There is no conflict of interest.
Highlights
- The study's objective was to examine the impact of career lattice sign-up emails on education and employment outcomes. This profile focuses on experiment 1. The authors investigated similar research questions for other contrasts, the profiles can be found here.
- Experiment 2: Professional Development Incentives for Oregon’s Early Childhood Education Workforce: A Randomized Study (REL 2021–111) (Pierson et al., 2021) | CLEAR
- Experiment 3: Professional Development Incentives for Oregon’s Early Childhood Education Workforce: A Randomized Study (REL 2021–111) (Pierson et al., 2021) | CLEAR
- The study was a randomized controlled trial that assigned early childhood education (ECE) workforce members to the treatment or control group. Using administrative data and statistical models, the authors compared the outcomes of the treatment and control group members.
- The study found no significant differences in career lattice sign-up or workplace retention between the treatment and control groups.
- This study receives a high evidence rating. This means we are confident that any estimated effects would be attributable to the career lattice sign-up emails, and not to other factors. However, the study did not find statistically significant effects.
Features of the Intervention
The career lattice in Oregon is a career pathway system designed to help early childhood education (ECE) workers set their educational goals and find paths to higher education and training. In 2018, the Oregon Center for Career Development in Childhood Care and Education (OCCD) aimed to motivate ECE workers to progress through the career lattice, increasing their education attainment and professional development. To achieve this, OCCD emailed ECE workers to encourage career lattice sign-up. Eligible email recipients included ECE workers that worked in licensed facilities, were registered in the Oregon Registry Online, and had not signed up for the career lattice as of July 2018. OCCD sent reminder emails every three months from October 2018 to July 2019 to remind recipients to register for the career lattice, including information on the benefits of the career lattice and the existing monetary incentives for career lattice movement.
Features of the Study
The study was a randomized controlled trial involving members of Oregon’s early childhood education (ECE) workforce. Of the 348 eligible ECE workforce members, 174 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 174 were randomly assigned to the control group. The treatment group received emails from OCCD, encouraging them to sign up for the career lattice. The control group did not receive any emails from OCCD regarding signing up for the career lattice but could sign up for the career lattice on OCCD's website if they chose.
The treatment group consisted mostly of women (94.4%), with an average age of 37.3 years. The racial composition included 65.3% White, 20.2% Latinx, and 14.5% non-Latinx people of color. Almost half of participants (49.3%) had an associate’s degree or higher. In terms of job roles, 44.1% were aides or assistant teachers, while 30.5% held positions as teachers or lead teachers. The average tenure in this group was 6.5 years. In the control group, 92.8% of participants were women, with an average age of 35 years. The racial composition included 62.8% White, 24.8% Latinx, and 12.4% non-Latinx people of color. Half of the participants had an associate’s degree or higher. Job roles included 48.4% as aides or assistant teachers and 33.9% as teachers or lead teachers. The average tenure in this group was 4.8 years.
The primary data source was the Oregon Registry Online, which provided administrative data on the ECE workforce. The study used OCCD administrative data from September 2018 to December 2019. This data included details about participants' demographics, work experience, workplaces, license status, credits earned, career lattice step, incentives received, and scholarship usage. The authors used statistical models to compare differences in outcomes between the treatment and control group members.
Findings
Education and skills gain
- The study found no significant differences between the treatment and control groups in career lattice sign-up.
Employment
- The study found no significant differences between the groups in workplace retention.
Considerations for Interpreting the Findings
The study reports a less stringent statistical significance level, considering p-values of less than 0.10 to be significant, though it is standard practice to consider statistical significance if the p-value is less than 0.05. Only results that demonstrate a p-value of less than 0.05 are considered statistically significant in this profile. Also, the study's follow-up period was shortened to one year from the planned 16 months because of a state policy change. This shorter duration might not have been enough to evaluate the effects of the sign-up emails on the outcomes.
Causal Evidence Rating
Additional Sources
Topic Area
Research Guidelines
Review Protocol: Living Systematic Annual Search and Review Protocol
Review Guidelines: Causal Evidence Guidelines