Widespread layoffs resulting from the coronavirus pandemic have put the labor market challenges facing workers, especially those without a college degree, into sharp focus. Workforce training can support the economic outcomes of displaced and unemployed workers, but only if it is carefully designed to connect directly to durable, high-quality…

Background and Context: Non-traditional training grounds such as coding boot camps that attract a higher proportion of women are important sites for understanding how to broaden participation in computing. Objective: This work aims to help us better understand the women choosing boot camps and their pathways through these camps and into the…

High-quality early childhood education (ECE) begins with well-prepared, highly qualified educators. This brief offers practitioners and policymakers an opportunity to learn from promising programs that recruit and prepare racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse cohorts of educators to teach in programs serving children birth…

A number of states are considering policy proposals to update credential or degree requirements for early educators. Practitioners, policy experts, and researchers have expressed concern, however, that well-intentioned policies to raise educator qualifications without sufficient supports may have negative consequences for the adequacy; stability;…

The National Fund for Workforce Solution's Young Adult Initiatives aim to test and implement new strategies for targeting America's young adults and share this information so that employers and workforce development can join forces in investing in the millions of young adults across the nation. This case study will focus on challenges and…

This article reports on an empirical case study centering on adult ESL learners' motivational patterns for learning English and its relevance to their career goals. It looks at past patterns of immigrant insertion within the socioeconomic context of the US and explores current trends in adult ESL curriculum development focused on the task of…

Since the 2008-2009 academic year, community colleges in the state of California have faced a budget reduction of 12%. This represents a reduction of $809 million in state appropriations. Despite the reduction in funding, the California Master Plan for Higher Education includes provisions for community colleges to develop quality workforce…

This fifth annual update on America's high school dropout crisis shows that, for the first time in history, the nation has crossed the 80 percent high school graduation rate threshold and remains on pace, for the second year in a row, to meet the goal of a 90 percent high school graduation rate by the Class of 2020. This report highlights key…

Background: The call to recruit and retain teachers of color in urban high-minority schools is based on an assumption of a cultural match with students. Yet new teachers of color may find themselves challenged by students with whom they are supposedly culturally matched. Although past research has examined recruitment, preservice, and veteran…

The second phase of a two-phase study evaluated (through 24 care studies in California, Missouri, Illinois, and New York) the feasibility of implementing an evaluation model of workplace-based retraining programs developed during the first phase of the project in California. The feasibility study addressed two components of an evaluation system:…

This Opportunity 08 position paper advises that the next President of the United States should focus on lifting the achievement levels of our nation's schoolchildren. It recommends that the new President should mount a determined effort, together with states and local school districts, to boost the academic performance of low achievers by: (1)…

This document describes various models of vocational training directed specifically at adults with limited English proficiency (LEP). An introduction explains how the information was obtained (through interviews with staff and officials at state agencies that administer such programs in six states). Section 2 presents a conceptual framework of…

This document presents the major findings from a study of vocational training and other employment-related services for adults and out-of-school youth with limited English proficiency (LEP). An introduction describes the study and its purposes. Chapter 2 presents estimates and projections of the LEP population to the year 2000 and describes this…

This document contains the results of case studies of programs and policies relative to vocational training and other employment-related services for adults with limited English proficiency (LEP). Data were collected from officials and staff at state agencies that administer vocational educational programs in Arizona, California, Florida,…

A postsecondary degree or credential is increasingly important in the U.S. economy, both for new entrants into the labor force and those already employed. Working adults who want to succeed in this economic climate are pursuing a college education in increasing numbers. Adult students have unique needs that differ from traditional-age, residential…