Pima Community College Pathways to Healthcare Program: Implementation and Early Impact Report. OPRE Report 2017-10

This report documents the implementation and early impacts of the Pathways to Healthcare program, operated by Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona. Pathways to Healthcare is one promising effort to help low-income, low-skilled adults access and complete occupational training that can lead to increased employment and higher earnings. It is one of nine career pathways programs being evaluated under the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families. The Pathways to Healthcare program consists of five elements: (1) the mapping of 16 existing healthcare occupational training programs into five pathways, each incorporating a ladder that enables students to obtain stackable credentials; (2) proactive advising such as career counseling; (3) scholarships for tuition and books; (4) two compressed basic skills programs that in one semester remediate students whose low skills prevented them from enrolling directly in training; and (5) job search assistance. The study considered the following primary research questions: (1) Was the intervention actually implemented as designed?; (2) How did services received differ between study participants who could access the Pathways to Healthcare program versus those who could not?; and (3) What were the effects of access to Pathways to Healthcare on short-term educational outcomes: hours of occupational training received, credits received, and credentials received? Using a rigorous research design, the study found that Pathways to Healthcare increased the hours of occupational training and the credentials its participants received within the 18-month follow-up period. Future reports will examine whether these effects translate into gains in employment and earnings.