Annual Evaluations
KC SCHOLARS, AND NOW AS GREAT JOBS KC, IS RIGOROUSLY EVALUATED BY THIRD-PARTY EVALUATORS TO DEMONSTRATE ITS IMPACT.
In November 2024, Mathematica, an independent third-party evaluator, was commissioned to evaluate the impact and outcomes of the first two years of Great Jobs KC’s tuition-free job training program. This evaluation determined that Great Jobs KC is poised to make a significant impact on the workforce and economic landscape of Kansas City. Ira Nichols-Barrer, Principal Researcher, Mathematica and the Principal Investigator of Mathematica’s 2024 evaluation of the Great Jobs KC program was quoted as saying of our job training program, “This program has the potential, in the context of a high-quality rigorous impact study, to show impacts that are as large or larger than any other job training program for adults that’s been rigorously evaluated in the United States. That’s a really exciting opportunity to demonstrate that this program should be a model for other cities.”
Below are the findings from the evaluation.
During the first three program years as KC Scholars The Upjohn Institute completed evaluations of the program and its outcomes. West Ed performed evaluations in years four and five and in internal evalutation was completed in year six. In their reporting, evaluators declared, “The KC Scholars program adhered carefully to design parameters of its scholarship and College Savings Match programs. We found this particularly impressive since, in our experience, the initial implementation of complex programs can sometimes result in adjustments to procedures that alter design principles. The program personnel should be applauded for their admirable flexibility and adaptability.”
Annual evaluation reports and executive summaries can be found below.
