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Policy Framework
In April 2005, approximately 776,000 youth with disabilities ages 14 to 25 were receiving federal Supplemental Security Benefits, and the expected lifetime stay on the disability rolls for those who began receiving SSI under age 18 was a total of 27 years. Programs that can help youth make a successful transition from school to work, and to economic self-sufficiency, hold great promise — for youth with disabilities and for the federal government, which stands to reap significant savings in the long-term costs of benefits.
Recognizing the importance of service intervention at this critical juncture in youths’ lives, the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) initiated the Youth Transition Demonstration (YTD) evaluation. SSA is providing the funding to develop and rigorously evaluate promising strategies to help youth with disabilities become as economically self-sufficient as possible as they transition from school to work. SSA has contracted with Mathematica Policy Research (MPR), Inc., to develop and evaluate the YTD projects. MPR has assembled a team for the evaluation that includes MDRC, disability program experts from TransCen, Inc., and academic specialists.
Hallmark features of the YTD evaluation include (1) strong, policy-relevant demonstration projects that serve relatively large numbers of youth with disabilities compared to other programs; and (2) a rigorous evaluation design based on random assignment. By waiving certain federal disability program rules and offering enhanced services to youth with disabilities, the YTD projects are expected to encourage young people to work or continue their education.
Agenda, Scope, and Goals
The YTD evaluation will produce empirical evidence of the impact of services and waivers of disability program rules on educational attainment, employment, earnings, and receipt of disability benefits for youth with disabilities. It will also measure the consequent impact on the Social Security trust fund and federal income tax revenues. MPR is the prime contractor for the demonstration; MDRC is the lead subcontractor, responsible for site selection, evaluation-related technical assistance, and implementation research.
The evaluation’s reports will be used to inform policymakers and program operators about how to develop and implement interventions to help youth with disabilities increase their economic self-sufficiency as they make the transition from school to work.
Design, Sites, and Data Sources
In September 2003, SSA funded YTD projects in seven sites: two in New York and one each in California, Colorado, Iowa, Maryland, and Mississippi. As interest in a national impact study grew, it was determined that three of these original sites (the two New York projects as well as the Colorado project) would be able to participate in a random assignment impact study. A separate selection process identified three additional random assignment sites (in Florida, Maryland, and West Virginia); these six projects are currently participating in the national impact study. The projects vary in the types of youth served and the services provided, but most partner with several local organizations and offer counseling, service coordination, and family support.
The evaluation will use analytic methods based on random assignment of youth to a treatment group, which will receive enhanced YTD project services and SSA waivers, or a control group, which will receive only those services that would have been available in the absence of the project. The evaluation will collect administrative and survey data on treatment and control group members at the time of random assignment and periodically for four years thereafter, study the implementation of the projects and their impacts on youth with disabilities, and analyze the benefits and costs.
What's Next
The evaluation, which began in October 2005, will be conducted over nine years, until September 2014. Schedules for individual sites vary, but random assignment will conclude by the end of 2008 for the three original sites and by the end of 2010 for the three new sites. Interim reports on the individual sites will be published between 2009 and 2012, depending on the site, and a final report on all sites is expected in August 2014. A profile report on the sites and their specific programs will be released in late 2008.
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