Impact Evaluation of the NPower Tech Fundamentals Program

Last registered on July 22, 2022

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Impact Evaluation of the NPower Tech Fundamentals Program

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007404

Initial registration date

March 22, 2021

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

March 23, 2021, 6:12 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

July 22, 2022, 3:57 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Texas and New York

Primary Investigator

Name

Patrick Turner

Affiliation

University of Notre Dame

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Brian Cadena

PI Affiliation

University of Colorado Boulder

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Tania Barham

PI Affiliation

University of Colorado Boulder

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Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2020-11-02

End date

2025-12-31

Keywords

Education, Labor

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We will implement a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the impact of the NPower Tech Fundamentals program. NPower Inc. works with young adults and veterans and their spouses to create career pathways into the information technology industry through training and job placement. The population served by NPower is economically disadvantaged and composed of racial and ethnic groups that are underrepresented in technology careers.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Barham, Tania, Brian Cadena and Patrick Turner. 2022. "Impact Evaluation of the NPower Tech Fundamentals Program." AEA RCT Registry. July 22. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7404-1.1

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

At the beginning of the program, NPower students participate in a tuition-free, 16-week Tech Fundamentals training course. Students participate in instructor-led training and are given the opportunity to work toward industry-recognized certification. Throughout the program, they are exposed to mentors from the IT industry, complete employment readiness workshops, and receive on-going support from a social support manager who helps them identify and overcome barriers to program completion. Graduates of the training course are placed in a 7-week paid internship with a local company to further develop hard and soft skills. Upon completion, program alumni receive job placement assistance to help them match to an entry level IT position with top employers in the area.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2021-01-04

Intervention End Date

2022-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Quarterly employment and earnings during the two years following application
An indicator for annual earnings above $30,000 two years after application

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

We will endeavor to link study participants to additional administrative data sets to measure secondary outcomes. If possible, these will include post-secondary education data from the National Student Clearinghouse, SNAP and TANF receipt data, Medicaid participation and claims, credit bureau records, address histories from Infutor data solutions, and LinkedIn utilization and network data.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

We will implement stratified randomization after individuals complete the online application. Randomization will be stratified based on site (Harlem and Dallas), gender (male vs. female/other), and educational attainment (HS diploma/GED vs. some college/Associates vs. currently enrolled/Bachelors).

Those who are assigned to the treatment group will be invited to interview with program staff. Based on their performance in the interviews, treatment group members will either be (i) invited to enroll in the program, (ii) placed on a wait list, or (iii) informed they were not accepted into the program. Those who are assigned to the control group will not be invited to continue the process. The assigned treatment status thus represents an intent-to-treat indicator among NPower applicants eligible for interview.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

The recruitment manager will review the application for eligibility and will determine whether the applicant should be invited to interview with program staff. The recruitment manager will enter eligible and suitable applicants into a lottery to determine treatment status. We will generate a series of random treatment assignments to ensure equal treatment probability (two-thirds) across strata, and assign an applicant the next treatment status on the list at the time they enter the lottery.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

1500 individuals

Sample size: planned number of observations

1500 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

1000 individuals in treatment
500 individuals in control

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

We assume a post-randomization take-up rate of 54 percent (share of the treatment group who enroll in the program), 80 percent power, and a type-1 error rate of 5 percent. We base control group means and standard deviations on the reported outcomes in the Year Up evaluation (Fein and Hamadyk,2018). Under these assumptions we are powered to detect the following effects under simple random assignment: Quarterly Earnings MDE: $1,022 increase among those who enrolled in the program; $552 increase for the entire treatment group (mean = $3,600; SD = $3,600) Indicator for earning more than $30,000 per year: 10.1 percentage point increase among those who enrolled in the program; 5.5 percentage point increase for the entire treatment group (mean = 0.15)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB