Notice of Random Assignment Study To Evaluate the YouthBuild Program; Request for Comment, 51056-51058 [2011-20971]
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51056
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background, see In the Matter of Certain
Devices for Connecting Computers via
Telephone Lines, Inv. No. 337–TA–360,
USITC Pub. No. 2843 (December 1994)
(Commission Opinion).
If the Commission contemplates some
form of remedy, it must consider the
effects of that remedy upon the public
interest. The factors the Commission
will consider include the effect that an
exclusion order and/or cease and desist
orders would have on (1) The public
health and welfare, (2) competitive
conditions in the U.S. economy, (3) U.S.
production of articles that are like or
directly competitive with those that are
subject to investigation, and (4) U.S.
consumers. The Commission is
therefore interested in receiving written
submissions that address the
aforementioned public interest factors
in the context of this investigation.
If the Commission orders some form
of remedy, the U.S. Trade
Representative, as delegated by the
President, has 60 days to approve or
disapprove the Commission’s action.
See Presidential Memorandum of July
21, 2005, 70 FR 43251 (July 26, 2005).
During this period, the subject articles
would be entitled to enter the United
States under bond, in an amount
determined by the Commission. The
Commission is therefore interested in
receiving submissions concerning the
amount of the bond that should be
imposed if a remedy is ordered.
Written Submissions: The parties to
the investigation are requested to file
written submissions on the issue
identified in this notice. Parties to the
investigation, interested government
agencies, and any other interested
parties are encouraged to file written
submissions on the issues of remedy,
the public interest, and bonding. Such
submissions should address the
recommended determination by the ALJ
on remedy and bonding. Complainants
and the IA are also requested to submit
proposed remedial orders for the
Commission’s consideration.
Complainants are also requested to state
the date that the patents expire and the
HTSUS numbers under which the
accused products are imported. The
written submissions and proposed
remedial orders must be filed no later
than close of business on Thursday,
August 25, 2011. Reply submissions
must be filed no later than the close of
business on Thursday, September 1,
2011. No further submissions on these
issues will be permitted unless
otherwise ordered by the Commission.
Persons filing written submissions
must file the original document and 12
true copies thereof on or before the
deadlines stated above with the Office
VerDate Mar<15>2010
18:13 Aug 16, 2011
Jkt 223001
of the Secretary. Any person desiring to
submit a document to the Commission
in confidence must request confidential
treatment unless the information has
already been granted such treatment
during the proceedings. All such
requests should be directed to the
Secretary of the Commission and must
include a full statement of the reasons
why the Commission should grant such
treatment. See 19 CFR 210.6. Documents
for which confidential treatment by the
Commission is sought will be treated
accordingly. All nonconfidential written
submissions will be available for public
inspection at the Office of the Secretary.
The authority for the Commission’s
determination is contained in section
337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as
amended (19 U.S.C. 1337), and in
sections 210.42–46 and 210.50 of the
Commission’s Rules of Practice and
Procedure (19 CFR 210.42–46 and
210.50).
By order of the Commission.
Issued: August 11, 2011.
William R. Bishop,
Acting Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011–20913 Filed 8–16–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE ;P
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
COMMISSION
[Investigation No. 337–TA–751]
In the Matter of Certain
Turbomachinery Blades, Engines, and
Components Thereof; Notice of
Commission Decision Not To Review
an Initial Determination Terminating
the Investigation
U.S. International Trade
Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Notice is hereby given that
the U.S. International Trade
Commission has determined not to
review the presiding administrative law
judge’s initial determination (‘‘ID’’)
(Order No. 8) granting a joint motion to
terminate the investigation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sidney A. Rosenzweig, Office of the
General Counsel, U.S. International
Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20436, telephone (202)
708–2532. Copies of non-confidential
documents filed in connection with this
investigation are or will be available for
inspection during official business
hours (8:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.) in the
Office of the Secretary, U.S.
International Trade Commission, 500 E
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20436,
telephone (202) 205–2000. General
SUMMARY:
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information concerning the Commission
may also be obtained by accessing its
Internet server at https://www.usitc.gov.
The public record for this investigation
may be viewed on the Commission’s
electronic docket (EDIS) at https://
edis.usitc.gov. Hearing-impaired
persons are advised that information on
this matter can be obtained by
contacting the Commission’s TDD
terminal on (202) 205–1810.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The
Commission instituted this investigation
on December 14, 2010, based on a
complaint filed by United Technologies
Corporation of Hartford, Connecticut,
that named as respondents Rolls-Royce
Group plc and Rolls-Royce plc, both of
the United Kingdom. 75 FR 77904 (Dec.
