Our organizational approach reflects these values: From our 2020 industry recovery panels to our most recent WIOA recommendations, NSC’s policy development and vetting process takes into account the voices of students and workers.  As the public overwhelmingly calls for policymakers to support skills training, the real-life experiences of these students and workers illuminate the policies needed to ensure a resilient, equitable workforce system.  

That’s why NSC recently held listening sessions with more than a dozen workers and students from 6 states, to ensure they can inform our policy recommendations, especially as we soon will welcome a new administration and Congress. 

In these sessions, we spoke to workers like Oklahoma City-born Denise*, who participated in a payroll training program nearly a decade ago.  

“[Participating in a job training program] is the most rewarding thing I’ve done for myself,” says Denise. “I wake up in awe because it has changed my life so much.”   

She persevered through personal challenges to complete the program, building her English, digital, technical, and administrative skills along the way, and launched herself into a new career.  Today, Denise has built an 8-year career as a payroll analyst, and she’s aspiring to do more: Her future career goals include founding a nonprofit organization and becoming a public speaker. 

Listening to the experiences of workers is vital to ensure that public policies reflect and respond to real-life issues. 

Workers’ sacrifices should be matched by public investments  

The overarching theme from NSC’s recent listening sessions is this: Workers are sacrificing and taking personal risks to participate in training programs, and many have also carved out additional time to share their experiences and expertise in policy advocacy conversations. Public policies need to match students’ and workers’ level of commitment by investing boldly in them. 

Major themes that emerged from the listening sessions focused on the importance of: 

• Robust earn-while-you-learn models so people can afford to participate in skills training. 

• Clear, transparent career pathways that result in valuable postsecondary credentials and wage gains.  

• Meaningful holistic supports in areas such as childcare, transportation, and mental health that could otherwise undermine participants’ ability to succeed in training and on the job  

• Inclusive partnerships that tap into the expertise of community-based organizations to reach and serve jobseekers 

• Flexible skills training policies that see and respond to both the dreams and the vulnerabilities of their participants.  

• Intentional strategies to help people build the social capital and networks needed to succeed in their chosen occupation 

Below, we explore the first few of these themes in more depth. The additional themes will be further described in Part 2 of this blog post, coming soon.  

Earn and learn programs: Students and workers cited the stress of trying to balance holding down a job to make ends meet while simultaneously participating in a training program to further their career. Policymakers can ease this high-stress situation by investing in high-quality training programs that provide access to earn and learn opportunities. These programs allow people to apply the skills they are learning in real time while earning a meaningful wage. Models for this approach include paid internships, on-the job training, and apprenticeship programs.  

Clear career pathways: Students and workers in our listening sessions emphasized how valuable it is to have well-defined career pathways.  They want to be confident that the program in which they are investing their time and energy will result in a relevant credential and a real job with a local employer. And they want to know that their first job will provide stepping stones to further training and advancement.  They also fear the consequences when workforce programs are not aligned with local labor market needs. “There is a misalignment of what’s needed in the market versus what’s being taught to develop into a professional for this industry,” said one student.  Policymakers can fill this gap by investing in and standing up partnerships that bring industry and training providers together to meet hiring needs. 

Transparency and accountability: It’s hard to know what’s “too good to be true,” another student told us. Her skepticism reflects the hard-earned wisdom of many jobseekers who have seen friends and family fall victim to illusory promises or even predatory bad actors. Reassuring these students and workers means implementing policies that collect and publicly share data that clearly spell out training costs and benefits, job placement results, and demonstrated wage gains. One example is making sure that reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) strengthens the quality of the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL) as an accountability tool that can reward results from training providers and ensure that programs are reflective of the needs and skills of both- workers and businesses. 

 What’s next?  

The feedback shared by our listening session participants like Denise is already helping to shape policy recommendations for the next President and administration. With major education and workforce legislation up for reauthorization in the new Congress, 2025 will provide numerous additional opportunities for students and workers to make their voices heard. Regardless of the type of funding, piece of legislation, or political party that controls Congress it is clear that we need nimble, actionable policies combined with robust investment to ensure that communities have the resources needed to serve workers and businesses effectively. 

*Last name omitted for privacy. 

Look for Part 2 of this blog post coming soon on NSC’s Skills Blog.  

The post How students’ and workers’ real-life experiences are shaping policy   appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Jane Kunze, Alisha Small, and Rachel Wilkerson, members of NSC’s Student Advisory Council, spoke alongside NSC’s Director of Worker and Student Voices, Michael Richardson, at two events earlier this month. Through a panel at the National Council for Workforce Education (NCWE) conference and a virtual conversation with NSC’s Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) network, they shared their experiences with the Student Advisory Council, insights from their engagement in developing an upcoming policy brief, and what they hope to see from policymakers because of their advocacy.

Why and how is NSC putting students at the center of policy research and advocacy?

Policy research serves to better understand the effectiveness of current public policies and programs, inform the design of new programs and policies or modify existing ones, and identify promising programs and policies that can be replicated and scaled. When policy research is conducted without the input of those directly impacted, it risks missing the mark, replicating harm, or failing to address the real-world challenges faced by learners.

NSC has evolved and grown its student engagement efforts and subsequently aimed to create a space for student voice to be at the center of these research efforts. This year, NSC has done this throughout the development of an upcoming policy brief that will focus on holistic supports needs and policies for students, particularly those pursuing non-degree credentials or pathways. This research draws upon focus groups and interviews with members of the student advisory council and several other students pursuing non-degree programs and pathways, integrating quotes to center the voices and recommendations of those who are closest to and understand the system best.

This research process supports one of the key objectives of the Student Advisory Council’s work: developing policy recommendations to understand the experiences of learners pursuing career-focused credentials, hear what they want from their colleges and policymakers, and identify promising models for expanding their access to holistic supports for systems change.

Highlights from engaging students: What have we learned so far?

• The Student Advisory Council has empowered students to amplify their voices and recognize their own power as advocates for themselves and others. Students shared that participating in SAC has helped them realize they weren’t alone in their struggles and that, by raising their voices, they could influence policies to address these challenges. Advisory council members learned the mechanisms through which they can make change and that there are people willing to listen and respond. Alisha Small explained, “I learned the importance of my own voice and to be smack dab in the middle of policymaking.” Rachel Wilkerson shared, “I didn’t know that I could be an advocate – and that I already had been.” This realization of shared experience and collective advocacy has been a key takeaway for many participants who engaged in the development of NSC’s upcoming policy brief and through participation in the advisory council overall.

• Doing this work successfully requires intention, investment, trust, and flexibility. Meaningfully engaging students in policymaking isn’t just a matter of asking for input but requires careful planning and respect. This includes building resources and capacity to do the work and pay students for their contributions, staying flexible with participants’ time and capacity to engage -recognizing the realities of life that take priority, and building a community of trust and care that authentically values their stories and experiences. NSC’s approach has emphasized transparency, feedback, and consent throughout the research process. In developing the upcoming policy brief, this meant ensuring students understood the purpose and process of the research, transparently sharing expectations, creating feedback loops that allow their input to shape the final product, and ensuring consent and control for how their stories are shared at all stages of the process.

• To make college work for students, policymakers must recognize the whole student experience and address the root challenges that students face. For too long, education policies have focused narrowly on academic needs, neglecting the broader challenges students face. Student Advisory Council members have shared how central this point is time and time again, elevating their lived experiences and the ways that holistic supports policies from childcare to transportation to food security to mentorship can and have impacted their academic journey. These insights are the center of NSC’s upcoming policy brief, which particularly identifies additional barriers in accessing support services for students in non-degree programs and pathways and highlights students want to see from policymakers to remedy Alisha Small articulated the importance of including student voices and experiences in this research because it allows us to authentically ask, “How can we create a system that can consistently give support for students?”

These efforts are only the beginning

NSC’s work to center student voice in policy research and advocacy is ongoing and evolving. Engaging students in the process allows for the possibility to craft solutions that are informed by real-life challenges and experiences and lead to action by building buy-in and momentum for policy change through a greater connection to and understanding of students’ lives. The upcoming research brief will offer policy recommendations rooted in the lived experiences of students, providing actionable insights for policymakers who want to make a real difference in the lives of learners. By continuing to engage students in this work, NSC is learning, adapting, and evolving—ensuring that the voices of those most impacted by policy decisions remain at the heart of the process.

For more Making College Work updates and information on our Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates.

The post Centering Student Voice in Policymaking: Insights from Integrating Student Voice in Policy Research & Advocacy appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Many employers are looking to skills-based hiring because they’ve unnecessarily narrowed their talent pipelines. In recent decades, employers have used the bachelor’s degree as a proxy for specific skills, shutting workers without these degrees out of jobs that traditionally offered a pathway to economic mobility.   

