Workforce Monitor Weekly - Dec. 12, 2021 - Collecting Data, Certification Paths, WFD Orgs.

The Non-degree Credentials Research Network (NCRN), a project of George Washington University’s Program on Skills, Credentials & Workforce Policy (PSCWP), hosted an informative webinar on  Dec. 1, 2021 titled “Innovations in Community Colleges & IPEDS Update.” The webinar featured two complementary presentations on non-degree credentials given by Tamar Jacoby, President and CEO of Opportunity America, and Tara Lawley, Postsecondary Branch Chief, Administrative Data Division at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

In this reprint of the first chapter in the Handbook of Research on Credential Innovations for Inclusive Pathways to Professions, recently published by IGI Global, Uranis et al. from Workcred and APLU’s Coalition of Urban Serving Universities provide a standard framework for how and why certifications can and should be embedded into undergraduate degree programs. 

Here’s our beginning foray into building a list of workforce development-oriented organizations. Please contact us if you’d like to be considered for inclusion in this list.

Ivy Tech Community College (ITCC) is using the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund as a springboard to rethink and redesign what credential attainment and skill development can look like for learners across their system.

IBM (NYSE: IBM)  announced yesterday a global plan to train around 30 million people by 2030 on technical skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.

Although most first-year students intend to participate in a range of career-building activities, fewer seniors reported having these experiences. Networking, informational interviewing, and visiting with career services staff have the largest gaps.

NSSE, the gold standard for student engagement, took its first in-depth look at career prep and found that students need more help building social capital.

We know a college degree is required for many jobs in the United States. Yet nearly two-thirds of Americans never earn a degree. Google’s Lisa Gevelber, chief marketing officer for the corporation’s Americas region, says short-term credential programs could be the key to improving career opportunities for more people — and they might even create a more equitable labor market in the process.

High school seniors are applying to many more colleges this year, if they can afford it.

Some 16% of Americans have ever earned money from an online gig platform. While most gig platform workers say they have had a positive experience with these jobs, some report facing on-the-job troubles like being treated rudely or sexually harassed.

Equity and voice must be part of the job quality strategy—our new framework has both.

Free community college was a good idea, but to truly help low-income students, we need to think bigger.

The Great Resignation is upon us. In September alone, about 4.4 million workers walked away from unfulfilling or low wage jobs, looking for more promise, purpose, and pay. Community colleges are stepping up to offer Americans paths to careers, but the route from college to job isn’t always clear.

Covering “The Future of Work” (FOW) can be a tall task. The word “future” obviously entails prognosticating, a verb that means foretelling, predicting, prophesying, etc., which is also obviously not an exact science. Yet, we see plenty of prognostication-oriented literature all over the place.