14, 2010). The complaint alleged a
violation of section 337 in the
importation, sale for importation, and
sale within the United States after
importation of certain turbomachinery
blades, engines, and components thereof
by reason of the infringement of certain
claims of U.S. Patent No. RE38,040.
On July 15, 2011, the private parties
moved to terminate the investigation
based on a settlement. On July 22, 2011,
the Commission investigative attorney
filed a response in support of the
motion. On July 25, 2011, the ALJ
granted the motion as an ID (Order No.
8).
No petitions for review of the ID were
filed. The Commission has determined
not to review the ID.
The authority for the Commission’s
determination is contained in section
337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as
amended (19 U.S.C. 1337), and in Part
210 of the Commission’s Rules of
Practice and Procedure (19 CFR part
210).
By order of the Commission.
Issued: August 11, 2011.
William R. Bishop,
Acting Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2011–20869 Filed 8–16–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020–02–P
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training
Administration
Notice of Random Assignment Study
To Evaluate the YouthBuild Program;
Request for Comment
Employment and Training
Administration (ETA), Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Department of Labor
(DOL or the Department) is prepared to
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\17AUN1.SGM
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Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 17, 2011 / Notices
conduct an evaluation to provide
rigorous estimates of the net impacts of
services and training provided by
YouthBuild program sites funded by the
Department and by the Corporation for
National and Community Service (CNCS
or the Corporation). The Department has
determined that it is in the public
interest to use a random assignment
impact methodology for the study. In
the DOL-funded and CNCS-funded sites
randomly selected to participate in this
evaluation, all applicants for services
and training under the YouthBuild
program during a 12–18 month
enrollment period will be required to
participate in the study in order to be
considered for services or training. Due
to the random assignment methodology
of the study, some eligible applicants
will be enrolled in the study but will
not be able to enroll in the YouthBuild
program for 24 months after their
enrollment in the study. At that time,
those youth randomly assigned to the
control group can re-apply to the
YouthBuild program. The Department is
soliciting comments concerning the
Department’s plan to carry out the
study.
DATES: Written comments on the plan to
require consent to participate in the
study during the designated YouthBuild
sites’ study enrollment periods must be
received by the office listed in the
addresses section below on or before
August 31, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments
by any one of the following methods:
• Mail or Hand Delivery/Courier:
Please submit all written comments
(including disk and CD–ROM
submissions) to Eileen Pederson, U.S.
Department of Labor, Employment and
Training Administration, Office of
Policy Development and Research, 200
Constitution Avenue, NW., Frances
Perkins Bldg., Room N–5641,
Washington, DC 20210. Commenters are
advised that mail delivery in the
Washington area may be delayed due to
security concerns. Hand-delivered
comments will be received at the above
address. All overnight mail will be
considered to be hand-delivered and
must be received at the designated place
by the date specified above.
• Facsimile: Please send comments to
Eileen Pederson’s attention, at fax
number (202) 693–2766.
• E-mail: Please send comments to
pederson.eileen@dol.gov.
Please submit your comments by only
one method. The Department will not
review comments received by means
other than those listed above or that are
received after the comment period has
closed.
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18:13 Aug 16, 2011
Jkt 223001
Comments: All comments on this
notice will be retained by the
Department and released upon request
via email to any member of the public.
The Department also will make all the
comments it received available for
public inspection by appointment
during normal business hours at the
above address. If you need assistance to
review the comments, the Department
will provide you with appropriate aids
such as readers or print magnifiers. The
Department will make copies of this
notice available, upon request, in large
print, Braille and electronic file on
computer disk. The Department will
consider providing the notice in other
formats upon request. To schedule an
appointment to review the comments
and/or obtain the notice in an
alternative format, contact the Office of
Policy Development and Research at
(202) 693–3700 (this is not a toll-free
number). You may also contact this
office at the address listed above.
The Department will retain all
comments received without making any
changes to the comments, including any
personal information provided. If
requested, the comments will be
released to the public. The Department
cautions commenters not to include
their personal information such as
Social Security Numbers, personal
addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses in their comments as
such submitted information will be
released with the comment if the
comments are requested. It is the
commenter’s responsibility to safeguard
his or her information. If the comment
is submitted by e-mail, the e-mail
addresses of the commenter will not be
released.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Eileen Pederson, U.S. Department of
Labor, Employment and Training
Administration, Office of Policy
Development and Research, 200
Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N–
5641, Washington, DC 20210.
