Evaluation Design Options for Programs to Improve Employment Outcomes for Young Adults on the Autism Spectrum

This report presents evaluation design options for future evidence-building activities around four programs that aim to improve employment outcomes for young adults on the autism spectrum. The evaluation design options in this report build on literature reviews and listening sessions the project team conducted in the knowledge development phase of the REYAAS project. Given the dearth of rigorous evidence on promising programs that have improved employment outcomes of young adults with autism, and the challenges to scaling them, this report offers evaluation design options for two types of programs. One program type has promising rigorous evidence on employment-related outcomes for autistic young adults or youth with intellectual or developmental disabilities more broadly. Another type draws on the success of large, already-scaled programs that have shown promise in improving employment-related outcomes for other groups of youth and young adults. 

For each evaluation design option, we summarize the relevant program and existing evidence on its impact on employment outcomes; the intended intervention; an evaluation design to address the research questions above; likely partners and recruiting pipeline, existing data sources available for the evaluation; and practical considerations including timeline, cost drivers, geographic considerations, and external validity. Although we propose a specific setting for each evaluation and offer a high-level description of intervention components, the details of the intervention design are beyond the scope of this report.