Minnesota

States are required to report annually on the SPR the percentage of title II participants who received services under two or more WIOA core programs.  A review of MDE’s SPRs for PYs 2017 through 2020 reflected a co-enrollment rate ranging from 2.23% to 18.83%.  These rates were in the top 10 percent nationally each year; however, discussions with MDE staff revealed that the co-enrollment rates were collected in conjunction with the employment in the second quarter after exit (Q2E) unemployment insurance (UI) data match.  The Q2E cohort is based on participants who exited from the program during the previous program year rather than the most recent program year.  This means the co-enrollment values reported by MDE are representing a different program year than what is intended.  MDE must develop procedures to collect co-enrollment information from the participants, or data match with other WIOA core programs, in time to produce accurate co-enrollment information for annual reporting which are representative of the current program year. 

WIOA defines an individual with a barrier to employment as a member of one or more of 11 specified populations.  WIOA information collection procedures specify that information on barriers to employment be collected at the time of program intake.  After reviewing MDE’s Management Information System (MIS) and intake forms, the federal team observed that the State did not capture the entry status of participants for three of the required barriers to employment data elements:  Low Levels of Literacy, English Language Learners, and Cultural Barriers.  MDE removed the collection of these barriers to employment from their intake forms and reported all participants as having these barriers within the MIS.  MDE must implement data collection processes that capture all required barriers to employment elements individually at the time of program intake.