Design and Analysis of Experiments
Lexie Maister, MPH
Senior Associate, Evidence Generation
Blueprint, Ontario, Canada
Lauren Kupcho, MSSP
Associate, Evidence Generation
Blueprint, Ontario, Canada
Location: Room 208
Programs that employ a dual-client model are those that view both learners and employers as clients. At Blueprint we help practitioners and policy makers generate and mobilize evidence to help solve complex social challenges. When evaluating dual client programs, evidence generation partners like Blueprint must similarly take a dual-client approach in how they gather evidence and share findings to tell a broader story of industry impact by merging employer and leaner perspectives. One program we are partnered with, the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst’s (RCC) Accelerated Cybersecurity Training Program (ACTP), utilizes the dual client model to address the diverse needs within the labor market, leading to better outcomes for learners, employers, and the broader Canadian cybersecurity sector. Using ACTP as a case study, we will discuss how and why generating evidence on dual-client programs must balance both employer and learner perspectives in the evaluation approach, and how the different perspectives can be brought together to tell a story that clearly articulates a program’s impact and growing role in the sector. With the ACTP, this allows us to look beyond direct program outcomes for learners and employers related to beginning new careers and addressing talent gaps, and understand how the program may also be influencing sector-wide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and building more pathways into cybersecurity for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), women and newcomers to Canada, who continue to be underrepresented within the sector.
This discussion will outline the value of balancing the stories of both employers and learners of a sector-based employment program. This value can be seen in terms of sector transformation, generating rigorous evidence with rich perspectives, and dignifying those perspectives with integrated storytelling. Balancing learner and employer stories is also key for propelling and sustaining diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the sector. Using the Accelerated Rogers Cybersecurity Catalyst (ACTP) as a case study, we will start with a discussion about the dual-client model, and unpack how this can be effective for addressing sector-wide needs and supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We will then share about how our data collection methods and results honored the duality of stories as well. Lastly, we will reflect on the process of bringing together years’ worth of learner and employer data to tell a coherent evaluation story about the ACTP and its impact on the Canadian cybersecurity sector.
Session attendees can expect to learn and explore: