Building America's Skilled Technical Workforce (2017) / Chapter Skim
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4 The Complex U.S. System of Workforce Education and Training
4 The Complex U.S. System of Workforce Education and Training
Pages 63-92
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From page 63... ...
In addition, although the incentives for employers to support education and training for workers are highly variable, many employers either provide education and training directly to workers on the job or subsidize their employees' education and training through reimbursement programs. But whether employees are using these programs to their greatest advantage and to what extent employers are contributing to the development of a skilled technical workforce remain unclear.
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From page 64... ...
The colonists began to establish public schools in the early 1600s; Boston Latin School was established in 1635. By the time of the Revolution, some colonies, such as Georgia, were partially funding grammar schools (Education News, 2013)
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From page 65... ...
Americans who wish to develop technical skills and prepare themselves for success in skilled technical occupations have a wide range of education and training options that depend on several factors, including their access to funding, their social networks, the availability of programs in their geographic location, and their interests. These specifics aside, in general Americans have the range of formal options for skilled technical education and training depicted in Figure 4-1, which they may pursue simultaneously, sequentially, or in idiosyncratic order.
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From page 66... ...
CTE programs offered, often in conjunction with cooperative work experience programs, in comprehensive high schools, full-time CTE schools, and area or regional CTE centers. CTE students can take work-related courses in subjects related to skilled technical occupations, acquire hands-on work experience, and prepare to enter full-time employment upon obtaining their high school diploma.
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From page 67... ...
through the American Job Centers or community-based organizations. 3 To inform understanding of the education and training decisions being made by students and workers, the following subsections review enrollment and other salient quantitative data for formal skilled technical education and training programs.
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From page 68... ...
While these aggregate data may differ at the local and state levels, they suggest the need to raise awareness about the value of skilled technical work and the opportunities associated with CTE preparation. In addition, curricula need to address career awareness, exploration, and preparation in elementary as well as secondary school, and younger children need to have the opportunity to develop skills and explore technical work.
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From page 69... ...
SOURCE: NCES, 2016c. Degree-granting postsecondary institutions vary in many ways, but two dimensions in particular are frequently noted: admissions policies and completion rates.
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From page 70... ...
And given that young students will have different needs, options, and incentives from those of their older adult counterparts, policies and programs need to be designed to create incentives for both youth and older cohorts to invest in skilled technical education at all stages of their work lives. 4.2.4 Community Colleges Most 2-year degree-granting institutions are community colleges, which are Title IV institutions that provide affordable postsecondary education and a potential pathway to a 4-year degree.
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From page 71... ...
. of skilled technical workforce development in local economies.
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From page 72... ...
Data on bachelor's degree completion 6 years after transfer show that 65 percent of students who transferred to a public 4-year college/university earned a bachelor's degree. 4.3 OTHER POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS Skilled technical workforce development encompasses education and training programs that complement degree-granting programs, including apprenticeships, work-related courses, certificate programs, and certification 7 AACC analysis for the year 2011-2012 reveals that of students who received financial aid, 38 percent received federal grants, 19 percent received federal loans, 12 percent received state aid, and 13 percent received institutional aid.
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From page 73... ...
The most common types of worker education and training programs that do not confer degrees and are particularly relevant to skilled technical workforce development are apprenticeships, certificate programs, and certification programs. Students and workers who wish to participate in such programs and earn a degree must concurrently enroll in a degree-granting program in an accredited secondary or postsecondary institution.
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From page 74... ...
74 BUILDING AMERICA'S SKILLED TECHNICAL WORKFORCE TABLE 4-3 Participation in Job-Related Courses and Apprenticeship Programs in 2005 2005 Percent Participating In Career- or Characteristic of Employed No. of Employed Persons Job-Related In Apprentice Persons (in thousands)
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From page 75... ...
10 USMAP is a formal military training program implemented by the Center for Personal and Professional Development that provides active duty Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy service members with the opportunity to improve their job skills and to complete their civilian apprenticeship requirements while on active duty.
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From page 76... ...