Telephone number: (202) 693–3647 (this
is not a toll-free number). Individuals
with hearing or speech impairments
may access the telephone number above
via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal
Information Relay Service at 1–877–
889–5627 (TTY/TDD).
I. Background
YouthBuild is a youth and
community development program that
addresses several core issues facing lowincome communities: youth education,
employment, homelessness and
affordable housing. The program
primarily serves high school dropouts
and focuses on helping them attain a
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
51057
high school diploma or general
educational development (GED)
certificate and teaching them
construction skills and other
occupational skills geared toward career
or post-secondary education placement.
YouthBuild seeks to incorporate widelyrecognized youth development
principles while training youth to give
back to their communities by expanding
the supply of affordable housing, albeit
on a small scale.
YouthBuild programs are operated by
a diverse group of organizations,
including community-based
organizations, faith-based organizations,
local government agencies, and
educational institutions. These
programs vary widely in how they fund
services and the emphasis they place on
various components of the program.
Nearly 50 of the programs nationwide
receive funding from the Corporation for
National and Community Service (CNCS
or the Corporation). These sites may
place more emphasis on community
service components of the program.
Services and training provided by
YouthBuild programs include
educational activities, occupational/
vocational training, personal
development, leadership training,
community service and a wide range of
related, supportive services. Additional
services also include staff assessments,
counseling, and job placement
assistance following completion of the
program.
The recent recession, high
unemployment rate and limited Federal
resources serve as a reminder of the
importance of ensuring that services and
training provided to those who are just
entering the workforce will enable them
to succeed and that the programs which
provide those services and training are
as effective as possible. In order to
improve the management and
effectiveness of Workforce Investment
Act (WIA) services and related
activities, including YouthBuild
programs, section 172 of the WIA
requires the Department to continually
evaluate WIA-funded programs and
activities. These evaluations must
‘‘utilize appropriate methodology and
research designs, including the use of
control groups chosen by scientific
random assignment methodologies.’’
Congress, the Office of Management and
Budget, and the Government
Accountability Office have called on
DOL to conduct rigorous evaluations in
order to learn if WIA-funded services
and training, including those
specifically for youth, are as effective as
they can be. Accordingly, ETA is
conducting a multisite control group
evaluation to provide rigorous estimates
E:\FR\FM\17AUN1.SGM
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Emcdonald on DSK2BSOYB1PROD with NOTICES
51058
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 17, 2011 / Notices
of the net impact of services provided
by YouthBuild programs funded by the
Department and the Corporation. This
evaluation will offer policymakers,
program administrators, service
providers, future applicants, and the
public information about the relative
effectiveness of YouthBuild programs,
how the effectiveness varies by target
population, and how the services are
implemented. The study will also
produce estimates of the benefits and
costs of these services. Compared to
peers who remain in school, high school
dropouts are more likely to be
disconnected from school and work, be
incarcerated, be unmarried, and have
children outside of marriage. Thus, the
evaluation represents an important
opportunity to add to the growing body
of knowledge about the impacts of
‘‘second chance’’ programs for youth
who have dropped out of high school.
The complete experimental design
impact evaluation of the YouthBuild
program will take seven years, including
a follow-up period that extends for four
years after the last applicant is enrolled
in the study and additional time for
analyzing and reporting the results. The
evaluation is funded by both the
Department and the Corporation. It will
measure core program outcomes
including educational attainment,
postsecondary planning, employment,
earnings, personal development,
delinquency and involvement with the
criminal justice system. Random
assignment will be conducted in
approximately 60 randomly-selected
DOL-funded sites and 17 randomlyselected CNCS-funded sites. Youth in
those sites who are eligible for
YouthBuild services will be randomly
assigned to one of two groups: the
program group, which can receive all
YouthBuild services, and the control
group, which cannot receive
YouthBuild services for a 24 months
after enrollment but can receive services
from other organizations in their
communities. In the participating
YouthBuild sites, all eligible applicants
for YouthBuild services will be asked to
participate in the study during the 12–
18 month study enrollment period.
They will be informed of the evaluation,
provided an opportunity to ask
questions or seek clarification of their
role and responsibilities should they
agree to participate, and then asked to
give their consent to participate.
