| A third program related to poverty, and to the alleviation of welfare receipt in particular, is the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS). As part of the Family Support Act of 1988, JOBS was designed to provide either job training and education or the quick acquisition of a job for those receiving welfare. JOBS was replaced by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) in 1996, shifting the emphasis from job training to job placement (Brooks-Gunn, Britto, & Brady, 1999). However, an evaluation of JOBS provides valuable lessons on the efficacy of parental education and job training in alleviating poverty and altering child development.
The Child Outcomes Study involved over 3,000 families in three cities (Atlanta, GA, Grand Rapids, MI, and Riverside, CA). Mothers of preschool-age children were randomly assigned to one of three programs between 1991 and 1994. The first was a JOBS program that emphasized the rapid acquisition of employment; the second was a JOBS program that emphasized longer-term training and education; and the third was the traditional AFDC (control group). Two years later, child outcomes were assessed, including cognitive development, academic achievement, behavior, emotional development, health and safety. Assessments consisted of cognitive testing of the children and mother reports (Zaslow, McGroder, & Moore, 2000).
Participation in JOBS had few and small impacts on child development but the pattern of impacts is important when considering school readiness. The effects on behavioral and emotional development were mixed, but, in general, the effects on cognitive development and academic achievement were positive. The job training and education program in particular produced some favorable impacts on cognitive school readiness tests (Zaslow, McGroder, & Moore, 2000). Thus, it can be surmised that maternal participation in job training and education classes can positively influence poor children’s school readiness (at least in the cognitive domain), though effects were small.
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