Attachment B
Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio
State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment Semi-Structured Interview Protocol for State Staff
Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio
State Apprenticeship Systems Capacity Assessment
State Staff Discussion Guide
INTRODUCTION
I am/we are researchers with The Urban Institute/Mathematica, private research organizations based in the Washington, DC area that conduct policy-related research on a variety of social welfare and economic issues. This project is being conducted under a contract to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Our interview today is part of the Apprenticeship Evidence-Building Portfolio project, a national study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. The purpose of the project is to learn how apprenticeship programs can help improve the skills and employment outcomes of American workers. One component of the overall project is a study of state apprenticeship systems and partnerships that support Registered Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship. During this interview, we want to better understand how your state apprenticeship system works and learn more about how your state supports [add in topics of focus for this interview/state]. We will also be interviewing other state staff and representatives of local organizations and employers who are engaged in apprenticeship activities.
Privacy Statement: We expect the interview to take approximately two hours. I/we know that you are busy and we will be as focused as possible and will only ask questions that are relevant to your experience. We have many questions and will be talking to many different people, so please do not feel as though we expect you to be able to answer every question. Your participation in this interview is voluntary and you may choose not to answer some or any of our questions. We will do everything we can to secure the privacy of the information you provide, but the technical limitations with Zoom and other internet platforms mean that we cannot guarantee the confidentiality of what is said. Also, we ask that you consider using headphones or finding a private space to talk so that other people cannot hear or see this conversation. We believe the risks of participating in this study are minimal.
While there may be no direct benefits to you, we believe your participation in the study that the findings from this study will benefit DOL and the broader apprenticeship field by providing research insights on how apprenticeship programs can be strengthened to benefit workers and industry.
My colleague and I will be taking notes in order to document what we hear during our discussion, and we may record this discussion. We do not share these notes with anyone outside of our research team, including Department of Labor, and we will destroy these notes after the end of our project. When we compile our reports, the names of individual respondents will not be included. If we choose to quote you, you will only be identified by your title. You will not be quoted directly by name in any of our reports. While it is possible that you might be identified by your title, we will do our best to minimize the chance of that occurring.
Finally, to help us accurately capture the information you share, we would like to record this interview. The recording is just a back-up for our notes and will be kept within our small research team. The interview recording will be deleted once we have developed a full set of notes from the interview.
OMB Burden Statement: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is XXXX-XXXX. The time required to complete this collection of information is estimated to average two hours, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed and complete and review the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to [email protected] and reference the OMB Control Number XXXX-0NEW.
Do you have any questions before we begin?
[If we decide to record the interview] Are you okay with us recording the interview to improve the accuracy of our notes?
Do I have your permission to begin the interview? [BEGIN INTERVIEW IF CONSENT GRANTED]
Respondent/State Background
Information about the respondent(s):
Name, title, agency, role in apprenticeship activities in state
Length of involvement with the organization and with apprenticeship
Information on the state:
Description of how registered apprenticeships (including pre-apprenticeship) are currently organized in the state/changes in the last 5 years
Role of agency
Other state agencies involved/roles
Estimate of how many state employees work on apprenticeship
State Apprenticeship Goals
Description of goals
Target industries
Employers/sponsors
Recruitment of apprentices/diversity
Regions/rural areas
Partnerships
Funding/policy changes
Data infrastructure/performance measurement
Other
Interaction with apprenticeship goals and larger state workforce strategies (e.g. WIOA, community colleges)
State capacity to achieve goals
Changes over time
State Context – Economic, Policy and Funding for Apprenticeship
Economic Context [Review available industry and labor market information prior to interview.]
Worker shortages
Workforce characteristics
Major/growing industries
How it has shaped apprenticeship strategies
Policy Context [Review state legislation/policy guidance prior to interview.]
Legislation proposed/passed in past 5 years related to apprenticeship
Governor or agency-led initiatives related to apprenticeship
Policy guidance developed/issued related to apprenticeship
How new or expanded policy has shaped apprenticeship strategies
Funding Context [Review available information on state budget and grants awarded to state, which could be a federal or foundation source, and information on DOL grants.]
