A Workforce Agenda for 2016

WORKFORCE BRIEF

The Mission

EDGE priorities for 2016 focus on creating a funding stream for CTE programs, greater financial support for Cal Grant C students, implementing high impact practices in adult education and basic skills, and more.

DESCRIPTION

Report Author: The California EDGE Coalition

Date: January 2016

Website: www.californiaedgecoalition.org

EDGE releases its workforce agenda for 2016. To learn more, download the full text of the article here.

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Recommendations

  • Create a sustained, supplemental funding stream for high-cost career technical education (CTE) programs. CTE courses are more expensive to deliver than general education, lecture-based courses. EDGE supports supplemental funding to colleges for CTE courses to support smaller class sizes when appropriate, labor market research, curriculum development and revision to ensure course relevancy, and specialized equipment and facility needs.
  • Provide greater access to Cal Grant C financial support for CTE students. The current Cal Grant C program, aimed at CTE students, is of little use to community college students since most of the funds can be used only for tuition and fees. EDGE urges a revision of Cal Grant C to ensure that community college CTE students receive the support they need to complete their programs of study.
  • Implement high impact practices in adult education and basic skills programs that significantly improve student success. EDGE supports increased investment in and technical assistance for the implementation of evidence-based practices in adult education and community college basic skills programs.
  • Strengthen the curriculum approval process for community college CTE programs to ensure that it is timely and responsive to community needs. Lengthy local and state curriculum approval processes can be a barrier to meeting the needs of a rapidly changing labor market. EDGE supports efforts to ensure that CTE curriculum is developed in a more nimble fashion.
  • Develop an aligned, high-quality program accountability system to guide evidence-based policymaking that is responsive to the needs of communities and employers. EDGE supports movement toward interconnected, cross-system data – including the development of a common student identifier and common workforce metrics – to track progress within and between workforce programs to measure progress toward program outcomes (such as degree or certificate completion, employment outcomes, and continued education) disaggregated by key demographic groups.
  • Increase the pool of qualified CTE instructors. Community colleges often find it difficult to hire instructors with industry experience. EDGE supports identifying barriers to and building pathways for industry professionals to become qualified to teach on community college campuses.

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