Applicants who do not consent to
participate in the study will not be
allowed to enroll in YouthBuild or
receive services or training funded by
the YouthBuild program. As will be the
case for those in the control group, those
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18:13 Aug 16, 2011
Jkt 223001
who do not consent to participate in the
study can receive training services from
other organizations in their
communities. The Department expects a
total of about 4,600 YouthBuild program
applicants to be randomly assigned to
one of the two groups under the
evaluation.
The Department has determined that
it is in the public interest to use a
random assignment impact
methodology because random
assignment is generally viewed as the
best and most feasible design for
credibly and reliably answering
questions about the effectiveness of
social programs and policy
interventions. More than any other
approach, random assignment
minimizes the chance that any observed
differences in outcomes between
research groups are due to unmeasured,
preexisting differences between
members of the groups. When
implemented carefully, random
assignment creates groups that are
almost identical in their characteristics
before the intervention, differing only in
whether they are exposed to the
intervention. As a result, differences in
average outcomes between the groups
can be causally attributed to the
intervention.
The Department recognizes that this
design will assign some applicants to
the control group, which will not have
access to YouthBuild services. However,
those who are assigned to the control
group will be eligible for other services
in their communities and also eligible to
reapply for YouthBuild services 24
months after enrollment into the study.
To protect the rights and welfare of
YouthBuild applicants who agree to
participate in the evaluation, the
evaluation team, lead by researchers
from MDRC submitted the YouthBuild
evaluation design to MDRC’s
Institutional Review Board (IRB) for
concurrence. An IRB is a committee
specifically responsible for protecting
the rights and welfare of humans
involved in biomedical and behavioral
research. On May 3, 2011, MDRC’s IRB
determined this study to be of no more
than minimal risk and approved it.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
Currently, DOL is soliciting comments
concerning the Department’s intent to
carry out the random assignment study
described above: for the limited
enrollment period, applicants for
YouthBuild services and training would
be required to consent to participate in
the study, where they would be
randomly assigned to one of the two
research groups. Applicants who do not
consent to participate would be
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Frm 00068
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
ineligible to receive YouthBuild services
and training. This requirement would
apply only to applicants in the limited
number of YouthBuild program sites
selected to participate in this
evaluation.
The Department seeks comments
focused on whether there is a
methodology that would yield as
credible and reliable an evaluation of
the YouthBuild program as random
assignment, but avoids adverse affect on
the study participants. The Department
also welcomes comments that suggest
ways to more effectively minimize any
adverse impact on the study
participants who participate in the
study described above.
III. Current Actions
Following receipt of comments in
response to this request, ETA will
adjust, as appropriate, the approach for
temporarily requiring applicants for
YouthBuild services and training at
select DOL-funded and CNCS-funded
sites to participate in random
assignment. Comments submitted in
response to this request will also
become a matter of public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 12th day of
August, 2011.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and
Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011–20971 Filed 8–16–11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510–FN–P
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Mine Safety and Health Administration
Petitions for Modification of
Application of Existing Mandatory
Safety Standards
Mine Safety and Health
Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
Section 101(c) of the Federal
Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 and
30 CFR part 44 govern the application,
processing, and disposition of petitions
for modification. This notice is a
summary of petitions for modification
submitted to the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) by the parties
listed below to modify the application
of existing mandatory safety standards
codified in Title 30 of the Code of
Federal Regulations.
DATES: All comments on the petitions
must be received by the Office of
Standards, Regulations and Variances
on or before September 16, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit your
comments, identified by ‘‘docket
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\17AUN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 17, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51056-51058]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-20971]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employment and Training Administration
Notice of Random Assignment Study To Evaluate the YouthBuild
Program; Request for Comment
AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Department of Labor (DOL or the Department) is prepared to
[[Page 51057]]
conduct an evaluation to provide rigorous estimates of the net impacts
of services and training provided by YouthBuild program sites funded by
the Department and by the Corporation for National and Community
Service (CNCS or the Corporation). The Department has determined that
it is in the public interest to use a random assignment impact
methodology for the study. In the DOL-funded and CNCS-funded sites
randomly selected to participate in this evaluation, all applicants for
services and training under the YouthBuild program during a 12-18 month
enrollment period will be required to participate in the study in order
to be considered for services or training. Due to the random assignment
methodology of the study, some eligible applicants will be enrolled in
the study but will not be able to enroll in the YouthBuild program for
24 months after their enrollment in the study. At that time, those
youth randomly assigned to the control group can re-apply to the
YouthBuild program. The Department is soliciting comments concerning
the Department's plan to carry out the study.
