A three-year study that JFF conducted for the National Science Foundation shows that community college technology internships can be effective bridges to employment for postsecondary students. The research showed that when internships were required for graduation students were much more likely to participate. But for internships to be effective,…

Associate degrees and credentials in Information Technology (IT) have the potential to open up high-wage and high-opportunity labor market opportunities for learners. Yet structural barriers in access to and completion of these degrees and credentials continue to make it difficult for Black learners and workers to access and thrive in these…

This report examines community feedback to shed light on the impact technical assistance (TA) has on place-based programs for people in disadvantaged communities. Focusing on how TA can shape practices, expand stakeholder knowledge, and enhance stakeholder networks, it offers guidelines for future TA investments.

This research is about how one community college preserved and strengthened their technology internships during COVID with commitment and creativity. Although the college, employers, and students faced technical, logistical, and supervisory challenges in maintaining technology internships through the pandemic, the college was committed to ensuring…

The Accelerating CTE project began as an extension of Jobs for the Future's (JFF's) Accelerating Opportunity (AO), a seven-year initiative to improve outcomes for adult education students in college. Building on the lessons learned and strong evidence realized in AO, the ECMC Foundation in 2016 invested in a three-year initiative where JFF…

As coronavirus infections surge again across the United States, young adults living in low-income communities are experiencing a tremendous loss of educational and economic opportunity. As many high schools and colleges respond to reports of new infections by moving back and forth between in-person and virtual learning, the lack of consistency is…

Community colleges and non-traditional student populations, such as adult learners, often experience a unique set of academic and non-academic challenges. This is particularly true for those in rural America, where resources and community supports are less abundant. This report describes how rural community colleges are overcoming these barriers…

Students in CUNY Guttman's Ethnographies of Work course become researchers, observing and analyzing workplace culture, expectations, racial norms, and other dynamics. In this report, student and employer participants share their perspectives on this unique learning experience.

Building on their work through Achieving the Dream, six states and 15 community colleges joined the Developmental Education Initiative (DEI) in 2009 to take on one of higher education's most daunting challenges: improving the success of students who enter community college academically underprepared. The states and Jobs for the Future, which…

The Michigan Center for Student Success commissioned this study to determine whether strategies employed to improve adult students' success at 41 Breaking Through colleges nationwide have taken root at Michigan's original colleges and spread beyond them. A statewide survey revisited four of the colleges profiled in previous publications, and the…

In 2010, Jobs for the Future (JFF) contracted BTW "informing change" (BTW) to conduct a study on developmental education (DevEd) practices and policies in the state of Florida. This study was undertaken with two purposes. First, JFF wanted to see what common threads could be identified among the strategies and approaches of community…

This reports synthesizes the research literature on the challenges facing adult learners in higher education today and emerging strategies for increasing the number of adults over 24 who earn college credentials and degrees. This synthesis is meant to provide perspectives on key issues facing adults as more and more of them see the need for higher…