In "America's Hidden Economic Engines," editors Robert B. Schwartz and Rachel Lipson spotlight community and technical colleges as institutions uniquely equipped to foster more equitable economic growth across America's regions. As Schwartz and Lipson show, these colleges are the best-placed institutions to reverse the decades-long rise…

This chapter describes how Clark State Community College used its TAACCCT grant in manufacturing to help drive organizational changes in the college to better serve local workforce needs.

"An Overview of Coal and the Economy in Appalachia," a report commissioned by the Appalachian Regional Commission, details major trends in coal employment and production in the Appalachian Region over the past two decades. The report examines where employment and production losses have been concentrated within the Region, and also what…

The United States economy currently suffers a significant skills gap in its workforce, one that approaches crisis proportions. This skills gap (Christo-Baker et al., 2017; King et al., 2017; Laboissiere & Mourshed, 2017) will have profound effects on future U.S. economic growth and, by extension, on global economic growth. Researchers have…

The history of Adult Education (AE) graduate programs spans almost a century, yet many programs have experienced significant challenges in recent years to remain viable. The purpose of this paper is to understand the struggles AE graduate programs encounter in building, maintaining, and growing programs in North America. We conducted two separate…

The current brief provides an overview of the 2021-2022 school year student-to-school psychologist ratio for every United States territory, using the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) counts of school psychologists. In addition to this, data are presented on the percentage change in student-to-school psychologist ratio from the…

Despite the growing popularity of WBL, the community college and workforce development fields need greater transparency and clarity on the design of these programs to broaden workforce pathways, ensure the transferability of exemplary program models, and support the advancement of equitable outcomes for all students, especially learners from…

Nearly half of the states allow community colleges to award bachelor's degrees as one strategy to meet workforce demands, increase access to educational and career advancement opportunities, address affordability and raise attainment rates. Emerging research also suggests that community college bachelor's degrees may play a role in better serving…

It has been three years since Mike DeWine was sworn in to serve as Ohio's 70th governor, joined by Jon Husted as lieutenant governor. From the very beginning, Governor DeWine requested that his Cabinet listen carefully to the people of the state and then proceed to act with a sense of urgency to strengthen and improve the great state of Ohio. This…

Education Commission of the States (ECS) conducted interviews with members of the National College Attainment Network (NCAN) in six states to gather insights into current and critical state policy issues. This summative paper outlines the findings of these interviews, which took place between May and July 2021. The interviews also gathered input…

Three National College Attainment Network (NCAN) member organizations (a total of seven individuals) participated in interviews regarding postsecondary access and attainment policy in Ohio. Interviewees identified several policy priorities in the state--notably, FAFSA completion and college affordability. These policy issues and emerging trends…

BHEF has achieved particular success in operationalizing its National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative (HEWI) through regional initiatives in data science and analytics (DSA). Leveraging its membership of corporate CEOs, university presidents and government agency leaders, BHEF seeded new undergraduate pathways in DSA at Case Western…

It has been two years since Mike DeWine was sworn in to serve as Ohio's 70th governor, joined by Jon Husted as lieutenant governor. From the very beginning, Governor DeWine requested that his Cabinet listen carefully to the people of the state and then proceed to act with a sense of urgency to change Ohio. In 2019, Chancellor Randy Gardner began…

As part of our research on the community college baccalaureate (CCB), we studied the prospects of adopting and scaling CCB degrees in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Higher education leaders in these six Great Lakes states recognized the potential for CCB degrees to increase academic, geographic and financial access to…

This paper asks the question: Is now the right time to consider a statewide policy initiative to support increased access for Massachusetts community college students to paid internships that can help them improve their employment and earnings trajectory? Is this something that employers, colleges, and state leaders would see as a welcome…