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Five-Year Research Plan

The purpose of the Five-Year Research and Evaluation Strategic Plan for 2012-2017 (Research Plan) is to provide assistance to ETA in identifying high priority topic areas when planning research and evaluation over the next five years. Under Section 171 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), after consultation with States, localities, and other interested parties, the Secretary of Labor is to prepare a plan that describes demonstration and pilot, multi-service, research, and multistate projects that focus on employment and training priorities for the five-year period following the plan. The plan is to contain strategies to address national employment and training problems and take into account factors such as the availability of existing research; the need to ensure results that have interstate validity; the benefits of economies of scale and the efficiency of proposed projects; and the likelihood that the results of the projects will be useful to policymakers and stakeholders in addressing employment and training problems. While not required, but to better coordinate ETA's efforts, ETA has consistently included evaluations under Section 172 in the Research Plan.