Interventions Details | Pathways to Work

0.05,5.00

MOST provided case management and training to single-parent Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients to improve participants’ educational and vocational skills before applying for jobs. MOST was followed by Work First, which emphasized job search and placement.

Skip to: Effectiveness ratings | Sample characteristics | Studies of this intervention

MOST provided case management and training to single-parent Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) recipients to improve participants’ educational and vocational skills before applying for jobs. MOST was followed by Work First, which emphasized job search and placement.

MOST followed by Work First was one of the demonstration projects made possible by Section 1115 waivers to the rules in effect at the time for the AFDC program. These Section 1115 waivers allowed states to test new approaches to advance the objectives of the AFDC program.

The MOST program was a mandatory program that provided case management, focusing on improving participants’ educational and vocational skills before they applied for jobs. Participants that did not have a high school diploma or general education diploma (GED) were assigned to basic education classes (like GED courses), whereas participants with basic education credentials were assigned to vocational or postsecondary education. Case managers helped participants arrange for supportive services like child care and transportation during program participation.

Work First began to replace MOST in 1994 and emphasized job search and placement. Participants who did not find permanent employment through MOST were transitioned to Work First, whereas new AFDC recipients were assigned directly to Work First. If participants could not secure a job in the first 30 days of Work First, they were provided with training and educational activities or community work experience.

Compared with the MOST program, staff at the Work First program monitored program participation more closely and imposed financial sanctions on participants—such as benefit reduction and case closure—for noncompliance. Services ended when clients left AFDC for employment.

Participants in MOST and Work First were single-parent AFDC recipients, 18 years old and older. The intervention was implemented in two offices in the Michigan Department of Social Services in Detroit.

Year evaluation began: 1992

Populations and employment barriers: Cash assistance recipients, Parents, Single parents

Intervention services: Case management, Academic instruction, Sanctions, Supportive services, Training, Occupational or sectoral training, On-the-job training, Unpaid work experience, Work experience, Job search assistance

Setting(s): Urban only

Intervention services:

Academic instruction, Case management, Sanctions, Supportive services, Training (Occupational or sectoral training), Work and work-based learning (On-the-job training, Unpaid work experience, Work experience), Work readiness activities (Job search assistance)

? Review services terms

Effectiveness rating and effect by outcome domain

View table help Need more context or definitions for the Outcome Domain table below? View the "Table help" to get more insight into terms, measures, and definitions.

Scroll to the right to view the rest of the table columns

Outcome domain	Term	Effect in 2018 dollars and percentages	Effect in standard deviations	Sample size
Increase earnings	Short-term	$377 per year	0.018	4459
	Long-term	$753 per year	0.036	4459
	Very long-term
Increase employment	Short-term	0% (in percentage points)	0.011	4459
	Long-term	2% (in percentage points)	0.053	4459
	Very long-term
Decrease benefit receipt	Short-term	$-11 per year	-0.004	4459
	Long-term	$-146 per year	-0.053	4459
	Very long-term
Increase education and training	All measurement periods	5% (in percentage points)	0.092	426

* This intervention was assessed as supported for this domain, meaning it achieved one or more statistically significant, favorable effects. However, the intervention has an average effect size that is unfavorable because the average includes all effects in this domain - both statistically significant and favorable effects and statistically insignificant but unfavorable effects.