A growing number of jobs require education beyond high school but less than a four-year degree.
Over the past decade, there have been significant innovations in how best to provide this postsecondary education and training, particularly to nontraditional students. (Nontraditional students include those who are juggling school, work, and family responsibilities; have been out of school for many years; need upgrades in basic literacy or math skills; and face challenges completing education and training.) These innovations—funded by governments, foundations, and industry—address ways to structure programs for success, improve access to education and training opportunities, and create new opportunities that meet the needs of target populations.
We assess these innovations in community colleges, career pathway programs, apprenticeship approaches, and education and training supports. Our work informs program operators and designers about how best to meet student needs and helps policymakers decide how to invest public dollars.
Feature
Community Colleges for the Future
Technology and the Future of Learning and Training
Publications
Fulfilling the Promise of Career Pathways: Strategies that Support Career Advancement
October 2018 Lauren Eyster, Semhar Gebrekristos
Stepping on the Gas: Community Colleges as Engines of Economic Mobility
February 2018 Pamela J. Loprest and Cheryl L. Hyman
Building Workforce Success
January 2018 Lauren Eyster
Findings from the Accelerating Opportunity Evaluation: Building the Evidence on Integrated Career Pathways
January 2018 Lauren Eyster, Theresa Anderson, Robert I. Lerman, Daniel Kuehn, Burt S. Barnow, Maureen Conway, Ranita Jain, Marcela Montes
Analyzing the Engineering Technician and Technologist Workforce: Data Coverage and Gaps
June 2017 Daniel Kuehn
Job Training and the Workforce Development System
April 2017 Demetra Smith Nightingale
Investments in the Workforce
May 2017 Norton Francis, Lauren Eyster
TAACCCT Goals, Design, and Evaluation
March 2017 Kelly S. Mikelson, Lauren Eyster, Christin Durham, Elissa Cohen
Federal Investments in Job Training at Community Colleges
December 2016 Lauren Eyster, Christin Durham, Theresa Anderson
Community Colleges: Multiple Missions, Diverse Student Bodies, and a Range of Policy Solutions
August 2016 David Baime, Sandy Baum
Urban Wire Posts
Incremental steps toward bold student loan reforms
March 2018 Sandy Baum, Matt Chingos
States can lead the way in making college affordable
March 2018 Sandy Baum
Automation's effects on jobs are more complicated than you might think
February 2018 Daniel Kuehn
Should we abandon College Scorecard?
July 2017 Kristin Blagg
Federal and state governments should work together to strengthen public colleges and universities
May 2016 Sandy Baum
Health care employers play a key role in improving worker skills for more rewarding jobs
April 2017 Pamela J. Loprest, Amanda Briggs
Four lessons to help the new secretary of labor build a skilled workforce
March 2017 Shayne Spaulding
Supporting sector strategies through collaboration between state workforce and economic development
December 2016 Amanda Briggs, Lauren Eyster
How 2017's leaders should think about jobs
June 2016 Shayne Spaulding, Lauren Eyster
Expanding opportunity through career pathways and training for middle-skill jobs
June 2016 Pamela Loprest
What you need to know about the new workforce development bill
July 2015 Lauren Eyster
How do we grow our economy when most of the jobs are low wage and low skill?
January 2014 Lauren Eyster
Five ways to help Americans get jobs
January 2014 Shayne Spaulding
Events
Community Colleges since the Great Recession
December 2016 David Baime, Sandy Baum, Lauren Eyster, Dan Phelan, Margery Austin Turner, David Wessel
Related Projects
Bridging the Gap | Accelerating Opportunity | Health Profession Opportunity Grants | Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training Program | Local Workforce System | New Skills at Work Assessment | Financing Public Higher Education