This report examines the growing interest in expanding access to postsecondary education through non-degree certificate programs and associate degree programs. This policy report seeks to better understand the implications of these trends by analyzing employment experiences and earnings outcomes of individuals whose highest level of educational…

Adjunct faculty are important to academe and have been part of community colleges since the early 20th century, providing community colleges flexibility with student enrollment by filling instruction needs while keeping salaries manageable. Rural community college adjunct faculty bring industry expertise and many other positives to their work.…

The massification of higher education has dramatically changed the association between credentials and jobs in advanced countries, while its impacts in transitional economies have received less academic attention. To address this research lacuna, the paper utilizes rich information from China's national surveys of college graduates from 2003 to…

Career education programs in California's community colleges are a critical component of public higher education in the state. Also known as career technical or vocational programs, career education trains individuals for middle-skill jobs that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree. These jobs make up a third of…

This report is intended to serve as a companion to the "Career Preparation Expansion Act (CPEA) Report," produced by the Maryland Longitudinal Data System (MLDS) Center in collaboration with the Governor's Workforce Development Board. The CPEA Report focused on the workforce outcomes of high school graduates five years after graduation.…

Results from two studies provided strong evidence for the validity of the HiSET® tests, thereby demonstrating that HiSET is a well-developed battery of tests with passing and college and career readiness (CCR) standards that, when met, provide a pathway to postsecondary education, better employment opportunities and wages, and a better quality of…

Registered apprenticeship (RA) programs have emerged in recent years in response to the nation's critical workforce needs. Since 2015, there has been a resurgence of federal and state investments to modernize and diversify the RA system to attract new entrants and new high-demand industries. This study uses human capital theory (HCT) as a lens for…

This study investigates the role of college major choices in labor market outcomes, with a focus on racial minorities and immigrants. Drawing upon research on school-to-work linkages, we examine two measures, linkage, the connection between college majors and specific occupations in the labor market, and match, the alignment of workers'…

Level of postsecondary schooling and field of study remain significant markers of social stratification. However, the extent to which these various types of postsecondary schooling influence the labor market outcomes of recent male and female graduates is unknown. Drawing on data from Statistics Canada's 2013 National Graduates Survey, we examine…

Using detailed administrative data from Virginia, this paper examines whether community college "vertical transfer" students who resemble "native four-year" students in their accumulated college-level credits and performance at their point of entry into the four-year sector perform equally well in terms of both academic and…

This report compares employment and earnings outcomes of 2013 graduates in AISD with and without industry certifications and whether graduates with certifications worked in a related field. The supplemental technical report (published separately) describes the methodology. [For the supplemental technical report, see ED627091.]

Governors plays a central role in ensuring that public educational institutions provide students with the knowledge and abilities required for a successful life and career. The systemic use of data from education and labor markets informs governors and other policymakers of the effectiveness and efficiency of their existing postsecondary systems…

Sport management alumni (N = 268) from five universities that offer undergraduate programs with an emphasis in sport management within departments of parks, recreation, and tourism were sampled via an electronic survey. The survey sought to learn where alumni were working, and how they felt about their career choice and undergraduate professional…

Graduate business school students worldwide typically are motivated to pursue management education to achieve three objectives: to advance their careers, to increase their earning potential, and to develop their business knowledge, skills, and abilities. Once they graduate, these business school alumni discover many paths to fulfilling careers,…

This paper assesses the impact of the mismatch between a college major and job on college graduates' early career earnings using a sample from China. On average, a major-job mismatched college graduate is found to suffer from an income loss that is much lower than the penalty documented in previous studies. The income losses are also found to be…