companion report, "A Research Evidence Scan of Key Strategies Related to WIOA. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Research Portfolio," see ED614830.]

These are the appendices for the report "The Effects of Expanding Pell Grant Eligibility for Short Occupational Training Programs: Results from the Experimental Sites Initiative." Four appendices are included in the document: (1) Implementation of the 2011 Pell Experiments; (2) Study Design and Analytic Approach; (3) Supporting Details for Key Findings; and (4) Sensitivity Analyses. [For the full report, see ED609406. For the study highlights, see ED609410.]

Pell Grants are the cornerstone of federal financial aid for low-income students enrolled in postsecondary education. Currently, these grants are available only to those who seek an initial undergraduate degree or credential lasting at least a typical semester. Because these rules may restrict access to programs providing skills needed for new or better jobs, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) began pilots of two experimental expansions to Pell Grant eligibility in 2011. The first experiment allowed income-eligible students with a bachelor's degree to obtain Pell Grants for short-term occupational training programs. The second experiment allowed income-eligible students to obtain Pell Grants for very short-term programs lasting as little as eight weeks. This report presents the results from a rigorous evaluation of the experiments conducted by ED's Institute of Education Sciences. The evaluation examined whether these pilot eligibility expansions increased enrollment in and completion of occupational training programs, a first step toward improving individuals' success in the labor market. [For the appendix, see ED609409. For the study highlights, see ED609410.]

This report looks at strategies for sustaining and expanding Registered Apprenticeship pathways for opportunity youth amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The report draws on promising practices from workforce boards and community-based organizations, and addresses topics including the digital divide, occupational mobility, and the provision of services and supports. [This brief was produced by Jobs for the Future's (JFF's) Center for Apprenticeship and Work-Based Learning.]

Many youth in America are not on track for labor market success. One factor that increases the risk of poor labor market outcomes among these youth is dropping out of school (Rumberger 2020). Youth who drop out of school are at greater risk for job instability and for lower longterm earnings (Hair et al. 2009). They are also more likely to struggle with mental health and substance abuse issues (Maynard et al. 2015). These challenges are compounded for youth who have early involvement with the juvenile or criminal justice systems. Even low levels of involvement can disrupt school attendance and increase the likelihood of dropping out of school (Kirk and Sampson 2013; Hjalmarsson 2008). Additional collateral consequences--including restrictions on financial aid, employer discrimination, and occupational licensing restrictions-- also create barriers to future labor market success (Simpson and Holthe 2018). Youth with prior involvement in the justice system need targeted support to overcome these barriers (Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention 2000). The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe (YC) Program is an evidence-based program for helping youth who have dropped out of high school get back on track. An evaluation of this program for youth ages 16 to 18 found that three years after program entry, YC participants were more likely than the control group to have obtained a GED or high school diploma, earned college credits, and be employed (Millenky et al. 2011). The YC model includes a 20-week, community-based residential program followed by a year of post-program mentoring that aims to build youth confidence and maturity, teach practical life skills, and help youth obtain a high school diploma or GED. Building on this successful model, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) funded YC programs in three states: Georgia, Michigan, and South Carolina, to expand their YC programs to include more court-involved youth and to create a follow-on residential occupational training program called Job ChalleNGe (JC). The subsequent evaluation examined the implementation of these grants and the outcomes for youth participants related to postsecondary education, employment, and criminal justice involvement in the two years following program involvement. This report describes the findings and presents lessons from the experiences of the three grantees and participating youth.

This memo, which is the eighth and final one in the series of Field Facing Memos, describes a virtual learning excursion: the HA unSummit. When COVID-19 prevented travel to Hawaii last April, the HA unSummit was created. Members of the Assessment for Learning (ALP) network were invited to attend a virtual learning excursion to explore and deepen their individual and collective understanding of Hawaii's HA (BREADTH) Framework. Facilitated by Kau'i Sang, Cheryl Ka'uhane Lupenui, Sara Lench, and Tony Siddall, the unSummit was designed so participants could explore the intersections and interconnections of place, community, and learning practices. This memo describes and tries to capture the spirit of the unSummit experience. In it you will read about the design of the virtual learning excursion that unfolded over a series of successive meetings, listen in on some unSummit activities, such as the Pule Haloa chant, and discover ways in which participants experienced this virtual learning that they said was transformative and a call to action. The Assessment for Learning Project (ALP) is a multi-year grant program and field-building initiative designed to fundamentally rethink the roles that assessment can and should play to advance student learning and improve K-12 education in the United States. If assessment is to become a lever for improving individual students' opportunities and capacities to learn, then assessment must also become a lever for achieving more equitable education outcomes because it is not possible to achieve excellence without equity.

This memo, which is the seventh in the series, features an interview with the Director of Curriculum and Instruction at the Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Originally planned as a piece analyzing the long-term work of the school, this memo was redesigned to feature an interview highlighting how the school rapidly responded to the changing education environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two Rivers, a Tier One, high-performing EL Education School (Expeditionary Learning School), has a mission to "nurture a diverse group of students to become lifelong, active participants in their own education, develop a sense of self and community, and become responsible and compassionate members of society." When the COVID-19 crisis hit, the community of educators used this mission to guide their creation of a distance education program. The full memo situates the interview in the context of the Assessment for Learning Project and the long-term work of the Two Rivers network of schools. The interview itself highlights how the values of connection, core content, and curiosity/creativity became most important as they adjusted their long-term work to fit into the new and shifting world created by the pandemic. [To read the sixth memo of the series, "A Systems Approach to Creating an Ecology of Equity in a High-Poverty School District," see ED609359.]

