In today's evolving economy, state policymakers, education leaders, workforce system leaders and employers are all looking for opportunities to meet rapidly changing workforce needs. Economists project that shortages of workers with postsecondary education -- some college, an associate degree, bachelor's degree or higher -- could lead to nearly…

Amid persistent concerns about the well-documented skills gap, community colleges have the potential to provide low-cost, high-quality education and training to students. Robust relationships between colleges and local industry partners are critical to building strong workforce development programs for students. In this context, this toolkit…

This is the first in a series of Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) playbooks intended to assist companies, higher education institutions, private philanthropies, membership associations, professional societies, government agencies, and other stakeholders seeking to understand the potential value of investing in coordinated strategic,…

Job creation is what America needs; however that is not the full story. Job creation is just the beginning of the story to address how America responds to workforce needs today and in the future. It is an invitation to examine current and future workforce needs in an effort to fill jobs, lessen the skill gap and provide industry-driven credentials…

In Mississippi, the bulk of the responsibility to conduct workforce training falls on the community colleges. With the recent trends of large industry relocating overseas, layoffs, and plant closures, these challenges have become prevalent in rural America. Through the development and delivery of workforce programs to local business and industry,…

In December 2007, the California Postsecondary Education adopted the last in an initial series of reports on the nexus between postsecondary education and workforce development by requesting staff to return with plans and priorities to pursue implementation of ten general policy options, grouped into three categories. One option is already being…

This article describes an ongoing project to build a comprehensive evaluation framework for the competency-based Master of Science in Workforce Training and Development (MSWTD) program at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM). First, it discusses some trends and issues in evaluating the performance of higher education programs in the United…

Despite the soaring stock market, low unemployment, and low inflation rate, the long-term prospects for U.S. economic health remain a cause for concern. Labor productivity has slowed since 1973. As a result of this slowdown, many companies are investing in work force development and new equipment to boost productivity. Long-term economic health…

Methods are described which can be used to estimate occupational supply and its components. The BLS structural model is described. Next, applications of data from the 1970 census and the monthly Current Population Survey to the BLS model are detailed. Problems and future opportunities in occupational supply estimation are listed. (CT)

The purposes of this study were to collect feedback from Sustainable Technologies interns regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of their education and training from the Maui Community College Instruction in Sustainable Technologies (MIST) program, and to further assess community need for a new Associate Degree program in Sustainable…

This report is intended to provide a framework for state-level policy and planning in relationship to postsecondary education's role in workforce development. Underlying the report is a set of principles and priorities designed to reflect and shape current policy agendas, and which will address the needs of college-bound high school graduates,…

Wisconsin's welfare reform program, which is called Wisconsin Works or W-2, emphasizes work over education. Wisconsin's welfare reform policy caused the numbers of Wisconsin welfare recipients attending college to shrink by thousands in the mid-1990s. In contrast, increasing numbers of states are coming to realize how much flexibility they really…

This bulletin focuses on adult compacts, three-way agreements among employers, potential employees, and trainers to provide the right kind of quality training to meet the employers' requirements. Part 1 is an executive summary of a report of the Adult Compacts Project, which studied three adult compacts in Birmingham and Loughborough, England, and…

The General Accounting Office examined the problem of attracting and retaining a high-quality information technology (IT) workforce in federal government agencies. The problem was traced to a longstanding lack of effective leadership and management and lack of a strategic approach to marshaling, managing, and maintaining the human capital needed…

A study investigated the use of training needs assessment (TNA) by training and development practitioners in business and industry. It allowed for an assessment of both real TNA (practitioners' knowledge, observation, and experience) and ideal TNA (the literature and experts' opinions). A literature review focused on the concept of TNA,…