DATES: Written comments on the plan to require consent to participate
in the study during the designated YouthBuild sites' study enrollment
periods must be received by the office listed in the addresses section
below on or before August 31, 2011.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any one of the following methods:
Mail or Hand Delivery/Courier: Please submit all written
comments (including disk and CD-ROM submissions) to Eileen Pederson,
U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration,
Office of Policy Development and Research, 200 Constitution Avenue,
NW., Frances Perkins Bldg., Room N-5641, Washington, DC 20210.
Commenters are advised that mail delivery in the Washington area may be
delayed due to security concerns. Hand-delivered comments will be
received at the above address. All overnight mail will be considered to
be hand-delivered and must be received at the designated place by the
date specified above.
Facsimile: Please send comments to Eileen Pederson's
attention, at fax number (202) 693-2766.
E-mail: Please send comments to pederson.eileen@dol.gov.
Please submit your comments by only one method. The Department will
not review comments received by means other than those listed above or
that are received after the comment period has closed.
Comments: All comments on this notice will be retained by the
Department and released upon request via email to any member of the
public. The Department also will make all the comments it received
available for public inspection by appointment during normal business
hours at the above address. If you need assistance to review the
comments, the Department will provide you with appropriate aids such as
readers or print magnifiers. The Department will make copies of this
notice available, upon request, in large print, Braille and electronic
file on computer disk. The Department will consider providing the
notice in other formats upon request. To schedule an appointment to
review the comments and/or obtain the notice in an alternative format,
contact the Office of Policy Development and Research at (202) 693-3700
(this is not a toll-free number). You may also contact this office at
the address listed above.
The Department will retain all comments received without making any
changes to the comments, including any personal information provided.
If requested, the comments will be released to the public. The
Department cautions commenters not to include their personal
information such as Social Security Numbers, personal addresses,
telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses in their comments as such
submitted information will be released with the comment if the comments
are requested. It is the commenter's responsibility to safeguard his or
her information. If the comment is submitted by e-mail, the e-mail
addresses of the commenter will not be released.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eileen Pederson, U.S. Department of
Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy
Development and Research, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N-5641,
Washington, DC 20210. Telephone number: (202) 693-3647 (this is not a
toll-free number). Individuals with hearing or speech impairments may
access the telephone number above via TTY by calling the toll-free
Federal Information Relay Service at 1-877-889-5627 (TTY/TDD).
I. Background
YouthBuild is a youth and community development program that
addresses several core issues facing low-income communities: youth
education, employment, homelessness and affordable housing. The program
primarily serves high school dropouts and focuses on helping them
attain a high school diploma or general educational development (GED)
certificate and teaching them construction skills and other
occupational skills geared toward career or post-secondary education
placement. YouthBuild seeks to incorporate widely-recognized youth
development principles while training youth to give back to their
communities by expanding the supply of affordable housing, albeit on a
small scale.
YouthBuild programs are operated by a diverse group of
organizations, including community-based organizations, faith-based
organizations, local government agencies, and educational institutions.
These programs vary widely in how they fund services and the emphasis
they place on various components of the program. Nearly 50 of the
programs nationwide receive funding from the Corporation for National
and Community Service (CNCS or the Corporation). These sites may place
more emphasis on community service components of the program. Services
and training provided by YouthBuild programs include educational
activities, occupational/vocational training, personal development,
leadership training, community service and a wide range of related,
supportive services. Additional services also include staff
assessments, counseling, and job placement assistance following
completion of the program.
The recent recession, high unemployment rate and limited Federal
resources serve as a reminder of the importance of ensuring that
services and training provided to those who are just entering the
workforce will enable them to succeed and that the programs which
provide those services and training are as effective as possible. In
order to improve the management and effectiveness of Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) services and related activities, including
YouthBuild programs, section 172 of the WIA requires the Department to
continually evaluate WIA-funded programs and activities. These
evaluations must ``utilize appropriate methodology and research
designs, including the use of control groups chosen by scientific
random assignment methodologies.'' Congress, the Office of Management
and Budget, and the Government Accountability Office have called on DOL
to conduct rigorous evaluations in order to learn if WIA-funded
services and training, including those specifically for youth, are as
effective as they can be. Accordingly, ETA is conducting a multisite
control group evaluation to provide rigorous estimates
[[Page 51058]]
of the net impact of services provided by YouthBuild programs funded by
the Department and the Corporation. This evaluation will offer
policymakers, program administrators, service providers, future
applicants, and the public information about the relative effectiveness
of YouthBuild programs, how the effectiveness varies by target
population, and how the services are implemented. The study will also
produce estimates of the benefits and costs of these services. Compared
to peers who remain in school, high school dropouts are more likely to
be disconnected from school and work, be incarcerated, be unmarried,
and have children outside of marriage. Thus, the evaluation represents
an important opportunity to add to the growing body of knowledge about
the impacts of ``second chance'' programs for youth who have dropped
out of high school.
