In this article, we present an example of a student's recently completed dissertation in practice (DiP) to demonstrate how the DiP can serve as culminating evidence of a student's successful preparation as a scholar-practitioner. The purpose of this DiP was to determine to what extent students develop workforce skills while completing a community…

The report provides a landscape analysis of the workforce development environment in Texas. Many organizations are performing valuable roles in ensuring that the labor markets in Texas operate efficiently, supplying employers with skilled workers and providing workers with opportunities to continue their career advancement through reskilling. The…

Community colleges are attempting to bridge America's widening blue-collar skills gap through workforce development programs promising living-wage jobs that don't require four years of college. While trade, construction and manufacturing companies are starving for talented workers, these fields also suffer from an image problem, one fueled by…

Businesses throughout the United States are facing a tight labor market and a growing need for skilled workers. At the same time, millions of U.S. adults have foundational skills gaps in areas such as literacy or numeracy. This issue is especially acute among Americans with disabilities, who are twice as likely as their non-disabled peers to have…

This report shows how state leaders are using technological advances to improve the use of data in five critical areas: (1) Helping economic and workforce developers, businesses, and colleges to reduce the high costs resulting from uninformed education and workforce decisions; (2) Assisting college leaders in making program-related decisions that…

Training programs that combine learning English with career and vocational skills are highly desired to prepare many displaced workers that are English speakers of other languages (ESOL). Globalization has caused jobs to be exported and brought to this country, people with needed skills that do not have full command of the English language. The…

America and the South seem to have turned a corner on the deep and prolonged recession that started in 2008. The stranglehold it has had on jobs and job prospects caught many by surprise, and it has caused education leaders to refocus state policy on the relationship between career preparation and education. This report provides updates on the…

Central to the goals of "60x30TX" is maintaining Texas as a global economic player by having an educated population, making them aware of their marketable skills, and helping them manage their student loan debt. If the 2016 progress report for "60x30TX" was about getting out the word, this report is about expanding that reach…

Community colleges are recognized by business and industry as the prime provider of career and technology education. This recognition has been earned by the strong links formed between these entities and the responsiveness of community/junior colleges to workforce needs. An important consideration in maintaining this preferred provider status is…

This study was conducted to determine the manpower needs of El Paso, Texas, by surveying and interviewing employers in regard to numbers of employees, education and training level preferred, and related employee information. A second purpose was to identity specific kinds of skills needed by EL Paso business and industry. Information was gathered…

This document examines the school-to-work transition issue from a state, national, and global perspective. Chapter 1 explores problems facing youths entering the job market, demands of the global marketplace and changing economy, critical skills needed by workers, and benefits of integrating academic and workplace skills in the classroom. Chapter…

The Texas Skills Development Program (TSDP) is a key long-term strategy of the Smart Jobs initiative that will assist Texas business, industry, and labor in conveying job skill requirements to the public education and training system. Employers feel that job applicants do not have the basic reading, writing, and computation skills they need. TSDP…

A study examined the skills required of human resource development (HRD) specialists in western Texas. To gather data for the study, the researcher administered a survey instrument to 66 employers from the western Texas region who were identified as employing 200 or more persons. Of these individuals, 28 returned usable responses. Based on the…

This report proposes several distinct--yet interrelated--policy opportunities that can move more Texans into the middle class. These proposals blend greater state-level investments with common sense policy changes to increase economic well-being for working Texans. While Texas policy makers have recognized the connection between workforce…

This monograph presents results from a study of the Texas Worker Adjustment Demonstration, a 2,192-person randomized experimental evaluation of reemployment programs for displaced workers conducted at three Texas sites during 1984-85. It describes in detail: (1) the background, design, conduct, and content of the programs at each demonstration…