State budget (amount, specific line items, permanent/time-limited)
Federal grants to state (use for expansion, strategies, industries)
Foundation grants to state (use for expansion, strategies, industries)
How funding deployed
Added value of funding/measuring return on investment
State and Local Partnerships
State-level partnerships (goals, role, resources, strategies)
Other state agencies/state workforce development board
Industry associations
Unions or other labor organizations
Other
Partnerships with local institutions/organizations (goals, role, resources, strategies)
Workforce development boards/American Job Centers
Employer/industry
Community colleges and other training providers
Non-profit/community organizations
School districts, career-technical high schools
Other
Resources/funding to support partnerships
Outcomes
Successes and challenges of partnerships
Sustainability of partnerships
Added value of partnerships
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Apprenticeship
Effect of COVID on apprenticeship in state
Expansion
Program operations
Recruitment of apprentices
Recruitment of employer sponsors
Outcomes for apprentices (completion, retention in jobs)
Other
Strategies to address challenges
Virtual delivery of on-the-job training and related instruction
Virtual delivery of supports (e.g., mentoring)
New/enhanced partnerships
Changes to resources/funding
Changes to deployment of resources
Changes to policy and regulations
Other
Successes and challenges
Strategies that will last beyond pandemic
Apprenticeship Expansion in Rural Areas and to Combat the Opioid Crisis
Rural apprenticeship
Goals for rural expansion
Industries
Structure and funding
Partnerships
Recruitment of employers/sponsors
Target populations
Outcomes
Sustainability and future plans
Successes and challenges
Added value/return on investment
Apprenticeship to combat the opioid crisis
Goals for expansion to combat the opioid crisis
Structure and funding
Recruitment/engagement of healthcare employers
Occupations of interest (e.g., counselors, community health workers)
Partnerships
Target populations
Outcomes
Sustainability and future plans
Successes and challenges
Added value/return on investment
Financial Incentives to Expand Apprenticeship
Goals for financial incentives
Structure and types of incentives
How targeted
Resources/funding
Deployment
Use of incentives
Outcomes
Sustainability and future plans
Successes and challenges
Added value/return on investment
Efforts to Increase Diversity in Apprenticeship
Goals for increasing diversity (racial, gender, etc.)
Targeted populations (women, youth, incumbent workers, etc.)
Resources/funding
Partners
Strategies for recruitment, placement, and retention
Outcomes
Successes and challenges
Sustainability and future plans
Added value/return on investment
State Support for Apprenticeships and Role of Federal Grants
Description of federal grants to state [Review grant applications/synopses prior to interview.]
Reasons/goals for pursuing them/gaps to fill (connections to larger state apprenticeship strategy)
Industries of focus
Target populations
Strategies developed (grant-specific, cross-cutting)
Partnerships (grant-specific, cross-cutting)
Leveraged funding/resources
Staffing
Other DOL grants to non-state government entities
Foundation or other federal grants
Tracking of grant outputs/outcomes across grants/data infrastructure
Successes and challenges
Sustainability once grants ends
Employer Recruitment
Goals for recruitment (numbers, industries, regions)
Resources/funding
Marketing/communications strategies
Role of financial incentives
Partners, including workforce system
Strategies for rural employers or small businesses
Recruitment in nontraditional industries
Successes and challenges
Sustainability and future plans
Added value/return on investment
Registration of Apprenticeship Programs [Note: tease out differences between SAA and OA states]
Steps in registration process
Length of time from start to finish
Resources/funding
Sponsor/employer support and satisfaction with process
Challenges/”pinch” points during process
Changes/improvements to process over time
Successes
Future plans
Data Infrastructure and Performance Measurement for Apprenticeship
Goals/measures of state apprenticeship performance
Description of data system
Data collected/data not collected but would like to
Capacity of system to support data entry/collection
Resources/staffing
Technology
Upgrades/changes over time
Links to other data systems
RAPIDS
Advantages/challenges with system
Use of data
Tracking and monitoring
Outcomes reporting and evaluation of programs/strategies
Dissemination of apprenticeship performance
Use for decisionmaking
Changes to existing strategies, policies, or program components
Informing new strategies, policies, or program components
Successes and challenges
File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
Author | Eyster, Lauren |
File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
File Created | 2022-10-24 |