This memo, which is the sixth in the series, highlights the ongoing work of the Sunnyside Unified School District (SUSD) to create an ecology of equity. Their efforts focus on developing a school system that fosters a belief in each person's capacity to learn (administrators, teachers, and students alike) and increases students' opportunities for success by helping them take responsibility for their own learning through the use of evidence. SUSD is also changing the conditions under which students learn by creating multilevel professional learning opportunities for adults in the district. The leadership of SUSD is committed to ensuring that its students will graduate high school being college, career, and community ready. In support of these goals, the superintendent of SUSD works in collaboration with the chief academic officer and chief school officer to support, develop, and strengthen the leadership of principals, a cadre of instructional coaches, and a growing number of teacher leaders in schools. [To read the fifth memo of the series, "Creating Identity-Safe Spaces so Feedback Can Educate and Motivate Learners," see ED605432.]

This memo, which is the fifth in the series, highlights the ongoing work of the Leadership Public Schools (LPS) Network--a network of three high schools in Northern California serving about 1,500 students with 98% identifying as people of color and 80% qualifying for free and reduced lunch. LPS, driven by their belief that students are serious and capable learners, thinkers, and doers, worked to disrupt inequities by developing and refining student peer feedback practices. This memo describes what LPS discovered about creating the conditions in which peer-to-peer feedback motivates and educates each learner. As LPS deepened its understanding of what teachers needed to do to create a sense of belonging for each student, the Network's assessment practices evolved and became increasingly equity-oriented. LPS realized that generating high-quality feedback and enabling students to use that feedback was not merely a matter of giving students greater agency and voice in the assessment process. LPS educators also noticed that a student's capacity to meaningfully engage with feedback was influenced by a constellation of factors, such as the student's sense of self-worth, purpose, and confidence; feelings of connection to the school; perceived social status; and relationship to the subject matter and teacher. [To read the fourth memo of the series, "Virginia's Student-Led Assessment Networked Improvement Community: Coming Together for Systems Change," see ED600645.]

This memo, which is the fourth in the series, describes how 11 Virginia school divisions have come together to form Virginia's Student-Led Assessment Networked Improvement Community. This Networked Improvement Community (NIC) is focused on increasing the use of student-led assessment practices, including capstone projects, to increase students' agency and ownership of their learning and assessment experiences. The work of this NIC is supported by local- and state-level efforts to reimagine assessment in ways that shift the balance from a heavy focus on standardized assessments to one that prioritizes student-centered learning. The NIC's use of improvement science practices encouraged shared goal setting, progress monitoring, and iterative cycles that supported learning and refinement of the group's ideas for improving student-centered learning. This collective effort to reimagine assessment fostered sustained improvements in the midst of leadership churn. [To read the third memo in the series, "Developing a School Culture of Meaningful Feedback Deepens Everyone's Learning," see ED600643.]

This memo, which is the third in the series, highlights the work of Summit View Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona and its use of ideas and practices from a blended online course, Student Agency in Assessment and Learning (SAAL) developed by researchers at WestEd, also an ALP grantee. This memo describes how the school's participation in the blended course helped teachers actively use assessment for learning strategies, such as peer-to-peer feedback, in their teaching, and showcases how they are learning to teach for deeper understanding by using these strategies in their classrooms and by making their teaching practices visible to themselves and their colleagues. [To view the second memo in the series, "Co-Design as a Lever for Increasing Student Agency: Assessment for Learning in New Hampshire," see ED600639.]

This memo, which is the second in the series, highlights the work of the New Hampshire Learning Initiative (NHLI), a member of the ALP network. The memo describes their efforts to support educators across the state to actively engage students as partners in co-designing learning goals and assessment strategies, showcasing how these efforts have enriched the experiences of teachers and students in two districts. [To view the first memo in the series, "Rethinking Students' Role in Assessment to Promote Greater Equity: Learning from Del Lago Academy," see ED591238.]

This memo, which is the first in the series, explores some of the assessment for learning practices that the initiative is supporting at Del Lago Academy of Applied Sciences, a small public high school in Escondido, California that educates a diverse group of scholars to develop industry-specific skills and expand their social networks and access to opportunities. In a recent EdWeek Deeper Learning blog post, SCOPE Associate Director Ann Jaquith further describes the deeper learning work at DLA where students experience deeper learning through their coursework and through their participation in a carefully constructed and assessed six-week internship.

Pell Grants are the cornerstone of federal financial aid for low-income students enrolled in postsecondary education. Currently, these grants are available only to those who seek an initial undergraduate degree or credential for a program lasting at least a typical semester. Because these rules may restrict access to programs providing skills needed for new or better jobs, the U.S. Department of Education conducted pilots of two experimental expansions to Pell Grant eligibility between 2012 and 2017. Experiment 1 allowed income-eligible students with a bachelor's degree to obtain Pell Grants for short-term occupational training programs lasting up to one year. Experiment 2 allowed income-eligible students to obtain Pell Grants for very short-term programs lasting as little as eight weeks. The study examined whether these pilots increased enrollment in and completion of occupational training programs, a first step toward improving individuals' success in the labor market. These effects were determined by comparing what happened to about 2,700 eligible students who were randomly assigned either to be offered or not offered experimental Pell Grant funds in their financial aid award packages. [For the full report, see ED609406. For the appendix, see ED609409.]