Strengthening Community College Workforce Training - Awarding more than a million credit-bearing

The findings highlight what select colleges and states are doing to make their training programs and career pathways more responsive to the needs of employers and participants, especially those job seekers who are more at risk of not gaining access to or completing programs that lead to employment with family-supporting wages. [...] States and clusters of colleges in a region can help more students maximize credit for courses taken and earn credentials more quickly and cheaply by strengthening pathways, standardizing requirements and expectations across institutions in the state, and simplifying course and credit transfer. [...] How can the federal government support improvements in community college workforce training? While most funding for community college workforce training programs comes from state and local agencies and student fees, there are several ways the federal government can leverage its authority and resources to strengthen programs and benefit students: 1) Competitive grants to community colleges to help. [...] States and intermediaries may also provide leadership on addressing systemwide challenges: for example, how to expand the number and improve the quality of apprenticeships and other forms of experiential learning, and how to identify and close gaps in program access and student outcomes by race or income group. [...] The State Longitudinal Data Systems program run by the Institute of Education Sciences has provided grants to help states link education and employment data,19 but there is need for further investment to capitalize on technological advancements in systems design and to use data for program evaluation and decision-making.