As a first step toward skills-based hiring, many companies and states have removed bachelor’s degree requirements from many job postings. Since 2014, there has been an almost four-fold increase in the annual number of roles from which employers dropped degree requirements.  

Removing degree requirements from job postings, however, doesn’t necessarily result in increased hiring of people who have specialized skills without a bachelor’s degree. A recent analysis by Burning Glass Institute found that “for all its fanfare, the increased opportunity promised by skills-based hiring was borne out in not even 1 in 700 hires last year.”  

Degrees can signal skills, to be sure, and the debate pitting skills vs. degrees is a false one. At the same time, if skills-based hiring is to expand the pool of candidates for in-demand positions and build a more diverse talent pipeline simultaneously, states should implement a more comprehensive set of policies. 

State Policies to Make Skills-Based Hiring Work for Potential Employees and for Employers 

As a plenary panel at NSC’s 2024 Skills Summit discussed, for skills-based hiring to meet its true potential, particularly for working people and small-to-mid sized-businesses, states can start by establishing: 

1. A framework for assessing the quality of nondegree credentials and related skills training programs;
2. Data systems that allow for more informed decision making by potential students and employers; and 
3. Policies that enable people to pursue quality in-demand credentials, such as short-term Pell and support services 

First, for skills-based hiring to scale up and work, particularly for people and for small-and mid-size employers, they need a common and recognizable way to validate people’s skills and competencies.  There are currently hundreds of thousands of non-degree credentials offered in the U.S. including certificates, industry-based certifications, apprenticeships, and occupational licenses. Quality assurance frameworks can help people and employers differentiate among these credentials and certify that people with a credential have a specific set of skills and competencies aligned with an occupation’s requirements and validated by industry leaders. 

For the past five years, National Skills Coalition has worked with several states to define, measure, and track what makes a credential high quality. NSC and our state partners have determined that quality non-degree credentials should satisfy the following criteria: 

• There are substantial job opportunities associated with the credential.  

• The education and training program associated with the credential must include clearly defined competencies that align with skills requirements of associated job opportunities.  

• There is evidence that people have improved employment and earnings outcomes after getting the credential. Additional indicators of job quality like health or retirement benefits, sick leave, and regular, dependable hours also matter.   

• The credential is stackable to additional education or training through mechanisms like career pathway programs, credit articulation and transfer agreements, and credit for prior learning.  

• The credential is portable to a range of job opportunities and employers, providing the credential holder with more agency and career options among multiple firms. 

Concurrently, for skills-based hiring to scale up and work, states should also invest in capable data systems. Good data are essential to determining the quality of non-degree credentials and, as Blair Corcoran de Castillo of Opportunity @ Work mentioned at NSC’s 2024 Skills Summit, make credential quality and skill needs more transparent to workers and learners, businesses, and policymakers.  

Disaggregated data on outcomes like employment and earnings by race/ethnicity and gender is key to ensuring that non-degree credentials promote racial and gender equity instead of intensifying inequities.  

There is strong public support for such data – 91 percent of voters support policies that ensure that people have access to data that tell them which training programs and credentials will help them reach their employment goals. 

Beyond a framework for assessing quality and data to inform decision making, states also need to establish policies that enable people to attain quality credentials. As we all know, information and transparency can only go so far in helping people attain the quality credentials that certify their skills to employers. States should: 

• Cover the costs of postsecondary skills training: increase equitable access to financial aid and debt-free postsecondary pathways leading to economic mobility – including for high-quality, short-term programs and pathways  

• As my fellow panelist Dane Linn of Business Roundtable commented at our 2024 Skills Summit, federal support for a Short-Term Pell Grant is a key piece of covering these costs. 

• Additionally, 82 percent of voters support increasing government funding for skills training. 

• Provide supportive services: ensure all people have the support they need to access and complete skills training– including access to public benefits, childcare, transportation, coaching, and navigation services. 

Because of many historical factors and current factors creating the racial wealth gap, people of color have been left with fewer resources to put toward educational attainment, making these policies especially important if skills-based hiring is truly going to build a more racially diverse talent pipeline.  Moreover, students – both current and potential – can play a huge rule in designing effective policies that increase credential attainment, and states can support these efforts (NSC has suggested a similar role for workers’ voices in shaping the workforce development system.)  

For Skills-Based Hiring to Truly Deliver on its Promise, Employers Must Examine How They Hire Through an Equity Lens, and State Policy can Support This 

However, even if states establish frameworks and policies in these three key areas, there is still more work to do, particularly by employers. Removing degree requirements in job postings is a useful first step, but employers also need to think about and change equitable talent and recruiting practices, as my fellow Skills Summit panelist Michael Collins of Jobs for the Future’s Center for Racial Economic Equity has written. For example, by now, you’ve likely heard about research showing how names associated with Black people receive fewer callbacks than those associated with White people. Employers must collect data, evaluate and adjust their routines to avoid outcomes like these.  

Employers – including public sector employers – should consider the resources available to aid in changing their hiring practices. Opportunity @ Work has created the STARs Public Sector Hub for public sector employers with data about STARs (workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes instead of a bachelor’s degree), narratives, support and best practices, and a community for government leaders to share experiences and crowdsource solutions. Business Roundtable also has example company actions, guides, principles, success stories, and working groups on skills-based talent practices as part of its Multiple Pathways Initiative.  

Furthermore, once employees are hired, employers must take care to ensure that skills-based hiring is not letting more people of color in the door only to create a career ceiling for them because they do not have degrees. Employers should evaluate degree requirements for positions at all levels and promotion practices to ensure to help mitigate this ‘ceiling effect.’  

At the center of all these employer changes should be an understanding of the humanity of employees and their learning styles as they seek to advance. Employers should, for example, engage their employees in shaping practices that allow for more employee participation and advancement, as my fellow Skills Summit panelist Michael O’Bryan of Humanature has championed. 

State policy can also support these employee recruiting and advancement efforts. States can map and support the design of career pathways with onramps and off-ramps that enable people to attain stackable credentials and degrees to further their careers at their own pace. States can also support equitable employee recruiting and advancement through targeted investments and technical assistance in sector partnerships – regional collaboratives that bring together multiple employers within an industry to collaborate with community colleges, schools, labor, workforce agencies, community organizations, and other community stakeholders to align training with industry-needed skills. States can incentivize sector partnerships to engage in equity-advancing practices, like modifying recruiting processes to attract and engage specific populations of color. 

Ultimately, for skills-based hiring to build a diverse talent pipeline and meet industry demand, state governments and employers need to implement a full suite of policies that remove barriers and promote inclusion in credentialing, hiring, and career advancement.  

The post Skills Based Hiring: Why states & employers must act now to build a stronger more diverse workforce appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

While many states are increasingly recognizing the value of holistic supports in higher education, there are still gaps in access, especially for students in non-degree programs not eligible for federal or state financial aid. Yet ensuring these students have the supports and financial resources they need has tremendous equity implications. Community college certificate students, for example, are more likely to be working adults and first-time college students, as well as Black, Latinx, and parenting, compared with their associate degree-seeking peers.1 They are also likely to experience financial insecurity: half live with incomes that are at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line. Building more equitable pathways requires policymakers to continue to invest in the expansion of evidence-based holistic supports that are explicitly designed to meet the needs of students of color and students who are adults, working, parenting, immigrants, and justice impacted. 

With this context in mind, National Skills Coalition hosted a Policy Action Lab in Chicago focused on expanding holistic supports for students pursuing quality non-degree pathways. Part of NSC’s Expanding College and Career Possibilities Initiative, the event brought together more than sixty postsecondary, workforce, human services, and advocacy leaders from twenty states to examine state progress, innovations, and promising strategies tied to providing holistic supports to students pursuing quality, career-oriented non-degree programs and pathways at community and technical colleges. 

What’s happening in states?  

States and colleges are working to enhance access to holistic supports to better serve students and promote equity in postsecondary education. While some of these policy and program strategies may be inaccessible to learners pursuing non-degree programs, others smartly leverage available federal and state funding to support people in a range of education and training pathways.  

At the event, Carrie Welton, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy: Anti-Poverty and Basic Needs at The Institute of College Access and Success (TICAS), provided an overview of opportunities for leveraging state and federal investments for holistic supports, including a range of ways in which states are connecting public benefits programs to postsecondary education. For example: 

• Washington Basic Food Employment & Training (BFET) leverages Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) to support education and training and holistic support access for SNAP recipients. 

• Kentucky Ready to Work, a partnership between the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the KY Cabinet for Health & Family Services, leverages TANF dollars to provide supports for parents that include employment skills training, daycare and transportation assistance, and mentoring support.  

