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The DOL Chief Evaluation Office commissioned the Urban Institute and partners Mathematica and Capital Research Corporation to conduct an evaluation of the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap grant program implementation. The implementation study includes 48 grantees: 23 Scaling Apprenticeship and 25 Closing the Skills Gap grantees. The implementation study reports the types of components, models, partnerships, and strategies grantees implemented, how they implemented them, and what grantees and their partners report as promising for reaching the goals of the grant programs. 

This report presents findings from the implementation study of the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap grant programs. It provides an overview of the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap grant programs; describes the evaluation design; summarizes grantee and participant characteristics; discusses apprenticeship program characteristics; describes grantee strategies for recruiting apprentices and helping them persist; and summarizes approaches to employer engagement. 

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Key Takeaways

• Institution of higher education (IHE) grantees leveraged their position in the postsecondary education sector to recruit from their student populations and provide classroom instruction (related technical instruction, or RTI) on-site before connecting apprentices with employers.
• Grantees created and expanded apprenticeship programs in nontraditional occupations, with information technology (IT) the most common industry.
• More grantees supported registered apprenticeship programs than unregistered programs, but the two program types shared many characteristics employers described as important.
• Although most apprentices were men, a larger share of apprentices in these two grant programs were women, Black, or Asian compared with registered apprentices nationally.
• Apprentice retention strategies included targeting participants with the skills to succeed and providing robust supports.
• Collectively, grantees engaged 8,343 employers to participate in apprenticeships, using similar strategies for recruitment regardless of occupational sector. Grantees that used incentives reported they were helpful in recruiting employers.

Citation

Gardiner, Karen, Daniel Kuehn, Pamela Loprest, Stephanie Petrov. 2025. The Implementation of Registered and Unregistered Apprenticeship: Evidence from the Scaling Apprenticeship and Closing the Skills Gap Grants. Research report prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor, Chief Evaluation Office. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.