In today's labor market, students increasingly need greater levels of postsecondary education and training to enter or advance in many industries. Meanwhile, employers are calling for the education system to better align with industry needs, as their demands for a skilled workforce continue to rise. In response to the increasing emphasis for…

More than half of Idaho's high school seniors are already enrolled in college. Dual enrollment programs, in which high school students enroll in college courses, have gained traction nationally in the past two decades, but Idaho's "Advanced Opportunities" initiative has been particularly successful. When students reach seventh grade,…

The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program provided grants to community colleges and other eligible institutions of higher education to expand and improve their ability to deliver education and career training programs. Grant-funded colleges served workers who were eligible for training under the Trade…

Opportunity America received a grant from Lumina Foundation to conduct a national research study of community colleges' credit and noncredit occupational education programs and their relationships with employers. Opportunity America contracted with Wilder Research to manage data collection and analysis for the study. The purpose of this study was…

In 2007, Michigan undertook a bold mission: to retrain tens of thousands of adults to qualify for jobs in emerging and expanding sectors of the economy. The state's proposal to jobless, dislocated, and low-income residents was simple but appealing: enroll in up to two years of postsecondary education, and Michigan would cover up to $5,000 in…

One strategy for addressing the misalignment among postsecondary education, state workforce development programs and state economic development strategies is to create career pathways programs at community colleges where students are able to enroll in a defined track of coursework that leads to jobs in high-demand fields within a state or region.…

By providing an affordable way to build and maintain a knowledgeable and skilled workforce, noncredit courses add value to people and their communities. Still, government leaders and other decisionmakers want to know: Exactly how much value do they add? Who benefits? What is the return on investment? Which programs are most effective and most…

California's Employer-Based Training (EBT) Program focuses on preparing individuals for the new technologies of the future and responding to the real and current skills training needs of business and industry. The three major program components are: new programs in high and emerging technologies; private sector support for worksite-based training;…

Within the context of a discussion of the future of work in the United States, this paper proposes the development of a four-year structured and closely articulated program of technical preparation, beginning during the junior year of high school and terminating with specific technical education programs in community, technical, and junior…

Hearings were conducted by the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology to discuss the role of community colleges in training technical personnel, with particular emphasis on how the National Advanced Technician Training Act of 1985 (HR 2353) would help community colleges meet this role. This bill creates a…

A study was conducted by the National Council of Occupational Education to measure the extent to which community, junior, and technical colleges were engaged in economic development activities. A questionnaire was mailed to 1,144 colleges in March and April of 1986, requesting information on the types of economic development activities performed…

Designed for public policy makers and their counterparts in business and education, this monograph focuses on the role of community colleges in the economic development process. This study shows two-year community, junior, and technical colleges can play a greater active role in this process than ever before. Section 1 argues that economic…

This policy brief explores the role of community colleges in addressing the national shortage of K-12 teachers. It provides a summary of recent studies that highlight the prominent contributions of community colleges to the preparation of teachers (Boggs and Bragg estimate that 40% of the nation's teachers have completed at least a portion of…

Statewide data were gathered to determine the extent of the relationship between business and industry and Kansas's community college system during the 1985-86 school year. Analyses of the data indicated that: (1) the community college system served 20,175 employees of 425 businesses in the state with 731 courses and 351 non-credit services…

A Contractual Education Task Force was created by the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges to study contractual education in the state's community colleges. All districts and colleges were surveyed regarding contractual education services offered between July 1982 and June 1985. Study findings, based on responses from 67…