The complete experimental design impact evaluation of the
YouthBuild program will take seven years, including a follow-up period
that extends for four years after the last applicant is enrolled in the
study and additional time for analyzing and reporting the results. The
evaluation is funded by both the Department and the Corporation. It
will measure core program outcomes including educational attainment,
postsecondary planning, employment, earnings, personal development,
delinquency and involvement with the criminal justice system. Random
assignment will be conducted in approximately 60 randomly-selected DOL-
funded sites and 17 randomly-selected CNCS-funded sites. Youth in those
sites who are eligible for YouthBuild services will be randomly
assigned to one of two groups: the program group, which can receive all
YouthBuild services, and the control group, which cannot receive
YouthBuild services for a 24 months after enrollment but can receive
services from other organizations in their communities. In the
participating YouthBuild sites, all eligible applicants for YouthBuild
services will be asked to participate in the study during the 12-18
month study enrollment period. They will be informed of the evaluation,
provided an opportunity to ask questions or seek clarification of their
role and responsibilities should they agree to participate, and then
asked to give their consent to participate. Applicants who do not
consent to participate in the study will not be allowed to enroll in
YouthBuild or receive services or training funded by the YouthBuild
program. As will be the case for those in the control group, those who
do not consent to participate in the study can receive training
services from other organizations in their communities. The Department
expects a total of about 4,600 YouthBuild program applicants to be
randomly assigned to one of the two groups under the evaluation.
The Department has determined that it is in the public interest to
use a random assignment impact methodology because random assignment is
generally viewed as the best and most feasible design for credibly and
reliably answering questions about the effectiveness of social programs
and policy interventions. More than any other approach, random
assignment minimizes the chance that any observed differences in
outcomes between research groups are due to unmeasured, preexisting
differences between members of the groups. When implemented carefully,
random assignment creates groups that are almost identical in their
characteristics before the intervention, differing only in whether they
are exposed to the intervention. As a result, differences in average
outcomes between the groups can be causally attributed to the
intervention.
The Department recognizes that this design will assign some
applicants to the control group, which will not have access to
YouthBuild services. However, those who are assigned to the control
group will be eligible for other services in their communities and also
eligible to reapply for YouthBuild services 24 months after enrollment
into the study.
To protect the rights and welfare of YouthBuild applicants who
agree to participate in the evaluation, the evaluation team, lead by
researchers from MDRC submitted the YouthBuild evaluation design to
MDRC's Institutional Review Board (IRB) for concurrence. An IRB is a
committee specifically responsible for protecting the rights and
welfare of humans involved in biomedical and behavioral research. On
May 3, 2011, MDRC's IRB determined this study to be of no more than
minimal risk and approved it.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
Currently, DOL is soliciting comments concerning the Department's
intent to carry out the random assignment study described above: for
the limited enrollment period, applicants for YouthBuild services and
training would be required to consent to participate in the study,
where they would be randomly assigned to one of the two research
groups. Applicants who do not consent to participate would be
ineligible to receive YouthBuild services and training. This
requirement would apply only to applicants in the limited number of
YouthBuild program sites selected to participate in this evaluation.
The Department seeks comments focused on whether there is a
methodology that would yield as credible and reliable an evaluation of
the YouthBuild program as random assignment, but avoids adverse affect
on the study participants. The Department also welcomes comments that
suggest ways to more effectively minimize any adverse impact on the
study participants who participate in the study described above.
III. Current Actions
Following receipt of comments in response to this request, ETA will
adjust, as appropriate, the approach for temporarily requiring
applicants for YouthBuild services and training at select DOL-funded
and CNCS-funded sites to participate in random assignment. Comments
submitted in response to this request will also become a matter of
public record.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 12th day of August, 2011.
Jane Oates,
Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-20971 Filed 8-16-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-FN-P
