Results for Development Institute (R4D) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to unlock solutions to tough development challenges that prevent people in low- and middle-income countries. After a successful career in business development, commissioned sales, training, and coaching, I created Results 4 Business to bring my expertise in these fields to help business leaders and their employees to get the results they want. The field of development economics has evolved since volume 3 of the Handbook of Development Economics was published more than a decade ago. Volume 4 takes stock of some of the newer trends and their implications for research in the field and our understanding of economic development. Results for America will improve outcomes for young people, their families, and communities by shifting public resources toward programs and practices that use evidence and data to improve quality and get better results. Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials.

Workforce development strategies provide individuals with the skills and preparation they need to obtain higher quality employment. These strategies can improve high school graduation rates, boost post-secondary enrollment and graduation, and create pathways to good, stable jobs. For parents, high-quality employment strengthens stability at home, leading to better economic, social, and health outcomes for their children.

Why are these outcomes important?

Strong and healthy families: A safe and stable home environment creates the foundation for all mobility outcomes. Children who grow up in families with sufficient financial resources, stable housing arrangements, and good physical and mental health are more likely to experience positive economic mobility outcomes at every stage of their lives.

High school graduation: High school graduates are more likely to be employed, earn higher wages, experience better health outcomes, and less likely to be incarcerated. High school graduation is also generally a prerequisite for post-secondary education and high quality employment

Post-secondary education: Graduates of post-secondary education or training programs are more likely to attain high quality employment, earn higher wages, experience better health outcomes, maintain stable homes, and less likely to be incarcerated.

High-quality employment: A stable job with good pay and benefits is the ultimate marker of upward economic mobility. Children of parents with high-quality jobs are more likely to grow up in a safe, stable environment, leading to better academic and social outcomes throughout their lives.

Which outcome are you hoping to focus on?

Results 4 Development Skills

The next reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provides an opportunity for federal policymakers to harness the power of evidence and data to significantly improve workforce outcomes for our nation’s youth, adult, and dislocated workers.

Results for America’s new report – Moneyball for Workforce Development – highlights a series of policy recommendations to help federal policymakers ensure that federal workforce funds promote innovation, continuous improvement, and the scaling of proven workforce solutions.

More specifically, the report recommends:

Multidimensional Developmental Theory

• Defining and prioritizing evidence of effectiveness in WIOA grant programs;
• Setting aside 1% of WIOA funds for program evaluations;
• Creating a new Workforce Innovation Fund; and
• Highlighting how state and local government workforce agencies are already building and using evidence to improve workforce outcomes.

Results For Development Jobs

These recommendations, if implemented, could enable the reauthorization of WIOA to catalyze a truly evidence-driven public workforce system.

Results 4 Developmental

Moderated by Results for America’s Vice President of Workforce Development, Celeste Richie, this conversation with Frieda Molina, Deputy Director for the Low-Wage Workers and Communities Policy Area at MDRC, and Allison Jones, Deputy Secretary of Policy and Planning in the Office of Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf explores the promising evaluation findings from the WorkAdvance study and the impressive strides that the state of Pennsylvania is making in building a more evidence-based and equitable public workforce system. Both of these initiatives are featured in RFA’s Moneyball for Workforce Development report which highlights 8 policy recommendations to help federal policymakers ensure that federal workforce funds promote innovation, continuous improvement, and the scaling of proven workforce solutions.