Other states are investing in skill attainment and career advancement opportunities for learners that integrate holistic supports throughout their educational journeys. Leaders from Connecticut, Illinois, and Rhode Island shared their efforts to support students pursuing non-degree education and training: 

• Jennifer Foster, Deputy Executive Director of the Illinois Community College Board, discussed the Illinois Workforce Equity Initiative, which funds the provision of accelerated programs in high demand, high wage industries across eighteen community colleges, with a focus on serving Black students in at-risk communities. Grants can be used to provide wraparound services to reduce student barriers, including rental and transportation assistance, emergency aid, food, and child care. So far, nearly three quarters of students served have been African American and 69% of completers have found employment.   

• Omar Reyes, Director of Adult Programs and Student Success at the Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, shared insights about Rhode Island Reconnect, a wraparound services program for learners pursuing degrees or workforce credentials of value in the state. The program connects participants with educational navigators who provide guidance for their educational and career journeys and help students identify nontuition financial barriers to finishing their degree or certificate. In the first year, the program saw completion increase by 13% among participants.  

• Kristina Testa-Buzzee, Grant Performance Manager at the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy, discussed her office’s work to bring together diverse stakeholders including private and public higher education, employers, K-12 representatives, community-based organizations and more to build Career ConneCT, which provides training for high-demand careers, alongside a career coach and access to holistic supports. The program has a goal of achieving an 85% employment rate for completers of short-term training and it is currently being evaluated to better understand the outcomes and implications of the program.  

Panelists shared how they are collaborating with stakeholders across the state, leveraging flexible funding sources to reduce barriers, integrating student voice into policy and program development, engaging employers, and centering equity in their work.  

Key themes and considerations  

Throughout the day, attendees met within and across states to reflect on progress, identify challenges, and exchange ideas. Several common themes arose: 

• Centering student voice. Students should be centered in the design and delivery of policies and programs intended to support their educational and career journeys. Many states are integrating student voice directly into their policy and advocacy work. For example, in Rhode Island, students testified at the statehouse to advocate for additional funding to expand credential programs and services and Connecticut has included parents on their state’s 2Gen Advisory Council. 

• Importance of flexible and responsive funding. Flexible funding, especially ARPA dollars, have been critical in allowing states to adapt to the evolving needs of students and workforce programs and provide new and innovative supports. Flexible funding enables programs to tailor support to students’ individual needs, rather limiting support options that may or may not help students overcome roadblocks. At the same time, many states emphasize the challenges around finding sustainable funding to continue these programs when current sources run out.  

• Leveraging partnerships for impact. Partnerships with diverse stakeholders, including higher education, community-based organizations, employers, and government agencies can better align efforts and resources in support of students. States and institutions should prioritize building and sustaining strong partnerships to expand the reach and impact of their support services, ensuring students have access to the full range resources they need.  

• Bridging siloes between workforce, higher education, and human services. Better coordination and collaboration within and across higher education, workforce, and human services systems can improve support access for students and their families, yet siloes and competition can hamper efforts to partner effectively. Leveraging respective strengths to maximize capacity and focusing on shared goals will more effectively advance credential attainment, employment, and family economic mobility. 

While states are dealing with many similar challenges in providing adequate support to students, there is also ample opportunity for learning, innovation, and action taking. As investments in quality non-degree programs continue, increased emphasis on embedding holistic supports will help ensure that these programs lead to equitable education and employment outcomes so students and workers can thrive.  

For more Making College Work updates and information on our Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates. For questions or to learn more, reach out to Lindsey Reichlin Cruse at lindseyrc@nationalskillscoalition.org. 

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NSC’s new report Charting a Course to Quality guides states in developing robust data ecosystems for evaluating NDCs. The publication outlines key elements of a robust data ecosystem, actions policymakers can take, and real-world examples. State policymakers and advocates can use this publication to chart a course to a robust NDC data ecosystem – one that can measure and provide information on the quality of NDCs and whether they are leading to positive and equitable outcomes for people. 

States Have Further to Go and Opportunities to Learn from Each Other 

NSC’s engagement with state higher ed, workforce, data, and college leaders have revealed a set of common challenges tied to NDC data:  

• Many states do not collect comprehensive data on non-degree programs, especially noncredit ones offered by higher education institutions or providers like professional associations, licensing bodies, bootcamps, and corporate trainers. 

• Gaps in data infrastructure can make it hard for states to compile, analyze, and report comprehensively on NDC attainment and related outcomes. For example, not all states have data systems that can talk to one another, appropriate data sharing agreements, standardized data definitions, and data sharing across state lines.  

• Public reporting on NDC outcomes varies widely. States that invest in programs to give more people access to NDC training (such as financial aid programs) often have required annual reports on those investments — though this is not always the case. Some states use online dashboards for public information on training and education, though these often provide limited NDC data. 

State leaders also affirmed that as states increasingly invest in NDCs and pathways, it is essential to equip decision makers with comprehensive data to understand the impact of those credentials and the outcomes for students and workers who earn them.  

Examples of State Progress towards Quality Non-Degree Credentials  

Many states around the country are progressing towards expanding their investments in and capacity for data collection, analysis, and reporting related to NDC quality and learner outcomes. The main report and the appendix of state examples sample what twelve states are doing and are informed by NSC’s engagement with more than fifteen states. The examples don’t represent the full extent of the work states are doing to develop data ecosystems, they show how states are approaching this work, providing a model for others aiming for a more systematized and transparent NDC ecosystem. 

State Spotlight: Arkansas 

Starting in September 2024, the Arkansas Division of Higher Education (ADHE) will begin collecting more robust noncredit data from Arkansas colleges and universities. 

Making the Case for Investing in Quality Non-Degree Credentials and the Data Ecosystem 

Over the past two years, key stakeholders in Arkansas have been building a case for enhancing noncredit data collection by identifying data gaps which were hampering the state’s ability to understand its noncredit education and training system. These gaps made it difficult to understand which programs and students were eligible for a state grant program called the Arkansas Workforce Challenge (which provides up to $800 for students in eligible programs in health care, IT, and manufacturing). Efforts to increase the scholarship amount were stalled due to the inability to fully describe award recipients pursuing noncredit programs. To address this, ADHE, ARData, Arkansas Community Colleges, and institutional leaders are collaborating to improve noncredit data collection statewide. 

Developing a Strategic Vision and Plan for Expanding Non-Degree Credential Data Access and Use 

Additionally, Arkansas developed a data-driven strategic plan to inform workforce development and career education goals, which are outlined in Executive Order 23-16, signed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and coordinated by the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet and the chief workforce officer.  

The Chief Data Officer’s Office (ARData) is responsible for maintaining a longitudinal data system that helps state leaders and service providers develop an improved understanding of individual outcomes resulting from education-to-workforce pipelines, identify opportunities for improvement by using real-time information, and continuously align programs and resources to the evolving economy.  

The goal of improving the collection and management of noncredit student data is aligned with broader state goals to expand the State Longitudinal Data System to include noncredit and other nontraditional postsecondary education data, so that all postsecondary pathways are fully represented, and to enable greater research and consumer data access via publishing to a credential registry. It is also motivated by the desire for changes to the state community college funding formula, which currently does not account for noncredit education and training. 

Using Data to Inform Decision Making on Non-Degree Credential Programs and Pathways 

ARData also has responsibility for collecting and reporting on various types of non-degree and noncredit postsecondary education and training data, including through a public interactive reporting tool MyARDashboard. Most data can be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender, with ongoing efforts for further disaggregation.  ARData has responsibility under the Arkansas Workforce Strategy for the implementation and support of Learning and Employment Records (LERs). Since 2020, Arkansas has been establishing an ecosystem that will support the issuance of LERs, leveraging governance and interoperable data infrastructure foundation, which includes streamlined data-sharing agreements and a Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) credential registry. 

Waypoints for State Action: Policy and System Considerations 

 Governors, state agency cabinet officials, and legislators can take specific actions to develop each element of a robust state NDC data ecosystem. Depending on where they sit in state government, state policymakers can use legislation, executive orders, state budgets, and official agency policies or interagency memoranda of understanding to codify and direct resources toward the creation of a data ecosystem. Some important policy and system development steps include: 

• Adoption of criteria for quality NDCs. States need to set criteria for what makes a credential high quality and a framework for using those criteria to assess credentials. Seeking input from stakeholders who most want and need credential quality assurance is essential, including working people and students, education and training programs, local businesses, and state agencies.  

• Support for state agencies to improve and expand data collection, disaggregation, and analytical practices. States need the right data to measure the quality of NDCs and whether they advance equity. State policymakers can direct relevant state agencies to take steps to improve and expand data collection and analytical practices. 

• Investment in data infrastructure. States need data infrastructure to build, operate, and use credential data ecosystems to their fullest capacity. State policymakers with decision-making authority in the state budget process, should invest resources in the data tools and staffing necessary to build and sustain a robust credential data ecosystem. 

• Setting policies to govern the collection, use, and sharing of data. To have a robust credential data ecosystem, states must collect personally identifiable information about people pursuing credentials and ensure that people know what data is being collected about them and how it will be used. State policymakers must also adopt data governance policies that set out strong data ethics principles, data privacy protections, principles of use, and guidance for data sharing agreements between agencies. 

