Basic Education Found to Be Job Path for Poor : Welfare: Report says that single-parent mothers who first try to earn high school diplomas before getting work skills may not have an advantage.

Low-income, single-parent mothers who receive basic education as a component of job training programs are more likely to find employment and earn higher wages than those who first try to earn a high school diploma, according to the findings of a Rockefeller Foundation report released Wednesday.

The report found that a San Jose job-training program that incorporated classroom study into technical skills courses “had large positive impacts on employment and earnings by the end of the first year.” By contrast, women in training programs in three other cities, where remedial education preceded job training, “did not achieve similar early gains.”

Women in the San Jose program experienced a 27% increase in employment and a 47% increase in earnings, compared to a control group that received no training. By contrast, programs studied in Atlanta; Providence, R.I., and Washington, D.C., resulted in virtually no gains for the women who participated.

The study should prompt state officials to consider alternatives to the traditional school-first, work-training programs as they comply with federal job-training programs, said senior researcher John Burghardt.

“We’re not saying that improving basic education skills or getting people a (high school diploma) is a bad thing,” he said. “But there should be a wider array of options. People should think about other ways of doing this.”

The Family Support Act of 1988, which replaces the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, requires states to begin implementing new programs in October that will shift low-income mothers from welfare dependency to self-sufficiency.

A key provision of the law requires single, welfare recipients with children under 3--and as young as 1 in some states--to further their educations or accept job training to qualify for continued government support. Despite complaints from critics of the law, who contend that such programs do little to help keep single mothers off the public dole, states are drawing up a variety of remedial education and job-training programs.

“We want them to know that they can do something (to help welfare mothers), but it’s more important how you do it,” said project director Phoebe Cottingham in an interview.

The study tracked a random sample of 4,000 poor women in job-training programs run by private community groups. The Rockefeller Foundation provided $12 million for the demonstration and study. Mathematica Policy Research Inc., a social policy evaluation firm, analyzed the results of the various programs after the first group of mothers had completed 12 months of work experience.

In Atlanta, Providence and Washington, the organizations followed the traditional approach of testing applicants and then providing a typical classroom education to qualify them for the equivalent of a high school degree. Those who obtained graduate equivalent degrees then were offered specific job training skills.

Burghardt of Mathematica said that further study is required to determine exactly which types of job-training programs work best.