wisconsin technical college system

WISCONSIN TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

Adult Career Pathways –Moving to ScaleAmy Charles

July 2013

Challenges

Employers Want Skills• Ninety percent of employers in manufacturing, regardless of company size,

industry, or location, face a moderate to severe shortage of qualified skilled production employees, such as machinists and technicians.

• More than half of the employers surveyed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce considered it hard or very hard to find qualified workers to fill job openings, even in the midst of a slow economy.

Workers Need Skills• In the US, over the last generation, pay-off to college has grown

substantially.• Wisconsinites with college degrees have seen wages increase steadily;

those with less education are falling behind.• Washington identified the Tipping Point – a year of post-secondary

education culminating in a credential


Tomorrow’s Workforce


Origins


Preliminary Work• Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)• Madison Area Technical College• Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin

Joyce Foundation’s Shifting Gears• Regional Industry Skills Education• Goal: Increase the number of adults who earn postsecondary

occupational credentials• Strategy: Adult Career Pathways and Bridges• Target: 700,000 adults, without a credential beyond high school, in the

workforce and making less than the median wage

For employers: • Larger pool of qualified workers• Better pipeline to fill skilled jobs from

within• Higher retention, employee loyalty

For workers: • Predictable path to job advancement

and higher wages• More employer support; easier access to

education• More security

Industry With Jobs

High School or Less

Education

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Degreeor

Diploma ?Low Skill

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Credentials

Bridge


Adult Career Pathways – Basic Concept

Critical Components

Post-secondary Occupational

Education

Adult Basic Education/ELL

Support Services

6 WISCONSIN TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM

An Entry Point for All Learners

A Career Pathway Bridge helps adults in need of basic skills or English Language Learning succeed in a Career Pathway by integrating basic skills development into the college-level coursework of the first credential or credentials of an established Career Pathway.

Career Pathway Bridges accelerate students’ transition from pre-college to college level work and help them complete credentials.


The credits in the certificate below, plus:

Destructive & Nondestructive Testing – 1 Cr.Shielded Metal Arc Welding – 2 Cr.Oxyfuel & Arc Cutting Processes – 2 Cr.Flux Cored Arc Welding – 3 Cr.Gas Tungsten Arc Welding – 5 Cr.Customer Relations – 1 Cr.

Gas Metal Arc Welding Certificate (30-442-2) 15 credits

(plus Integrated and team-taught ABE for students who benefitfrom this instructional approach)

Integrated ABE Courses• Basic Reading Skills for Welders -- 1 • cr.• Basic Math Skills for Welders -- 1 cr.• Basic Communications Skills for Welders -- 1 cr.

Basic Blueprint Reading – 4 Cr.Safety in Welding – 1 Cr. Metallurgy Fundamentals - 2 Cr.Gas Metal Arc Welding – 4 Cr.Applied Tech Math – 2 Cr.Applied Comm -- 2 Cr.

Welding Technical Diploma (31-442-1) 29 credits

Continued instructional and student support services as needed

ABE and ELL Instruction and Skill-Building

Nicolet Area Technical CollegeGas Arc Welding

Efforts to date

• Established the need for Adult Career Pathways • Created definitions to anchor efforts• Established local base of support in colleges and workforce

programs• Created a data set to support new analyses of adult learning

trajectories and outcomes• Implemented a communications plan• Conducted data analysis of Pipeline data, created data storyline and

began to report results• Participated in multiple national efforts related to Adult Career

Pathways– Including AQCP (Association for Quality Career Pathways) a 10-state initiative to create benchmarks for quality career pathways measurement.


Taking Career Pathways to Scale

Expand Adult Career Pathways, including Adult Career Pathway Bridges, so they are offered in every technical college district and cover all major industry sectors and occupational clusters



Coordinated Development

Integrate ongoing Career Pathway work with sector efforts driven by Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and the Department of Workforce Development (DWD)

• See Sectors for your region at:http://inwisconsin.com/economicfuturestudy/



Partnering with the Workforce System

• All 11 Workforce Development Boards (WDB) are convening local Employment and Training partners Directory of Adult Career Pathways and Bridges– New website and Career Pathway Roadmap tool

• Job Centers– Re-structured services and staff to orient clients to Adult

Career Pathways • Clients meet with career advisors during first visits• Assigned staff have become “industry experts” to bring

industry-specific knowledge to the Job Centers


Expand pipeline data system to allow us to measure outcomes related to Adult Career Pathways and Adult Career Pathway Bridges, and continue to influence decisions on policy and program priorities.



Data Pipeline Study: Then and Now

• Initial RISE review of Data Pipeline Study• ABE is a small but significant feeder to postsecondary programs.

• ABE students who go on to PS programs are about as successful as those who start at college level.

• ELL students enroll in PS courses at very low rates. The ones who do, perform well.

• Program enrollment makes a big, positive difference for all groups in terms of earning college credits.

• Next steps• What specific services and/or instructional practices are necessary for success in an

Adult Career Pathway?

• How are an individual's wages improved by participation in an Adult Career Pathway?

• What is the ROI for students? Programs? Colleges?


Support Career Pathway implementation with a mix of public and private funding streams through state level program policies and collaboration ‐among local partners.



• US Department of Labor Grants– Workforce Innovation Fund

• Skills Wisconsin• Various sectors

– TAACCT Grant – Round 2• Making the Future• Manufacturing focus

– TAACCT Grant – Round 3• INTERFACE• IT/Computer Skills focus

• CLASP– Alliance for Quality Career Pathways Initiative

• Jobs for the Future– Accelerating Opportunity

• Initial discussions with philanthropic entities– Incourage and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation


Overview of Current Career Pathway Activities

• Further Integration of Student Services and Instructional Delivery

• Data-Driven Decisions• Defining the linkage to Performance-Based

Funding• Continued Communication and Outreach


Next Steps

• Capacity issues- students, class space and enrollment management issues

• Need more employer involvement to create pathway opportunities

• Funding strategies-Issues with Financial Aid• $$$$• Lack of consistent language state-wide• Willingness to fund programs collaboratively

across agencies.• Concern over Adult and Youth Career Pathways


Career Pathways Concerns

wisconsin technical college system

Documents

college degrees

welding technical diploma

college level work

collegelevel coursework

basic skills development

basic math skills

need of basic skills

basic communications