• Requiring and investing in public reporting of data that supports its use. States must provide public information on NDC quality and equity so stakeholders can make informed decisions. State policymakers should require and fund strategies to ensure that data are analyzed, and findings are reported in a responsible and transparent manner. 

 Building a robust credential data ecosystem is a journey, and each state will progress differently based on their policy landscape and data capacity and unique context. These policy development and ecosystem building actions are a good starting point for what policymakers, state agencies, and advocates should keep in mind. 

Charting a Course to Quality: A Navigator’s Handbook to a Robust Non-Degree Credential Data Ecosystem, is the third publication in a series that lays the groundwork for understanding and improving access to high-quality NDCs. Along with The Non-Degree Credential Quality Imperative and State Financial Aid for Non-degree Credentials: Models and Considerations for Policy and Program Design, this series offers a comprehensive plan for states committed to advancing educational opportunities for all. 

For more Making College Work updates and information on our Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates. For questions or to learn more, reach out to Lindsey Reichlin Cruse at lindseyrc@nationalskillscoalition.org. 

The post States on the Leading Edge of Non-Degree Credential Data Ecosystem Development appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

National Skills Coalition’s recently published report, State Financial Aid for Non-degree Credentials: Models and Considerations for Policy and Program Design, explores the intricacies of state financial aid programs for NDCs. It examines six existing financial aid programs across five states in addition to sharing progress made by states during NSC’s State Financial Aid for QNDCs technical assistance initiative. The report discusses how states can design financial aid programs that support equitable access and strong outcomes, especially for students who are not eligible for federal aid. 

Last week, National Skills Coalition brought together community college, state, and workforce and education leaders from 25 states to share this research, hear from several state leaders highlighted in the report, and participate in peer-to-peer discussions and knowledge sharing as part of NSC’s Expanding College & Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative. Alongside those highlighted in the report, participants discussed key takeaways and considerations as states design these financial aid programs.  

The Role & Opportunity of State Financial Aid Programs  

Federal financial aid programs – from Pell Grant funding to other forms of Title IV aid – remain inaccessible to people enrolled in many NDC programs due to program criteria and eligibility requirements. Existing state financial aid programs for NDCs provide examples of how states can structure programs so that they are responsive to students’ needs, meet state goals related to credential attainment, and respond to employer demand for skilled workers. Three state leaders shared more about the investments in their states that are working to meet this need and demand.  

• Dr. Collin Callaway, Senior Policy Director, Arkansas Community Colleges, discussed the Arkansas Workforce Challenge Scholarship, which provides up to $800 in financial support for students enrolled in both credit-bearing and noncredit programs in health care, information technology, and manufacturing (or “industry”). She underscored the value of these scholarships, particularly for students who would not otherwise qualify for financial aid and for ensuring Arkansans have credentials aligned with the economic goals of the state. She also emphasized the broad coalition of statewide partnerships including Arkansas Community College (ACC), Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE), ARDATA and the colleges themselves that have been critical in establishing the program. 

• Paula Nissen, Director of the Institutional Research Collaborative at North Iowa Area, Iowa Central & Iowa Lakes Community Colleges, discussed the Iowa Gap Tuition Assistance Program, which covers eligible tuition, fees, training, course equipment, assessment and childcare costs after all other aid is applied to noncredit and some short-term credit bearing programs. She highlighted the push to align programs with high-demand jobs, the importance and challenges of data-informed decision making, and recent changes to the program to more readily integrate holistic support services such as childcare and transportation for students. 

• Marilyn Pitzulo, Associate Chief of Workforce Strategy & Design at the Indiana Department of Workforce Education, shared insights on the evolution of the Indiana Next Level Jobs Workforce Ready Grant which provides up to $5,000 in scholarship for tuition and fees for noncredit and Title IV-eligible credit training programs. She emphasized the importance of using data to ensure quality, such as by aligning data collection with labor market outcomes, and the importance of alignment with the workforce system, which Indiana accomplishes by utilizing American Job Centers to support grant recipients. She also discussed the benefits of flexible eligibility criteria, and the need for institutional supports such as coaching, and advising to meet student needs. 

Policy and System Considerations 

The discussion was framed around several key considerations for states aiming to improve their financial aid programs for NDCs.  

1. Financial aid program choice points. When designing financial aid programs that include non-degree programs, states face several design choices including student eligibility requirements, the funding structure (e.g. first dollar or last dollar funding), program eligibility criteria, data practices, and more. Panelists emphasized the importance of reducing hurdles to accessing funding and providing flexible funding for students. Some states like Iowa allow each college to decide what is good for the local area and determine eligibility criteria on their own. Often, programs are limited to targeted industry sectors. To ensure quality, many states evaluate eligible programs each year to make sure they align with state and regional needs. 
2. Using data to understand quality and outcomes for students receiving financial aid. Data on noncredit programs has historically been under-collected but is critical for measuring quality and informing program improvements, and for communicating program impact to the community and stakeholders. While many states have robust data analysis abilities, data collection is often the biggest challenge as data infrastructure varies by program and college, and common data points don’t always exist. Many states are investing in data infrastructure for better alignment across state agencies and institutions. Arkansas, for example, brought together a statewide network of stakeholders including ACC, ADHE, ARDATA, and others to establish data definitions and overhaul their data practices to see improved data collection on noncredit programs. Establishing quality criteria for programs and training providers can also help guide data collection and analysis efforts and allow states to make data-driven decisions about their programs.  
3. Designing for inclusive, equity-minded financial aid programs.  Research suggests that noncredit students tend to be older, have lower incomes, are more likely to be students of color, and are more likely to have earned a high school diploma or equivalent as their highest level of educational attainment compared with students enrolled in a for-credit program at community colleges, yet programs and financial aid opportunities are often not designed to meet the needs of these students. Flexible application and eligibility requirements open the door for so many individuals who otherwise wouldn’t be able to access aid. The integration of holistic supports for students in Iowa, which includes childcare and transportation, is also an important step towards promoting equity by beginning to address the fuller needs of students.  

As states consider new avenues and investments into the education and training of their residents, policymakers should consider some of the lessons from and choices illustrated by existing state financial aid programs that support students’ pursuit of QNDCs. The examples highlighted here are just a few of the many statewide efforts underway to promote affordable pathways for people to earn these credentials that enable them to advance their education and careers. 

State Financial Aid for Non-degree Credentials: Models and Considerations for Policy and Program Design is the second in a series that lays the groundwork for understanding and improving access to high-quality non-degree credentials. Along with The Non-Degree Credential Quality Imperative and Charting a Course to Quality these publications offer a comprehensive plan for states committed to advancing educational opportunities for all. 

For more Making College Work updates and information on our Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates. For questions or to learn more, reach out to Lindsey Reichlin Cruse at lindseyrc@nationalskillscoalition.org. 

The post State Financial Aid for Non-Degree Credential Programs and Pathways: Insights and Considerations appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

National Skills Coalition’s recently published report, College and Career Possibilities Rooted in Place explores how rural industry partnerships create place-based pathways and opportunity, the key factors that make for strong, effective partnerships, and how state and local policymakers, officials, and administrators can support rural community college and industry partnerships.  

Earlier this month, National Skills Coalition brought together more than 100 community college, state, and workforce and education leaders in a virtual learning event to share NSC’s research, hear from several community college leaders highlighted in the report, and participate in discussions with peers across more than 25 states. Part of NSC’s Expanding College & Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative, the event aimed to support peer learning, knowledge sharing, action taking, and policy change across states with the goal of increasing college affordability, holistic supports, and completion of quality non-degree credentials that offer pathways to quality careers and further education. 

Rural colleges as engines of economic mobility 

While there is no one definition of a “rural” context, one commonality is that rural colleges serve as engines of economic opportunity for their communities, building industry partnerships that benefit rural learners and employers alike. Leaders from three community colleges highlighted in the report underscored this reality in a panel discussion during the learning event by providing an overview of their unique contexts, sharing examples of their partnerships across industries, and reflecting on the strategies that have helped build strong allyship for rural communities. 

• Charles Collins, the Executive Director of Harold Alfond Center for the Advancement of Maine’s Workforce, shared Maine’s strategic focus on jobs to support the transition to the green economy, which requires supporting partnerships to ramp up electricians to meet demand related to solar farms, a growing wind energy initiative, EV tech training, and more. 
• Nicole DuBose, Director of Workforce Development at Shelton State Community College, described Shelton State’s partnership with Bibb Medical Center which started small with a $15,000 worker training grant then opened to dual enrollment, expanded into workforce training, and now has a registered apprenticeship for Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs). 
• Jacque Goodman, Vice President of Business and Community Solutions at Iowa Valley Community College District, highlighted a partnership with a large local employer, Lennox Industries, to help them provide training for their Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining and high-tech welding apprenticeship programs and graduate apprentices from the program. 

