RESEARCH  POSTER  PRESENTATION  DESIGN  ©  2012

www.PosterPresentations.com

Kay  Magill,  Ph.D.,  Senior  Research  Associate,  IMPAQ  International,  LLCLinda  Toms  Barker,  M.A.,  Principal  Research  Associate,  IMPAQ  International,  LLC

Toward  an  Accessible  and  Inclusive  Public  Workforce  SystemAssessing  &  Enhancing  Public  Programs  &  Policy

www.impaqint.com

THE  PROBLEM

HOW  ACCESSIBLEARE  THE  AJCs?

OUR  STUDY  DESIGN DEFINING  LEVELS  OF  ACCESSIBLITY

SURVEY  AND  SITE  VISITS1,500+ AJC Directors completed an online survey of center accessibility. To validate the survey we conducted expertassessments of 100 sites nationwide. IMPAQ specialists interviewed toured the centers and interviewed staff, whileUniversal Design Consultants’ architectural experts did physical accessibility reviews. Site visit teams then reported thedata for each site to validate the survey and control for socially desirable response or non-­‐response bias in the survey.

10.4%

4.7%

People  With  Disabilities

People  Without  Disabilities

Unemployment  Rate  (September  2015)

19%

68%

People  With  Disabilities

People  Without  Disabilities

Labor  Market  Participation  (September  2015)

The unemployment rate of people with disabilities(PWD) is more than double that of people withoutdisabilities, while the labor market participation rateof PWD is only 19% compared to 68% for peoplewithout disabilities.

Recognizing these serious employment disparities, theUS Department of Labor (DOL) has strongly committedto the inclusion of all PWD in services offered by itsAmerican Job Centers (AJCs), which provideemployment and training services for job seekers andemployers. Through the Workforce Innovation andOpportunity ACT (WIOA) of 2014, the AJCs(sometimes called One-­‐Stops or workforce centers) arerequired to make their services available andaccessible to everyone, including PWD.

The  public  workforce  system  can  be  part  of  the  solution  to  the  problem  of  employment  disparities  for  PWD,  but  only  if  they  are  fully  accessible  to  all PWD.

IMPAQ is workingwith DOLto determinehow accessible theAJCs are to PWD. Our conceptof accessibility focusesonusability, going beyond simplecompliance with requirements for eliminating physicalbarriers or offering assistive communication.

Accessibility encompasses a wide range of practices inthree domains – programmatic, communication, andphysical – to ensure PWD can meaningfully receive,participate in, and benefit from AJC services in thesame way as customers without disabilities.

IMPAQ examined prior studies that measured the accessibility of public service systems, and identified a range ofmeasures, instruments, and data items for use in our study. There were, however, virtually no metrics to validate themeasures we identified. We thus designed a study to assess and validate which aspects of service delivery bestdistinguish between more and less accessible workforce centers, while taking into account the response bias likely tooccur when asking public agencies to self-­‐report their accessibility features.

REPORT  TO  DOL

Phase  3• Standard  setting• Write  up

Phase  2• Instrument  development• Survey  administration• Survey  validation

Phase  1• Existing  knowledge• Background  research• Consultation  with  experts

DOMAIN  SCORES

AJC  SUMMARY  MEASURE  

OF  ACCESSIBILITY

%  OF  AJCs  ACCESSIBLE  TO  PWD

Domain  scores  for  each  AJC  will  be  generated  from  data  collected  through  the  survey  and  in-­‐person  data  collection  visits.

Domain  scores  will  be  combined  to  create  a  summary  measure  of  accessibility  for  each  AJC.

Overall  accessibility  will  be  analyzed  across  AJCs  to  determine  the  percentage  of  different  types  of  AJCs  that  are  accessible  to  people  with  disabilities.

At 10 of the AJCs visited, groups of 6-­‐12 customers eachprovided detailed examples of barriers to, and facilitatorsof, full participation and accessibility of the AJCs to PWD.

Using Item Response Theory (IRT), which identifiesstatistically which items distinguish more from lessaccessibility centers, IMPAQ, Subject Matter Experts,and DOL are defining four levels of accessibility, asshown here. IRT also adjusts for differences betweenself-­‐reported and expert assessments of accessibility.

The  development  of  validated    measures  represents  groundbreaking  work  for  measuring  inclusiveness  and  promoting  high  standards  of  quality  in  providing  employment  and  training  services  to  PWD.

FOCUS  GROUPS

SCORING  ACCESSIBILITYEach of the three domains of accessibility will bescored separately, and the three then combined.

AccessibleAll  people  can  participate  to  the  same  extent/in  essentially  the  same  way.

Partially  AccessiblePeople  with  disabilities  can  participate  in  some  services/programs/activities  

but  not  others,  or  not  in  the  same  way.

Exemplary  AccessibilityCenters  have  gone  the  extra  mile  to  ensure  that  all  people  can  participate  

to  the  same  extent/in  the  essentially  same  way.

Not  AccessiblePeople  with  disabilities  really  cannot  participate  in  the  same  way  as  other  AJC  

customers.

12%

32%

57% 58%

Receiving  Job  Training Attending  Workshops Utilizing  Resource  Room  Materials

Meeting  with  a  Career  Counselor

Experience  with  Workforce  Center

28%

14%

22%

9%

11%

8%8%

Primary  Disability

Mental  Health  MobilityOther  PhysicalCognitiveChronic  Health  ConditionSensory   vision/hearingMissing

30%

33%

32%

5%

Highest  Education

College  grad

Some  college

High  school   grad

Less  than  high  schoolThis  study  is  funded  by  the  U.S.  Department  of  Labor.