Building America's Skilled Technical Workforce (2017) / Chapter Skim
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6 Key Lessons for Programs and Policies
6 Key Lessons for Programs and Policies
Pages 123-160
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From page 123... ...
Section 6.2 considers strategies for better linking secondary and postsecondary education and training, including early college schools, career academies, and dual-enrollment programs. Section 6.3 examines the links between postsecondary educational organizations and employers; the discussion encompasses strategic centers of excellence at community and technical colleges and sector-specific training programs.
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From page 124... ...
This section reviews the evidence on the effectiveness of policy measures aimed at encouraging enrollment in skilled technical education and training and improving completion rates. These policy measures include those focused on improved counseling services, financing strategies, wraparound services, improved remediation, improved outcomes for adult learners, leveraging of online learning, and improved incentives for completion at the community college level.
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. Inadequate occupational guidance potentially increases the costs of education and training, creates imbalances in labor markets, and reduces returns on investment in skilled technical workforce development.
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. If the challenges of skilled technical workforce development are to be addressed effectively, this perception must be changed so that programs to provide job skills and training are no longer viewed as a substitute for college but as a robust way to contextualize academic learning.
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For example, Oregon's Career Pathways Statewide Initiative braids Perkins Act, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Workforce Investment Act (WIA) , and state general funds to finance career pathways programs in the postsecondary education system.
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. at CUNY, discussed earlier, suggests that focusing on wraparound services can improve returns on investment in skilled technical education and training.
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For example, many community colleges require students to pass Algebra I before taking for-credit classes even in fields in which this mathematics track is not required.
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Integrating Remediation Schools can do a better job of assessing student readiness for postsecondary education and training and of designing more appropriate and cost-effective prerequisite requirements. Moreover, several studies indicate that it is possible to integrate academic preparation for postsecondary education and training with technical training to motivate students and to hasten readiness for skilled technical occupations (see, e.g., Hoffman and Reindl, 2011; Howington et al., 2015; Wachen et al., 2012)
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As discussed in Chapter 4, a significant portion of community college students are aged 30 and older. Career pathways, described below, focus on these adult learners.
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Career pathways are typically targeted to meet the demands of local labor markets. The programs and resources of local community colleges, workforce development agencies, and social service providers are integrated to create structured sequences of education, training, and on-the-job learning in strategically important occupational areas (Alssid et al., 2002)
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, for example, offers 13 online programs in accelerated formats for adult learners. Operated jointly by the Louisiana Board of Regents and the Southern Regional Education Board, CALL specifically targets adults and is provided exclusively online to accommodate the schedules of working students.
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. 6.1.7 Improved Incentives for Completion at the Community College Level Some states are already strengthening incentives for community colleges to respond to the skills needed in the labor market and to improve completion BOX 6-2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
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Strategies for reforming postsecondary education and training include creating flexible and integrated learning environments, particularly in community colleges and technical schools, and reassessing the readiness of students for postsecondary education and training and prerequisite requirements and programs. In his paper commissioned for this study, Stern (2015)
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From page 136... ...
Clear linkages between secondary and postsecondary institutions can help students transition from secondary to postsecondary education and later, from education to employment. These linkages can improve student preparedness, reduce the costs of education and training, help students learn about college programs and processes, build critical social networks and supports, and improve returns on investments (Karp, 2015b)
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IBM expects that more than 100 schools with 100,000 students will be operational in 2016. 12 The committee's definition of early college programs embraces both 2- and 4-year postsecondary educational programs, which include "middle college" programs.
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Public school districts provide the ongoing operating budget for each early college school as they do for traditional high schools. The Pathways to Prosperity program is another example of an initiative that links high school CTE with postsecondary education and training.
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. Other models for career academies include the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)
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points out that when properly leveraged, these programs can help the United States achieve its postsecondary education goals by strategically linking high schools and colleges, stimulating educators to rethink how education is structured and delivered, and forcing operational change at the organizational level. 6.3 LINKING TRAINING AND WORK Many employers are seeking to partner more closely with community or technical colleges.
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Examples of these programs include strategic centers of excellence at community and technical colleges and sector-specific training programs involving partnerships between training providers, often community colleges, and employers and trade associations in a single industry. BOX 6-6 Community and Technical College–Employer Partnerships Community and technical college–employer partnerships take a variety of forms: • corporate partnerships with multiple colleges; • college–employer partnerships facilitated by a regional workforce intermediary; • sectoral partnerships across multiple colleges and employees; • individual college–employer partnerships with deep employer engagement; • career pathways partnerships that may also involve high schools; and • partnerships facilitated by other intermediaries, including community based organizations and vocational rehabilitation.