Policy, funding, and systems considerations  

From the report, panel conversation, and group discussions, several key themes emerged about the policies, programs, and practices that have been most impactful in advancing community college and industry partnerships across local settings. These takeaways are guiding National Skills Coalition’s continued work with states to advocate for policies that prioritize rural voices and expand support for rural community college industry partnerships.
 

1. Support the full scope of student needs. Advocate for and invest in the full spectrum of worker and learner needs, including transportation, childcare, affordable housing, and healthcare. Supporting students effectively requires building community partnerships across these policy areas and stacking resources with partners to enhance the ability of learners to succeed. Nicole DuBose highlighted how Alabama focuses on a “two generation model,” that works to serve current students but also provides supports for their children, recognizing that these investments have returns for both current and future generations. To fully meet students’ needs, rural regions need sustained investments in holistic support systems and infrastructure that enable working families to access postsecondary pathways and good jobs.
   
2. Support and sustain rural community college and industry partnerships. Rural colleges need dedicated and sustained funding earmarked to support industry partnership efforts. Rural community colleges rely on aligning a constellation of policies and systems and braiding a mix of public and private resources funding to support their industry partnerships and the resultant programs and services. Charles Collins described how the Maine Community College System does this by connecting existing investments such as the Maine Quality Center program state investments, federal grants such as the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan funds, and private foundation investments to support their programs. While braiding funds from multiple sources can be effective, colleges should not have to rely on time-limited federal grants or one-time state surpluses to develop and sustain strong industry partnerships.

3. Start small and use momentum to expand partnerships. Starting somewhere, even with small investments, can lay the groundwork for statewide support and larger investments. For example, the Iowa Skilled Worker and Job Creation fund is a pivotal policy that has been maintained for more than a decade and continues to support Iowa colleges’ partnership activities. Alabama, too, has several incumbent worker training programs that help incentivize college-industry partnerships. These programs have often spurred larger workforce training models, as stories of success have led to statewide momentum and expansion.

4. Make investments that bring employers and businesses to the table. The availability of funding helps bring employers to the table and incentivizes strong partnerships. For example, in Arkansas, promoting state funding opportunities such as through the Arkansas Office of Skills Development Training Grants has increased business partnerships with community colleges. From there, advocates can build on stories of success to encourage states to expand these investments and partnerships, strengthening pathways and opportunities for students.

5. Build strong partnerships and buy-in to garner legislative support. Jacque Goodman credits much of their success building community college industry partnerships in Iowa to the strong legislative advocacy that helps build and secure funding. Rural community colleges are driven by their community and have a deep understanding of and commitment to advocating for local needs. This community connection has helped in getting the funding to do the work, partner with businesses, and tell the story about these partnerships. Alabama, too, is seeing unprecedented support for workforce needs from the state, resulting in strong collaboration and partnerships. And Maine is guided by the Governor’s strategic plan for workforce development and the benefits of a small and communal state environment to strengthen these relationships. 

Meeting the moment 

Rural community colleges are meeting the moment and using the momentum of early wins to grow their programs, garner additional buy in, and leverage the current policy environment. As Nicole DuBose explained, “It’s the best time to be in workforce. Ten years ago, we didn’t have the ample funding opportunities that we have now.” As rural community colleges continue to drive economic mobility, advocating for a set of policies that allow them to build and expand industry partnerships will be more important than ever.  

For more Making College Work updates and information on our Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates. For questions or to learn more, reach out to Lindsey Reichlin Cruse at lindseyrc@nationalskillscoalition.org. 

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Now, workers and learners will also be at the forefront of this broad network, reflecting NSC’s commitment to illuminating the real needs and experiences of students pursuing career-focused programs and pathways. NSC has assembled a Student Advisory Council aimed at helping inform and provide policy solutions as part of our Making College Work Campaign and our larger Voices for Skills network. 

NSC’s Making College work campaign aims to transform postsecondary education by driving policy change that widens the path to postsecondary education, begins to redress structural racism in our education and training systems, and better serve students, employers, and our economy. 

“Through my experiences, I’ve come to recognize that policymakers must acknowledge the inadequacy of one-size-fits-all solutions,” says Rachel Wilkerson, Coordinator for the Office of Strategic Initiatives at Delgado Community College in New Orleans, Louisiana. “Non-traditional students, often found in community colleges, face unique challenges such as balancing work commitments during the day or on weekends. Therefore, our focus should extend beyond mere enrollment and retention rates; it should encompass addressing the multifaceted barriers that students encounter,” she says. 

The Student Advisory Council is made up of 8 current and former students who are now (or have been) enrolled in career-focused programs at community or technical colleges. These student advisors will participate in a yearlong program where they will share their perspectives and experiences pursuing and navigating community colleges, workforce pathways and career focused credentials and inform policy solutions to improve access and completion of quality postsecondary programs. Their primary objective is to co-develop student-centered policy recommendations that address the unique challenges and aspirations of individuals navigating these educational pathways. 

The Student Advisory Council will have the opportunity to: 

• Learn more about post-secondary and workforce systems and policy and how it relates to their experiences and the many ways they can advocate to help make change. 

• Develop policy recommendations to understand the experiences of learners pursuing career-focused credentials, hear what they want from their colleges and policymakers, and identify promising models for expanding their access to holistic supports for systems change.  

• Share their experiences and perspectives as learners to provide a deeper understanding of how existing structures and systems do and do not serve their needs and how systems could improve their access to and completion of community college programs and credentials that lead to careers that offer economic mobility. 

• Share their perspectives with policymakers and stakeholders in the postsecondary field through various activities. 
  

Meet the Committee: 

 Lynne Hamblin is currently pursuing her associate’s degree in business with a marketing focus at Rogue Community College. While currently holding a career pathways certificate in Business Assistance, she plans to further her studies in public policy and grant writing and continuing her education at Southern Oregon University in Postsecondary Education Management. Beyond her academic pursuit, Lynne advocates for continued adult education, particularly in rural areas, emphasizing the importance of expanding skills and recognizing the value of skilled labor. As a student parent advocate, she fights tirelessly for educational access and opportunities for all. “I hope to bring light to policymakers that GED completion and skills training are an important investment to our workforce and an important investment to the wellbeing of our nations people,” she says.  

Crystal Ann Hilbert embarked on her academic journey at Ivy Tech Community College, where she pursued a degree in medical assisting.  Crystal’s experiences have fueled her passion for advocating for single parents, particularly those with multiple children. She hopes to facilitate an easier transition for people in similar situations, recognizing the challenges they face in balancing education, work, and caregiving responsibilities. Her career goal is to finish her degree in medical assisting. Crystal also serves on the advisory council for the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute. Motivated by her own upbringing and a desire to provide a better life for her son, Crystal is driven to ensure that he doesn’t face the same struggles she encountered as a child.  

Jane Kunze has set her sights on a career in the electrical field, driven by her aspiration to build a brighter economic future for herself and her family. Enrolled in the electrical lineman program at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, Jane is embarking on a journey to become a certified electrician, following in the footsteps of her brothers. Through her education, Jane aims to gain the knowledge and skills needed to make a difference in the lives of those affected by the justice system. She’s determined to advocate for second chances and provide support for individuals, particularly mothers and fathers, who are seeking to rebuild their lives and futures. 

Atheena “TT” Martinez has been enrolled at Pima Community College for the past three years, immersed in the IBEST program, specializing in Building Instruction Technology. Her dedication and hard work culminated in her earning certification in electrical work this past December. TT’s journey began with a simple goal of obtaining her GED. However, her ambition and drive led her to pursue a certification in electrical training, and she will graduate this month (May 2024) with an AAS in Electrical Engineering. Her goal is to use her education to support justice-impacted individuals, providing them with skills training and opportunities for meaningful careers. 

Erica Moton holds an AA in Child Development from El Camino College and is now focused on a career in Avionics while continuing her work at Los Angeles International Airport. Erica graduated from the Building Skills Partnership Aviation Career Exploration Course at West LA College, paving the way for her current enrollment in the Aviation Technology Program at West LA College.  Her journey is fueled by a desire to gain insight and share her experiences with others seeking to advance their careers. Erica is determined to advocate for resources that make education accessible to all, ensuring that no one misses opportunities to pursue their dreams. “Policymakers can learn what it takes for parents to be able to finish an educational program. They can learn what some of our needs are and what resources could really help us firsthand,” she says.  

Kwame “Que” Pressley completed a program in IT computer support technician at Grand Rapids Community College, recognizing its flexibility and potential for his budding family. Now, Kwame holds a position with a digital innovation tech firm in Grand Rapids, Michigan while pursuing a four-year degree in Information Security and Intelligence at Ferris State University. Driven by a desire for more and inspired by his children, Kwame aspires to start his own Cyber Security firm and a nonprofit aimed at supporting startups and small companies unable to afford Cyber Security services, all while promoting Cyber Awareness to contribute to global peace. 

