Higher education plays a vital role in developing lifelong core competencies that empower graduates to thrive amidst technological and economic disruptions. This article proposes that higher cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, and digital literacy are key competencies that promote transferable skills applicable across diverse industries and…

Higher education in Louisiana faces the consequences of a decade of disinvestment, radically reducing state support for colleges and universities and disproportionately shifting the funding burden to students and their parents. The consequences of this defunding hobbled the public institutions for a generation, just as excessive student debt…

This brief highlights examples of career pathway models funded by TAACCCT [Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training] that were designed for adult students who require accelerated timelines because they are often under pressure to enter or reenter the workforce quickly to support their families. In each of the cases chosen,…

In recent years, two-year colleges have tried various strategies to improve student outcomes and remediate skill deficits in order to promote academic and employment success. Promising approaches include career pathways, dual-enrollment, competency-based credentialing, sectoral strategies, wrap-around services, and acceleration. Taken together,…

As community colleges across the country look for ways to promote student success, the need for scaling effective approaches is critical. This guide builds on a framework of four phases of scaling developed in Job For the Future's (JFF's) previous publication, "Thinking Big: A Framework for States on Scaling Up Community College…

This research explores the phenomenon of peerless curricular innovation, defined as an innovative course that exists at a top-50 business school, but has not been directly replicated by peer schools. These outliers achieve a demonstrated impact on their intended audience, and result from multiple collaborators--not simply a single course created…

It is a truism of American social policy that our nation has great success generating innovative programs that improve outcomes for participants--but that we are far less effective at moving from small, "boutique" programs into broadly applied solutions that improve the prospects of large numbers of individuals. This is certainly true in…

The nation has made an unprecedented investment in community colleges to simultaneously increase college completion and stimulate economic recovery. One of the most substantial investments was the Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program of the United States Department of Labor (U.S.DOL). Beginning October 2011,…

To meet the new and more rigorous college- and career-ready standards for student learning, all of today's students must have access to effective teaching--every day and in every classroom. As teachers and their school leaders are increasingly held accountable for implementing consistently effective teaching, calls for holding the programs that…

In 2011, the Louisiana Board of Regents (BoR), through the development and implementation of the Master Plan, advanced its vision for the future of postsecondary education by adopting the following three broad goals: (1) Increase the educational attainment of the State's adult population to the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) States'…

This book provides 14 profiles of innovative and transformational leadership at community colleges. The experience and knowledge shared by the contributors demonstrate how community colleges are adapting creatively to rapidly changing economies, technologies, and education standards. Each of the chapters tells a story of unique challenges and…

Article VIII of Louisiana's Constitution authorizes the Board of Regents (BoR) to develop a master plan for higher education in Louisiana. This Master Plan provides a broad vision for the State's higher education system and acknowledges its interdependence with the economy and its many contributions towards better lives for Louisiana's citizenry.…

Article VIII, §5 D (4) of Louisiana's Constitution requires the Board of Regents (BoR) to "formulate and make timely revision of a master plan for postsecondary education…" On August 24, 2011, the BoR adopted the "Master Plan for Public Postsecondary Education in Louisiana: 2011" outlining the long-term goals for the State's…

The purpose of the U.S. Department of Education's online newsletter "The Education Innovator" is to promote innovative practices in education; to offer features on promising programs and practices; to provide information on innovative research, schools, policies, and trends; and to keep readers informed of key Department priorities and…

Demonstrating the contribution of leadership development programs to student learning has become a problem of considerable recent interest to both school reformers and those attempting to improve how school leaders are prepared. This article describes an innovative approach to improving school leadership developed by the Greater New Orleans School…