An Evaluation of Effects of the Learnfare Program
1993-1996
Program Evaluation
A waiver of federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
regulations was required to allow the Learnfare program to operate.
One of the conditions under which this waiver was granted was independent
evaluation of the program. To meet the evaluation condition, federal
officials required that a five-year effectiveness study be conducted
and that it include:
- random assignment of a research sample of Learnfare participants
to either a treatment or a control group, where the treatment group
would participate fully in the Learnfare program and the control group
would not be subject to Learnfare requirements or eligible for Learnfare
services; and
- analysis of differences in outcome measures between the treatment
and the control groups, including but not limited to school attendance
and completion rates.
To complete this effectiveness study, the Wisconsin Department of Health
and Social Services contracted with the Legislative Audit Bureau, a
non-partisan legislative agency.
The Learnfare evaluation was designed to examine the effects of the
Learnfare program upon four outcomes:
- school enrollment;
- attendance;
- graduation from high school or completion of high school equivalency
programs; and
- receipt of public assistance.
In addition to determining the effects of Learnfare upon the AFDC teenage
population as a whole, analyses were included to determine the program's
effectiveness among different groups of teenagers:
- teenage parents and teenagers without children;
- teenagers who were and were not enrolled in school when introduced
to Learnfare;
- teenagers of different ages; and
- teenagers within and outside Milwaukee County, which has approximately
half of the statewide Learnfare population.
In order to compile an analysis data set, we collected data from three
sources. First, we developed a form to collect baseline data at the
time of random assignment. These data included most of the control variables
used in the regression analysis, as well as the variables used to identify
the different groups of teenagers for whom results were calculated.
Second, we worked with staff in the Department to identify data that
would be provided each month on a tape from the State’s automated
public assistance data system. These data included information on AFDC
eligibility and receipt, as well as on the Learnfare experience of teenagers
in the treatment group. Finally, data on school enrollment, attendance,
and completion were collected directly from school districts at the
end of each semester.
In Fall 1994, the Learnfare program was extended on an experimental
basis in four counties to children younger than 13; the effect of Learnfare
Expansion on these younger children was the subject of a separate Audit
Bureau study.
In 1997, the Legislative Audit Bureau received the Award for Excellence
in Research Methodology for the Learnfare evaluation from the National
Legislative Program Evaluation Society, a staff section of the National
Conference on State Legislatures.
Audit Bureau Publications related to the Learnfare Evaluation include:
(Note that the last five reports are available as Microsoft
Word 6.0 files. If you do not have M.S. Word you can find a free viewer
and instructions at: http://www.microsoft.com/msword/internet/viewer/)
If you would like more information on the Learnfare Evaluation, if
you would like to obtain copies of any of the above reports, or if you
have questions about the Learnfare dataset that are not addressed by
the materials available here, please contact the Legislative Audit Bureau
at (608) 266-2818.
Back to Main Learnfare Page.
Back to DPLS Bibliographies.
Email: disc@mailplus.wisc.edu
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