Alisha Small‘s path led her to Montgomery College, where she discovered a passion for coaching and consulting. She learned about their coaching certification while researching opportunities for her children in the surrounding area. Armed with a certification from the college, she launched her own business, Living Fulfilled Coaching and Consulting. She says, “higher education comes in the form of degree programs and non-degree/training programs. Everyone deserves to have the full college experience regardless of what path of higher education they chose.” 

Rachel Wilkerson’s journey began in 2008 when she enrolled in a community college CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) program, where she earned certifications as a Patient Care Technician and Home Health Aid through non-credit training in 2009. Over the next decade, she gained invaluable experience working with residents in various healthcare settings, including homes, nursing homes, and hospitals. She relocated to New Orleans where she pivoted to becoming a student worker in the workforce development department at Delgado Community College where she learned about stackable credentials and the WIOA system. She pursued a degree in business, graduating with a bachelor’s in organizational management. Currently, she serves in the Office of Strategic Admissions, where she leverages her experiences as a student to advocate for systemic improvements. Rachel is optimistic about her ability to effect meaningful change by collaborating with administration and sharing her insights to enhance student experiences and remove barriers to success.  

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Parents are an important subgroup of new majority learners. Roughly one in three adults who could benefit from opportunities to pursue postsecondary education and training (those whose highest level of education is some college credit or lower) are parents, many of whom are Black, Latino/a or Hispanic, or Indigenous. Nearly a quarter (twenty three percent) of community college students are parents, the majority of whom are mothers (seventy four percent).[i] Like many new majority learners, these parents juggle family, work, and school for themselves and their children, with tight budgets and limited time, on top of the systemic barriers to education and access to needed resources that they also often face. 

For parents who want to advance their careers and economic prospects, quality short-term education and training programs that provide relatively affordable and fast opportunities into meaningful career pathways represent promising avenues to do so—especially when paired with intentional, student-centered supports and services. Most states have goals around educational attainment and meeting those goals depends on effectively serving parents and other new majority students with a focus on racial and gender equity. That’s why states, along with community colleges, community organizations, and advocates across NSC’s network are working to provide these opportunities and supports to parents, presenting promising strategies that can be replicated and scaled to advance NSC’s Making College Work policy goals. 

Closing Childcare and Opportunity Gaps for Single Mothers in Mississippi

The Mississippi Low-Income Childcare Initiative’s Employment Equity for Single Moms (ESSM) project supports single mothers who want to pursue workforce education and training as a route to economic mobility. The program works to fill the major gap in access to affordable and quality care experienced by single mother-headed families and address the challenges this gap creates for mothers seeking viable pathways into quality jobs with opportunities for advancement.

In addition to providing direct services for single mothers, ESSM works to better align the childcare, public benefits, and workforce development systems so they more effectively support single mothers’ economic stability and mobility. For example, ESSM successfully added a question asking whether someone needs childcare to the questionnaire used by the state’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Hubs to screen for public benefits eligibility and referrals to community resources. They are also advocating for the state’s WIOA and CCDF systems to formally coordinate through a combined state plan and for policy solutions such as making it so that parents who are eligible for WIOA or CCDF childcare assistance are automatically eligible for the other program (otherwise known as ‘categorical eligibility’).

ESSM has also changed state rules regulating public benefits programs that create unnecessary roadblocks to single mothers’ access to needed resources. Last year, they successfully advocated for the removal of the requirement that mothers must open a legal child support case to be eligible for the state’s childcare assistance program. They continue to advocate for loosening the state’s requirement that parents be enrolled full-time in education and training to receive childcare assistance and to remove the same child support rule for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Expanding Parents’ Access to Early Learning and SNAP E&T at Arizona Community Colleges

Leaders at Pima Community College and Child Parent Centers are spearheading a new partnership to leverage a new Head Start rule to benefit student parents. As of April 2022, the Administration for Children and Families issued a memorandum that anyone eligible for SNAP will be categorically eligible for Head Start, an early learning program that provides culturally responsive early childhood education and family engagement services to help parents achieve goals for themselves and their children. As Pima rolls out a new initiative to connect more students to SNAP Career Advancement Network (SNAP CAN)—Arizona’s SNAP E&T program—it is taking advantage of the rule change to help student parents receiving SNAP access much needed services for their family.

Pima is now screening students at intake for SNAP CAN for whether they might need Head Start services, by indicating whether a student has childcare needs through the Employment and Career Development Plan created for students in the program. These screens allow Pima to refer students to Head Start when they know they could benefit from its services. They are already seeing success, with Pima students in SNAP CAN being referred to Head Start.

New Head Start college partnerships are also launching at additional colleges. Northland Pioneer College, a Tribal College working closely with Pima, has formed a partnership with the Northern Arizona Council of Governments Head Start. Together, they opened an on-campus Head Start center with two classrooms in September 2023. Northland Pioneer’s Head Start leaders are learning from Pima’s experience and hope to integrate referrals to and from Head Start and SNAP CAN into their program.

The college-Head Start partnership models at Pima and Northland Pioneer will serve as examples for other Arizona colleges that are starting their own SNAP CAN programs. In addition, Pima and Northland Pioneer are working closely with the Arizona Department of Economic Security to explore which state policies and processes could support a broader implementation of this referral process to benefit more student parents.

Learning from Parents’ Lived Experiences to Advocate for Policy Change in Indiana

The Indiana Community Action Association (IN-CAA), a statewide nonprofit made up of twenty-two agencies serving all ninety-two counties in the state, has taken action in support of parents in education and training and the workforce who need access to affordable and accessible childcare. For example, Thriving Connections, a cohort-based social and direct support program operated by the South Central Community Action Program, serves families working to achieve economic security and mobility through relationships, leadership development, and community building.

Thriving Connections’ participants are a majority women, many of whom are mothers pursuing postsecondary education. The program pairs participants with volunteers who want to deepen their understanding of poverty and provide encouragement to participants as they navigate these journeys, alongside support to access needed resources. Thriving Connections staff observe the range of roadblocks and “unseen costs” that mothers face when juggling school, work, and their children’s care and schedules, including inflexible and unreliable childcare, transportation challenges, and limited access to digital skills and resources.

Observing the importance of childcare for parents to complete college and enter good jobs, the Indiana Community Action Poverty Institute, a research and policy advocacy program within IN-CAA, presented testimony on behalf of the Indiana Skills 2 Complete Coalition to the Indiana General Assembly’s Public Health, Behavioral Health, and Human Services Interim Study Committee in August 2023. In addition to focusing on working parents’ need for childcare, the Institute’s testimony also called for support for student parents. The testimony outlined how essential accessible childcare is for Hoosiers to access the many career pathways available in the state and to meet employers’ demands for skilled workers. It also recommended critical investments in making childcare more affordable and accessible, including services and supports that can boost student parents’ ability to enroll and complete college.

Advancing Policy and Systems Change to Make College Accessible to All Learners

NSC is proud to showcase the innovative efforts of its network members who are working to make our postsecondary, workforce, and human services systems work better for working families. NSC’s Expanding College and Career Pathways Initiative will continue to spotlight and share examples of how states, colleges, and advocates can work to make affordable and high-quality skills training opportunities and holistic supports a reality for all learners.

[i] NSC analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Postsecondary Student Aid Study: 2020 Undergraduate Students (NPSAS:UG).

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Short-Term Pell and the JOBS Act 

For the last decade, NSC and its network have advocated to expand Pell Grant eligibility to shorter-term education and training programs offered by postsecondary institutions. Presently, in order for a student to receive a Pell Grant they have to meet individual eligibility requirements (primarily being lower-income) and be enrolled in an education or training program that is also eligible for Pell. That eligibility is partially based on the length of a program, which at minimum must be 600 clock hours and 15 weeks. NSC believes that expanding Pell Grants eligibility to high quality programs that fall below this threshold could provide students with more opportunities to receive financial assistance while meeting the needs of employers in high-demand industries and sectors. 

There have been various legislative proposals aimed at expanding Pell Grants to shorter-term programs during the 118th Congress. However, this blog is going to focus on two: the stalwart in this arena – the JOBS Act; and the latest newcomer – the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (BWPA). 

JOBS Act (S. 161, H.R. 793)  

• Sponsors – Senators Kaine, Braun; Reps. Bill Johnson, Lisa Blunt Rochester.  
• NSC has long endorsed the JOBS Act and up until recently it was the main bipartisan bill introduced.  
• Expands Pell Grant eligibility to quality programs that are between 150 and 599 clock hours and at least 8 weeks in length. 
• Includes quality metrics aimed at employer demand, aligned with the ETPL, and recognized by industry to meet the hiring requirements of employers. 
• A version of JOBS was slated to be marked up by the Senate last July. It was one of several workforce related bills the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was slated to consider, but that markup was indefinitely postponed. 

 Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (H.R. 6585) 

• Sponsors – Reps. Stefanik, Bobby Scott, Foxx, DeSaulnier  
• The bill was negotiated between the Chair and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and passed out of Committee in mid-December. However, it did not pass unanimously.  
• Similar to the JOBS Act in that it would cover programs that are 150 to 599 clock hours, however, the metrics to determine quality differ and it would allow for participation by for-profit colleges.  
• Efforts to bring this bill to the House floor have thus far been unsuccessful. 

Closer Look at the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (BWPA) 

While there has been a great deal of bipartisan support for the concept of expanding the Pell Grant programs to quality short-term education and training programs, figuring out the details on how that should be achieved has resulted in years of gridlock. There are two main points of contention – how quality should be defined and measured; and whether to allow for participation by for-profit institutions.  

How Does BWPA Measure Quality? 

• Training must align with the requirements of high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations in a State or local area. 
• The program must provide students with a recognized postsecondary credential and meet the hiring requirements of potential employers. 
• The program must satisfy any applicable educational prerequisite requirement for professional licensure or certification. 
• The program must have a 70 percent completion and a 70 percent placement rate. 
• The credential earned must be stackable unless it isn’t possible to do so. 
• The program must provide academic credit to a student that can apply toward a certificate or degree. 
• The program must be offered to students for at least a year prior to seeking eligibility. 
• There are also two earnings metrics. Programs must pass both. 

• Value-added earnings, which is calculated by subtracting 150 percent of federal poverty level from the median earnings for students one year after completion. That value-added number must exceed tuition and fees for a program in order for a program to qualify. 
• Median earnings of program completers must exceed the median earnings of adults aged 25-34 with only a high school diploma (or equivalent) in the state in which the program is located. 

Committee leadership had hoped that the BWPA would be voted on by the full House in late-February. However, there has been ongoing controversy in the form of an offset. In order to pay for the mandatory and discretionary costs associated with the implementation of Short-Term Pell, the BWPA has sought to either restrict access to certain federal financial aid or enact student loan related penalties on so-called ‘endowment tax colleges.’ Opposition to those restrictions and penalties has prevented the bill from receiving a vote by the full chamber.  

What is Happening with Short-Term Pell in the Senate? 

Last summer, a version of the JOBS Act was slated to be part of a workforce markup where several workforce-oriented bills would be considered by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). The markup ran into some roadblocks with the Senate’s proposed apprenticeship bill. Thus, consideration of that bill and all bills (including JOBS) slated for that markup were shelved. 

The Senate HELP Committee is gearing up once again to consider a package of workforce bills with a Memorial Day-ish target. At this point it’s unclear if that’s going to happen and it’s also unclear if JOBS (or a version of JOBS) would be part of that package. There is very little chance the Senate would consider the House’s BWPA as-is. HELP Committee Chair Sanders has a great deal of trepidation around the inclusion of for-profits and the Senate would also likely want to create their own marker on how short-term Pell Grants should be structured. Enthusiasm for short-term Pell is not as great in the Senate compared to the House, but it could still be included as part of a larger package of bills. 

Will a Looming Shortfall Impact the Prospect of Short-Term Pell? 

The new elephant in the room is a potential shortfall for the Pell Grant program.   Everyone who qualifies for a Pell Grant receives an award. The Pell Grant program operates with both mandatory funding and annual discretionary funding. Sometimes that funding covers all costs of the program and Pell has a surplus. Other times there is not enough funding, and the program has a shortfall. Pell has been in surplus for around a decade. Increases to the Pell Grant maximum award have been paid for largely using the surplus. Restoration of year-round Pell Grants was also paid for with the surplus. Generally, the plan was to also pay for short-term Pell Grants with the surplus. But recent projections show that the Pell Grant program is slated for a shortfall in the coming years. This adds an additional wrinkle to the passage of JOBS, BWPA, or any version of a short-term Pell bill as some will question the utility of adding additional students to the program at a time when the program may face financial challenges. However, this speedbump does not necessarily prevent Congress from passing short-term Pell, but it will likely add another layer of discussion.  

Sign up for our Making College Work campaign to keep track of all the latest developments on short-term Pell Grants.   

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The convening represents a continuation of NSC’s work focused on quality NDCs (QNDCs). It builds on NSC’s report from summer 2023, The Non-Degree Credential Quality Imperative, that shares NSC’s work with states to define and implement quality assurance for NDCs so that policymakers feel confident in investing in non-degree credentials, students have confidence in their training programs, and employers know which programs effectively prepare people for careers. NSC’s focus on data to understand whether and how NDCs lead to equitable and positive returns to learners is also connected to its recently launched Expanding College and Career Pathways Initiative, which seeks to increase college affordability, holistic supports, and completion of QNDCs that offer pathways to quality careers and further education. 

The goals of the convening were to: 

• Examine investments in non-degree credentials, programs, and data. 
• Identify progress states have made to understand and report on quality, outcomes, and impact tied to non-degree credentials, programs, and investments. 
• Unpack what it will take to leverage data for better transparency and decision making. 
• Create space for peer learning about how data can inform state investments, policies, and quality non-degree credential pathways to benefit learners and employers.
   

Texas provided the ideal location for this gathering, thanks to the landmark passage of HB8, a bipartisan bill that passed unanimously in the Texas Senate and was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbot . The new law will strengthen community colleges by establishing a new performance-based funding system that elevates and invests in credentials of value—including QNDCs. A panel of Texas state leaders set the stage for the day’s discussion, highlighting the importance of incentive-based funding, enhanced data collection, and diversified educational pathways for students. One panelist, Dr. David Troutman, Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Innovation for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), explained, “A lot happens in the community college world that falls under the radar. HB8 is allowing us to promote what has already been going on and to elevate and fund it.”   

Meeting participants came together to discuss what is currently happening in states and what it will take to move the needle in reporting on QNDCs and pathways. To ground the conversation, NSC shared a soon-to-be-published rubric for mapping state progress towards measuring and reporting on quality and equity for NDCs, focused on four key areas: 

• Data practices and capacities for robust measurement and transparency around the quality of NDCs and the outcomes for those who earn them.  
• Key data variables required to conduct a comprehensive analysis of NDC quality and equity. 
• Data policies, systems, and infrastructure necessary for putting the right data and data practices into action. 
• Data transparency and reporting requirements for making data accessible and usable for students and workers, employers, educations, and policymakers.   

Throughout the day, attendees reflected on progress-to-date, identified challenges, and exchanged ideas. From these discussions, several common themes arose:  

• Need for strong leadership, relationships, & stakeholder alignment – There is a need for definitional and strategic alignment to ensure parties are speaking the same language and working towards the same goals, both at a state and national level. Relationships and trust are critical to bringing different stakeholders to the table including higher education and workforce agencies, community colleges, the business community, and workforce development partners. States should ensure consistent communication and feedback loops for engaging partners in decision making.  

• Collecting the right data – A central need is more robust noncredit data collection and systems. Very little continuing education and workforce training data are currently included in state/college data systems, especially data on total costs of attendance (beyond tuition and fees) and longitudinal student outcomes (such as educational attainment, placement, retention, and wage data). It is also critical to disaggregate data to measure equity and tell the full story about whether students and workers are better off through participating in programs and receiving a credential.  
• Integrating data systems – The necessary data for analysis and reporting lives in multiple places and doesn’t always connect. States and colleges need better ways to link data sources and ensure information systems speak to each other, especially between credit and noncredit data systems, across agencies, and from third party sources. Much of these data are being collected manually because the systems do not exist to easily capture the information otherwise, creating challenges and capacity constraints across states, agencies, and colleges. 
• Making data dynamic & actionable – Creating dynamic data is a priority. Metrics don’t have to be permanent; they can change over time through learning about what metrics matter and as industry needs evolve. States are focused on getting data into the hands of the right people, including job seekers, counselors, advisors, and more in a way that’s consumable and can move the needle toward better education and labor market outcomes. Efforts are underway to invest in data modernization and share noncredit data and outcomes through accessible dashboards and online platforms.  
• Importance of data narratives – Participants highlighted that it’s not just about having the data, but about using it to share stories about learner experiences and outcomes with audiences ranging across funders, legislatures, students, and institutions to help them understand the value of these credentials and tell the full “credentials to careers” story . Combining qualitative and quantitative data can help humanize these outcomes.
   

As states increasingly invest in QNDCs and pathways, it is essential to equip decision makers with comprehensive data to understand QNDCs’ impact and outcomes for students and workers. These credentials present a remarkable opportunity to build momentum and deliver short-term wins for students and workers. By embracing diverse educational pathways, we can provide multiple avenues toward fulfilling careers.  Lee Rector, Associate Commissioner of Workforce Education for THECB, aptly remarked, “We can use this historic moment to bring workforce education out of the shadows,” shedding light on the opportunities associated with non-degree credentials for policymakers and workers alike. 

