To invite state staff participation in two RJM training webinar sessions scheduled to be held November 14 – 15, 2007, and December 5-6, 2007.

To inform the workforce investment system of the launch of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS), an initiative that will provide learning and funding opportunities relevant to the workforce investment system. This initiative is funded by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Hitachi, and Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundations in collaboration with the United States Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

To announce the release and the availability of ETA Occasional Paper 2007-15: Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services: Evaluation of State Worker Profiling Models.

To inform local One-Stop Career Centers about the Employment and Training Administration’s (ETA) partnership with the National PTA to implement the PTA Goes to Work Campaign.

To announce the release and availability of the ETA National Agricultural Workers Survey Public Access Data for Fiscal Years 1989-2006.

To remind the workforce investment system of the performance reporting deadlines and associated timelines for submitting data validation results for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) title IB programs; the Wagner-Peyser Employment Service; activities authorized under chapter 41 of title 38 United States Code (Local Veterans’ Employment Representative and Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program); the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program; and the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP).

The purpose of this Training and Employment Notice (TEN) is to provide information on the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) proposed Ticket to Work Program regulations.

This guidance notice is intended to encourage the effective use of assessment instruments within the workforce investment system to promote efficient investment in talent development that will drive regional economic competitiveness; provide guidance to the workforce investment system and its partners on effective use of assessment instruments; and release and transmit a new technical assistance resource, Testing and Assessment: A Guide to Good Practices for Workforce Investment Professionals (the Guide). This is the third in a series of Testing and Assessment Guides (see Section 2. References), which was initiated based on requests from workforce investment officials. This guidance notice and the attached new technical assistance guide are designed to support the workforce investment system in promoting talent development by ensuring that individuals served are able to make well-informed education and career choices.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is pleased to announce the commencement of a non-experimental net impact evaluation of the formula programs established under title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). ETA has contracted with IMPAQ International, LLC (IMPAQ), of Columbia, Maryland to conduct the evaluation. The evaluation will focus on the Adult and Dislocated Worker formula programs. This evaluation will utilize a rigorous, non-experimental design to assess the impact of core and intensive services, and the incremental impact of WIA training on participant outcomes. As such, the evaluation will compare outcomes of WIA participants to the outcomes of similar individuals drawn from a comparison group. This 12-month project will utilize existing and newly-acquired administrative data from a representative sample of states. Throughout the life of the research effort, state workforce agencies, partners, and stakeholders will receive continuing updates on the study’s progress.

To share the Department of Labor’s vision for the public workforce system’s role in developing the talent needed for high growth industries requiring science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.