Changing Lives, Building a Workforce: Preparing Community College Students for Jobs and Careers

Changing Lives, Building a WorkforceSharePreParing Community CoLLege StudentS for JoBS and CareerS Changing LiveS, BuiLding a WorkforCePreamblethe importance of community colleges has never been as recognized by our country’s state and national elected officials as it is today. Community colleges are viewed as an essential, if not the most essential, resource in addressing the economic and workforce development needs of many regions and communities across the country. The 1988 seminal report issued by the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges called for expanding the “narrow backgrounds” of many community college students by expanding their career education focus to include general education along with job-specific skill training.1 The report encouraged overcoming departmental narrowness by integrating technical/career studies with the liberal arts. The concern was that all students should expand their horizons. In a sense, we are calling for a similar integration between career and job training and the liberal arts through the infusion of the essential foundational employability skills across community college programs. The motivation is simple. We know these foundational skills are important to performance in 98% of family-supporting jobs pertinent to and targeted by community colleges across the various occupational sectors, as well as to achieving success in occupational training/education-related programs. The nation’s community colleges receive well-deserved recognition for their excellent work. At the same time, many unaddressed needs forecast by the Commission on the Future of Community Colleges continue to be concerns today. Preparing individuals for success in aCt.org/WorkforCe | 1Sharethe workplace, having an individual’s skills aligned with opportunity, and empowering individuals by strengthening their career literacy skills remain—in part—unfinished business, and the documentation of this reality should be a compelling force for action.Community colleges are at the nexus of providing education and training that meet the skill requirements of the workplace.2 The demand for community colleges to train workers to be immediately productive has never been more critical than in today’s continuously changing technology- and information-based world economies.3 While recognizing their multi-faceted missions, community colleges will increasingly be valued and held accountable for how well exiting students perform in the workplace.4 Their attention and resources must increasingly align to the competencies and skills required by the workplace.This paper examines several challenges community colleges will need to address to meet workforce development demands and reach their full potential in preparing community college students for jobs and careers. The challenges identified are driven by our accumulated data sets that illuminate three important workforce pipeline gaps: skill, degree target, and planning. While our recommendations are not intended to be definitive answers, they are meant to contribute to the discussion, suggesting ways to help light the path for community colleges and to be responsive to changing workforce development needs. The demand for community colleges to train workers to be immediately productive has never been more critical than in today’s continuously changing technology- and information-based world economies. 2 | Changing LiveS, BuiLding a WorkforCe aCt.org/WorkforCe | 3ShareintroductionAs community colleges strive to prepare today’s students for in-demand, family-supporting jobs, workforce pipeline gaps exist that will challenge community colleges well into the 21st century— not the least of which is an increasingly diverse socio-demographic group often lacking readiness for college-level study. Drawing on data from our academic and workforce assessment data archives, we have identified three types of Persistent Gaps:the skills gap—Gaps in the acquisition of important work-related skills— including foundational and “soft” skills—between prospective workers and demands of job openings is surprisingly large in a workforce plagued by unemployment hovering around 9%.5 This skills gap reality includes a significant percentage of community college program completers.the degree target gap—Gaps between community college degrees awarded and job openings suggest we are not generating a sufficient number of individuals prepared for the job opportunities available in their community. While not an easy challenge to address, seeking closer alignment between programs offered and regional employment needs and opportunities requires attention. the planning gap—Our research points to a gap between the programs of study individuals are pursuing and family-supporting job opportunities. We have a challenge to address the limited “career literacy” skills individuals are bringing to the community college doorstep. 010203 4 | Changing LiveS, BuiLding a Workf