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19 These industries include aerospace and advanced manufacturing, agriculture, allied health, education, construction, clean energy, global trade, homeland security, information technology, and marine manufacturing. For more information, see Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges' (2017)
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. Local, state, and federal government agencies that function as champions and conveners of sector-based partnerships can play a constructive role in facilitating skilled technical workforce development.
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found that 2 years after the sector-focused training programs they examined (Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, JVS-Boston, and Per Scholas) ended, workers were earning about $4,500 more than those who did not participate in the sector-specific training (Maguire et al., 2010)
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Department of Labor has funded several initiatives that are consistent with sector strategy principles, including the Sectoral Demonstration Project; the High Growth Training Initiative; the Community Based Job Training Initiative; WIRED; and several American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants, such as State Energy Sector Partnerships, Energy Training Partnerships, Pathways out of Poverty, and other High Growth and Emerging Industry grants. And under WIOA, local workforce boards are required to use industry sector strategies to carry out training strategies.
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In many cases, this employer-sponsored training includes coursework at community colleges. American labor unions also have in many instances encouraged their members to support workplace education and training programs as a way to improve workers' employment security and help them adjust to changing workplace conditions.
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time-based workplace training to integrate dual-learning principles whereby academic courses are linked to workplace training and standardized competency-based certifications. Many newer forms of apprenticeship in the United States include coursework at a local community college, which leads to an associate's degree.
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commissioned for this study, Box 6-9 lists some key lessons that can be learned from the experience of foreign apprenticeship programs. Further comparative studies, based on a robust methodology, would increase understanding of apprenticeships, the contexts within which they are effective, and the current barriers to their expansion.
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• Make apprentices "employees." The workplace, not the school, should be considered the center of the apprentice's experience. Community colleges and other educational organizations serve to complement this relationship with academic instruction.
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It is one of the largest sectoral training programs in the country, working with more than 300 firms, including small and medium-sized employers, training 1,700 workers in machining, electronics, plastics, and related sectors in 2012 alone. The WRTP has developed successful models for implementing new technologies and work processes and educating and training a diverse skilled technical workforce.
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BOX 6-11 The Bison Gear Example Demonstrating that a company does not have to be large to engage in skilled technical workforce development, the Bison Gear & Engineering Corporation in St. Charles, Illinois, makes education an essential part of its work culture.
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Chamber of Commerce Foundation promotes the use of supply chain management principles to create "talent pipelines." This approach involves linking workforce development requirements to business strategy, as well as reconceptualizing and reorganizing workforce development to nurture and sustain talent, enabling it to evolve to meet business needs over time. Seeking to address the challenges of skilled technical workforce development, some employers have signed up to participate in the Skills for America's Future program, a federal initiative designed to foster partnerships between employers and community colleges.
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Given the complex coordination challenges faced by policy makers, individuals, educators, employers, industry and trade associations, labor unions, and other civic organizations, improvements in the flow of information in skilled technical labor markets are clearly needed. The remainder of this section provides examples of different types of experiments currently under way to improve technical workforce development by identifying and addressing existing information deficits.
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26 6.5.3 Crowdsourcing Information A primary example of crowdsourced labor market data is the data collected by Burning Glass Technologies (BGT) , one of the leading vendors of data on 25 JOLTS is a monthly survey of employers that was developed to provide information on job openings, hires, and separations.
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Moreover, the data collection process used by BGT yields a robust representation of hiring in real time. Such crowdsourcing databases provide valuable information that can be used by educational institutions and workforce development boards.
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29 WIOA requires eligible training providers, including community colleges, to provide similar consumer/outcome data in the form of a "report card" at the program level. 30 For additional information about the New Jersey Consumer Report Card, see http://www.nj.gov/education/cte/ppcs/students/OnliConRC.shtml.
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. Efforts to transfer education and training accomplishments and licenses across education and training programs, employers, industries, and geographic boundaries can improve the quality of postsecondary education and training, reduce costs, and improve returns on investment (The White House, 2015, Chapter 2)
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. The 2015 White House study on occupational licensing argues that standards for certification and licensing are related and mutually reinforcing (The White House, 2015, Chapter 2)
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Those who are engaged in integrated learning, sector strategies, talent management, career pathways, and career pipeline initiatives can use the competency model framework to guide their work. 6.7 CONCLUSIONS Educators, workers, employers, industry and trade associations, labor unions, and other civic leaders face several challenges in developing a skilled technical workforce that meets local economic development requirements.
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In addition, they are experimenting with a number of enabling initiatives aimed at improving the flow of information, braiding financial sources, articulating career pathways, building competency models, and implementing sector strategies. Although these experiments provide ideas for policy makers who wish to innovate and implement reforms, there are no blueprints for success.
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