For more Making College Work updates and information on this initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates. 

The post Mapping State Progress and Opportunities for Non-Degree Credentials and Pathways appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Congress started debating proposals to expand Pell grants to short-term programs a decade ago. Over that time, non-degree credentials have transformed the educational landscape. There are currently hundreds of thousands of non-degree credentials offered in the U.S. including certificates, industry-based certifications, apprenticeships, and occupational licenses. Institutions of higher education have been at the center of this sea change: half of adults with a non-degree credential received their credential from a college/university, vocational/technical college, or community college.  

As federal legislation has stalled, several states have taken action to respond to this shift. For the past five years, National Skills Coalition has worked with states to define what makes a non-degree credential high quality and to adopt related policies. As Congress considers how to expand Pell grants to high-quality, short-term programs, it should draw on what states have learned about connecting quality credentials to good jobs, economic mobility and a more inclusive economy. 

In the face of industry and technological change, workers, businesses, and states are turning to non-degree credentials for upskilling.  

Working people and adult learners make up a big and growing share of today’s college students. One reason why: as industry practices and technology rapidly change, so do jobs and the skills they require. In this context, more adults are looking to quickly learn new skills or upgrade their existing skills so they can advance their careers and get ahead economically.  

Non-degree credential programs offer a way to do that, especially for those balancing upskilling with the responsibilities of a job and family. In addition to being occupation-specific, non-degree credentials tend to be more affordable and take less time to complete than a degree. That’s why it’s no surprise that nearly as many working-age adults have completed a non-degree credential program (40%) as have completed a college degree (46%), according to a 2020 Strada-Gallup Education Survey. Based on this trend, most states now include non-degree credentials as part of their postsecondary education attainment goals.  

People of color and women are actively pursuing non-degree credentials to improve their careers. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx working-age adults are more likely than white and Asian working-age adults to have a non-degree credential as their highest level of postsecondary experience, and women of color are overrepresented among non-degree credential holders.  

Several major companies and at least 13 states have shifted their recruitment strategies to skills-based hiring –prioritizing applicants’ skills, competencies, and experience over four-year degree requirements. Skills based hiring has the potential to open up opportunities to a broader, more diverse range of candidates. But, for skills-based hiring to work, we need a system for validating skills and competencies. That’s where quality non-degree credentials come in: they certify that people with a credential have a specific set of skills and competencies aligned with an occupation’s requirements and validated by industry leaders.  

States have created programs to make high-quality, short-term training more affordable, and the American public supports similar expansion of the Pell grant.  

The Pell Grant is the primary federal student aid grant program for students with low incomes. Unlike student loans, Pell Grants do not have to be paid back.  

Despite the growing prevalence of skills training in higher education, the Pell Grant program excludes students enrolled in short-term training programs that take less than fifteen weeks to complete. This means that adults with low incomes who are training to be phlebotomists, commercial truck drivers, and HVAC maintenance technicians are paying for programs out of pocket instead of accessing the same financial assistance available to people in workforce training programs that are just a few weeks longer.   

Given this gap in federal aid, states like Louisiana, Iowa, and Virginia have already invested in financial aid programs to support students enrolled in high quality, short-term training programs. And these investments seem to be paying off: for example, a recent study of Virginia’s FastForward grant program found that FastForward students are significantly more likely to complete their programs than comparable students in credit-bearing, short-term certificate programs awarded by Virginia community colleges. Seventy percent earned an industry-recognized credential, which is associated with a quarterly earnings gain of roughly $1,000 and an increased likelihood of being employed.  

The success of these states’ financial aid programs suggest that short-term Pell, a policy proposal that enjoys support from the broader American public, could help scale these benefits nationwide. Earlier this month, National Skills Coalition co-hosted a Congressional briefing with the National Institute for Civil Discourse, highlighting findings from their recent member survey. Eighty-nine percent of respondents expressed support for expanding Pell Grant eligibility to cover short-term workforce education programs with strong support from both Democrats (90%) and Republicans (88%). Respondents also strongly agreed that it’s crucial to ensure that Pell grants only support programs that effectively place them in higher paying jobs.  

A national survey conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies also demonstrated strong public support for short-term Pell, particularly among Black people and women. Sixty-four percent of all respondents, 74 percent of Black respondents, and 68 percent of women believe that allowing students to use Pell Grants to make short-term programs more affordable should be an important or top priority for Congress. 

States have identified five quality assurance criteria to determine which non-degree credentials provide value to working people, students, and businesses.  

Non-degree credentials can offer workers a pathway to better jobs and further postsecondary education and training. Research shows that a non-degree credential can lead to important employment and earnings gains, particularly for adults who have no other postsecondary experience. 

Still, not all non-degree credentials lead to career or educational advancement. When they don’t, they can entrench economic inequities that impact people of color and women. That’s why quality assurance is imperative.  

For the past five years, National Skills Coalition has worked with several states to define, measure, and track what makes a credential high quality. NSC and our state partners have determined that quality non-degree credentials should satisfy the following criteria: 

• There are substantial job opportunities associated with the credential.   

• The education and training program associated with the credential must include clearly defined competencies that align with skills requirements of associated job opportunities.  
• There is evidence that people have improved employment and earnings outcomes after getting the credential. Additional indicators of job quality like health or retirement benefits, sick leave, and regular, dependable hours also matter.   
• The credential is stackable to additional education or training through mechanisms like career pathway programs, credit articulation and transfer agreements, and credit for prior learning.  
• The credential is portable to a range of job opportunities and employers, providing the credential holder with more agency and career options among multiple firms. 

These quality criteria reflect what working people, students, and businesses most want from non-degree credentials. For working people and students, these criteria help ensure that non-degree credentials lead to job opportunities with better pay or compensation and that time spent in training counts toward future education. For businesses, these criteria help ensure that credentials are validated by industry leaders and serve as trusted indicators of workers’ skills and competencies.  

States have identified good, privacy-protected data as key to quality and equity.  

Good, privacy-protected data are essential to determining the quality of non-degree credentials, including whether credentials lead to better paying jobs. Disaggregating data on outcomes like employment and earnings by race/ethnicity and gender is key to ensuring that non-degree credentials promote racial and gender equity instead of intensifying inequities.  

States are also looking to use data to report program outcomes to policymakers and the public. Transparent, public reports on program outcomes allow working people and students to have timely and accurate information about program access, success, costs, and outcomes and give policymakers information they need to develop policies to support working people and students better and more equitably.  

At a February convening hosted by National Skills Coalition at Lone Star College in Houston, TX, a group of fifty state and national leaders came together to identify progress states have made to report on quality, outcomes, and impact of non-degree credentials. Participants underscored the important need for robust and integrated data systems, disaggregated data to measure equity, and mechanisms to share report information to students, workers, businesses, and policymakers so that people can make data-informed decisions.  

A number of the needs identified by state partners would be addressed at the federal level by the College Transparency Act. This bill would modernize the college reporting system to provide good, privacy-protected data on student outcomes like completion and earnings for all postsecondary programs. National Skills Coalition, along with the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) and 150 organizations are urging Congress to pass the College Transparency Act. In addition to benefiting workers and students, CTA can support businesses who are hiring.  

We need both quality credentials and quality jobs for racial and gender equity in the workforce.  

National Skills Coalition believes that every worker, in every industry, deserves good jobs that allow them to thrive economically. Equitable and affordable access to high-quality skills training and credentials are critical to that pursuit. So are efforts to disrupt occupational segregation and ensure that every job is a good job.  

Non-degree credentials exist in systems marred by longstanding racial and gender inequities. Research released this year by Urban Institute shows that while education does pay off, job quality disparities by race and gender exist among workers with the same levels of education due in large part to racism and sexism in the labor market. Indeed, Black and Latinx workers and women are concentrated in lower-quality jobs and industries.  

These inequities are not coincidental: work historically done by Black and brown people and women has been devalued and left out of worker protection laws. At the same time, racist and sexist laws, policies, and practices have created and reinforced occupational segregation.  

As we call on Congress to expand Pell grants to high-quality, short-term programs, we must also press Congress to invest in additional policies that work hand-in-hand with those programs to strengthen working people’s access to quality jobs and reduce occupational segregation. These include policies to invest in high-road industry partnerships and equity-focused career navigation and supportive services.  

And we must lend our voices to efforts to ensure that every job is a quality job. Affordable access to skills training and quality non-degree credentials will have an even bigger impact on working people’s economic well-being and an inclusive economy if every job has good wages and benefits, fair and safe working conditions, respect and agency, and equity and inclusion. 

To get involved in NSC’s efforts to make quality non-degree credentials more affordable and equitable, join our Making College Work campaign by signing up here. 

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