In late 2020, Kentucky community and technical colleges participated in a national study of community college workforce education. Kentucky was one of 14 states where education authorities volunteered to encourage colleges to respond early enough in 2020 to receive preliminary statewide results in January 2021. This brief compares Kentucky to the…

This case study, one of a series of publications exploring effective and inclusive models of work-based learning, finds that work-based courses bring college to the production line by using the job as a learning lab. Work-based courses are an innovative way to give incumbent workers access to community college credits and degrees. They are…

Students need learning experiences connected with the world of work to equip them to enter the workforce and secure good jobs. This report provides an overview of funding for career and technical education and a detailed look at Career and Technical Education (CTE) funding models in Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and West…

Community colleges are using grants and workforce partnerships to train a new generation of technology workers. In September, the Obama administration awarded $450 million in grants to nearly 270 community colleges that have partnered with more than 400 employers nationally. It was the final installment of a four-year, $2 billion competitive grant…

This article describes how out-of-work miners are engaged in the Empowering Education Initiative, a unique alliance between Country Music Television (CMT) and community colleges in Appalachia. The initiative, which includes a website and a series of country music concerts, is changing the conversation in the Appalachian region, giving hope to…

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number…

"Linking Workforce Development to Economic Development: A Casebook for Community Colleges" is a compilation of best practice examples, which illustrate what it takes for community colleges to achieve their goal of helping people acquire education and skills, helping employers, supporting communities, and building the nation. The book is…

The rapid expansion of Appalachian Computer Services (ACS), a small Kentucky firm, was possible because of help from the state's Private Industry Councils (PICs). Federally funded, the PICs provided the necessary business-government-training partnership to recruit and train unemployed and economically disadvantaged workers for ACS' high-technology…

The purpose of the Student Career Introduction Program (SCIP) was to introduce minority and female students to careers in engineering, accounting, architecture, medicine, law, and computer science. In the 1986-87 program year, 30 students (20 females, 10 males) were selected to participate; of these, 14 were minority members (10 females, 4 males).…

This report of an assessment of the hospitality/tourism industry in Kentucky begins with a history/description of the hospitality/tourism industry written from research; the hospitality/tourism training programs conducted by various institutions in the state are also described. For the assessment itself, two survey instruments were prepared and…

The Commission to Study the Future of Community Colleges in Kentucky was established in 1988 to review the accomplishments of the Kentucky Community College System (KCCS) and to provide direction for the KCCS towards the year 2000. Developed as part of a collection of reports on the KCCS for use by the Commission, this two-part report reviews the…

Early state and local progress toward implementation of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) was reviewed. Data were collected through visits to selected sites in Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Vermont and a 90-item Workforce System Information and Evaluation (WSIE) data collection form. The following aspects of WIA…