VETS Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot
The mission of the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) is to prepare America's veterans, service members, and military spouses for meaningful careers. The VETS Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot (ENPP) program provides one-on-one assistance to transitioning service members and their spouses to help them secure meaningful and lasting careers after separating from the military.
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Chief Evaluation Office and VETS partnered to fund an evaluation of ENPP to better understand and build evidence on the use of VETS Employment Navigators for improving outcomes for transitioning service members and military spouses.
The key components of the evaluation project include:
- A rigorous implementation and outcomes evaluation of the ENPP;
- An evaluability assessment on the feasibility of an impact evaluation for ENPP; and
- Collaboration with other DOL workforce navigator evaluations to synthesize findings on cross-cutting topic areas, such as access to services.
AIR's Evaluability Assessment
AIR, as a subcontractor to Westat, supported the ENPP evaluation by conducting the evaluability assessment. To determine the feasibility of an impact evaluation, the AIR team:
- Used the findings from the implementation and outcomes study (as available);
- Solicited input from both the Chief Evaluation Office and a technical working group; and
- Collected data from formative evaluation reports and administrative data.
AIR summarized the assessment findings in an evaluability assessment report, a research options memo, and a briefing to inform the design of a potential impact evaluation.