For program participants, benefits include the cognitive and motivational effects of combining academic learning and practice with skill learning, better integration of the content of skill learning with occupational requirements, increased youth employment rates, and better school-to-work transitions. 13 Indeed, the past decade has seen a growing interest in apprenticeship programs in the United States.
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From page 77... ...
Small businesses often find it too costly to create their own apprenticeship programs with defined curricula, to partner with community colleges or other educational institutions, and to recruit apprentices (which includes building relationships with feeder high schools and providing "train-the-trainer" courses for employees)
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From page 78... ...
4.3.2 Alternative Credentials Recognizing that education credentials other than academic degrees have potential labor market value, some researchers have begun to consider the role of these alternative credentials in education and training related to skilled technical workforce development (see, e.g., Carnevale et al., 2012; Kleiner and Krueger, 2010)
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From page 79... ...
16 Karp's (2015a) paper focuses on Title IV community colleges.
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From page 80... ...
In conducting her review, Karp was unable to identify comprehensive listings of certificates or certifications in the United States or a system that collects outcome data for these programs. National datasets, for example, record certificates in very broad occupational areas, such as health and technical trades, thus precluding the more fine-grained analyses needed for large-scale workforce development initiatives.
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From page 81... ...
Karp notes that the existing research also does not examine the employer perspective. These deficits make it difficult to account for all stakeholders in skilled technical workforce development and to address basic questions such as the following: • How many certificate and certification programs exist?
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From page 82... ...
The following subsections describe the main components of these systems. 4.4.1 Public Funding Sources Public sources of funding for skilled technical workforce development include federal, state, and local revenues collected from a wide range of sources.
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From page 83... ...
At private nonprofit institutions and private for-profit institutions, by contrast, student tuition and fees constituted the largest percentage of total revenues (30 and 90 percent, respectively)
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From page 84... ...
The majority of funding for federal employment and training services is distributed by formula grant programs that allocate the funds to state and local entities based on established noncompetitive criteria such as population, unemployment rates, or other economic conditions. In addition, greater than 90 percent of the funds appropriated under Perkins IV, which are important for skilled technical workforce development, are used to provide Basic State Grants that supplement state and local funding of CTE (Dortch, 2014a)
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From page 85... ...
Local and State Government Funding Sources Local and state governments provide two general types of funding that are relevant to skilled technical workforce development: public education in grades K-12 and a portion of postsecondary education. On average, the states allocate about a third of their direct general expenditures to education.
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From page 86... ...
. The implication is that state and local policy makers can use this funding as a means of exercising considerable influence over skilled technical workforce development programs offered by community colleges.
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From page 87... ...
The committee sees the need for additional research on the role of unions in skilled technical workforce development and on the effectiveness of joint labor–management programs. The AFL-CIO reports that national joint training programs currently exist in the automotive, telecommunications, steel, rubber, health care, hospitality, and aerospace industries, as well as in the public sector.
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From page 88... ...
To address the needs of a diverse, nationwide workforce, the Alliance has developed an array of training delivery options that includes on-site classrooms, virtual classrooms, hands-on technical training, and online self-paced courses. Regardless of the training modality, customer satisfaction with Alliance training remains high, with a 92 percent satisfaction rating from trainees.
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From page 89... ...
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy survey, which reports on the incidence of training for 2003, indicates that 56.9 percent of workers in this age group were involved in employer-led training in the previous 12 months. Employers support skilled technical workforce development in several ways, including by providing on-the-job training and apprenticeships, supporting certification and recertification, and offering tuition reimbursement programs.
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From page 90... ...
ATD finds that the average cost of workforce development typically varies according to an organization's size. In 2013, small organizations with fewer than 500 employees spent on average $1,888 per employee, whereas midsized organizations with 500 to 9,999 employees and large organizations with 10,000 29 The ATD study is based on a survey of 340 organizations of various sizes, industries, and locations.
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From page 91... ...
Education and training programs are co-produced and co-provided by students, workers, employers, governments, and civic society. The largest funding sources for skilled technical workforce development are state and local public revenues and tuition paid by students and workers for postsecondary degree-granting programs.
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From page 92... ...
However, data on employer-funded skilled technical workforce development are sparse, and the evidence that exists is mixed. With this review of the highly complex U.S.
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