Bringing Together Student Bringing Together Student Success and Workforce Success and Workforce

Development: The Next Challenge Development: The Next Challenge for Community Collegesfor Community Colleges

James Jacobs, Ph.D. James Jacobs, Ph.D. Macomb Community CollegeMacomb Community College

Conference Presentation Conference Presentation

Visioning a Synergistic Future: Employers—Faculty—LearnersVisioning a Synergistic Future: Employers—Faculty—LearnersBellevue Community CollegeBellevue Community College

August 2, 2010August 2, 2010

Part IPart I

Increasing Significance of Increasing Significance of Community CollegesCommunity Colleges

Community Colleges are Getting Community Colleges are Getting National AttentionNational Attention

Community Colleges are now central to the future of American higher education

More federal, state and foundation policies are geared to promoting the work of community colleges

Enrollments in all institutions have continued to grow in both the credit and non-credit areas

Community Colleges are also Community Colleges are also Facing ChallengesFacing Challenges

More students coming to Community Colleges are underprepared for post-secondary experiences

Colleges are forced to do more with less

Foundations are interested in supporting student success initiatives

Emphasis on access gives way to success: Degrees and certificates matter Over 60% of community college students attend, but do not earn

credentials

What is Achieving the Dream?What is Achieving the Dream?

Multi-year national initiative More than 100 institutions, in 22 states, serving 1 million

students

Goal: Incremental improvement within, not compared to other institutions Active involvement of faculty, staff and administrators as well as

others within college community

Focus: Institution-wide commitment to student success Special focus on students of color and low-income students Success = 5 specific goals

Achieving the Dream Goals Achieving the Dream Goals

Successful completion of remedial developmental instruction and advance to credit–bearing courses

Successful completion of initial college-level courses in subjects such as English and Math

Complete courses taken with a C or better

Term-to-term persistence

Completion of a certificate or associate’s degrees

Breaking Through InitiativeBreaking Through Initiative

Multi-year national initiative 32 colleges in 18 states

Two State-level networks of colleges Michigan - connects dislocated works to postsecondary

education North Carolina - connects out-of-school youth to GED’s and

college

Goal: Strengthen the efforts of Community Colleges in helping low-literacy adults prepare for and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs

Focus: Concentrate on strategies that create more effective pathways through pre-college and degree-level programs

The Breaking Through Model The Breaking Through Model

Four main strategies:

Reorganize and Realign Colleges

Accelerate Learning

Assure an Economic Payoff

Provide Comprehensive Support

What does Student Success mean What does Student Success mean for Workforce Development?for Workforce Development?

Career preparation is critical to student success

Career preparation is the perfect place to teach both technical and foundation skills

Career preparation needs to be integrated into the general concerns of student success

Five Future Five Future Workforce Development TrendsWorkforce Development Trends

Greater ties with high school career technical programs through dual enrollment

Increasing access to four-year degrees through applied baccalaureate and university centers

Growth and development of “high end” technical programs which take more than two years

Utilization of “career pathways” as an organizing principle for all community college programs

Increasing participation of underprepared adults seeking skills for sustainable jobs

Looking Toward A New SynthesisLooking Toward A New Synthesis

There will be new “integration” between liberal arts and career preparation that will enhance student progress toward degrees

College preparation will become a more serious task for all disciplines—as student success will get more attention

Emphasis on learning pedagogy and teaching approaches to handle the diverse educational backgrounds of Community College students

Part IIPart II

What Does This Mean for What Does This Mean for Information Technology: Some Information Technology: Some

Evidence from a StudyEvidence from a Study

Growth in IT Jobs is ProjectedGrowth in IT Jobs is Projected

Employment Change

2006-2016

Job openings due to growth

and net replacement, 2006-2016

2006 2016 Number Percent

Computer support specialists 504,000 650,000 146,000 29 280,000

Network administrators 309,000 393,000 83,000 26.9 154,000

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

IT Degree Completions IT Degree Completions Have DeclinedHave Declined

Source: IPEDS

Completions of IT Degrees Nationally, 1990-2008

020000400006000080000

100000120000140000

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2001

2003

2005

2007

Year

Nu

mb

er

of

De

gre

es

Bachelors

Associate

Education and Certifications Education and Certifications for Tech Support Jobsfor Tech Support Jobs

Job Postings, Aug 08 - July 09

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Any E

dHS AA BA

Any C

ert A+

Micr

osoft

CISCO

Job Requirements

Per

cen

t

Detroit

Seattle

Education and Certifications Education and Certifications for Systems/Networking Jobsfor Systems/Networking Jobs

Job Postings, Aug 08 - Aug 09

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Any E

dHS AA BA

Any C

ert A+

Micr

osoft

CISCO

Job Requirements

Per

cen

t

Detroit

Seattle

Meaning of Degrees Meaning of Degrees Varies by Labor Market Varies by Labor Market

Qualities Expected in BA & AA Degree Holders

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

Technical Social NegativeMarker

Don'tknow/Not

clear

Qualities Expected

Per

cent

BA QUALITIES: DETROIT

BA QUALITIES: SEATTLE

AA QUALITIES: DETROIT

AA QUALITIES: SEATTLE

Meaning of Degrees: Qualities Meaning of Degrees: Qualities Expected in Degree HoldersExpected in Degree Holders

Positive qualities:

Technical – both specific technical skills and general skills, for example the ability to learn, think critically and problem solve

Social – motivation and discipline, career commitment, complete credentials, oral and written communication, ambition, confidence

Negative qualities:

BA: Entitlement, lack of real world knowledge

AA: Lack of ability, lack of academic focus, narrow focus, less skill than BA

Information Technology ProgramsInformation Technology Programs

Employers view educational credentials as an important differentiator in hiring practices

Post secondary education is needed for career advancement but varies by labor market

Certifications play different roles depending on the labor market

General Qualifications for General Qualifications for Entry-level IT JobsEntry-level IT Jobs

Technology skills are largely assumed

Communication skills are strongly desired, and employers associate them with education

Knowledge of business

Lessons for Information Technology Lessons for Information Technology ProgramsPrograms

Maintain ties with local labor market and develop career pathways based on these markets

Combine technical knowledge with foundation job related skills

Integrate degrees and non-credit offerings into comprehensive learning “bundles” for students, firms or workforce agencies to use

Focus on student success within the classes so students succeed

Part IIIPart III

What Does This Mean for What Does This Mean for Community College Workforce Community College Workforce

Programs?Programs?

Organizational ChangeOrganizational Change

Each Community College must balance its mission and strategic plan to fit the needs of the community it serves

All organization and re-organization stems from historical content and is a cultural process

The timing must be right and the process is never complete

Credentials In Community College Credentials In Community College Workforce Programs MatterWorkforce Programs Matter

Employers associate skills and work value with students who have specific credentials

Credentials indicate achievement

Credentials are determined by the specific labor market, local employer values, and the past interaction of sector with education

Brand Name of College MattersBrand Name of College Matters

Employers have preconceptions of colleges and programs which are important to recognize

Community Colleges are perceived differently depending on their overall role within this system

The college can help “make the labor market” i.e. develop both supply and demand for products

Some Organizational PrinciplesSome Organizational Principles

Deep and systemic knowledge of the local industry is important for colleges: it takes time and resources

College occupational programs should be simple to understand, prescriptive and not few in number

There needs to be a clear and demonstrated labor market pay-off

Relationship between credit and non-credit education is important to promote student success

Alignment of support services with programs are important

““The only adequate training for occupations The only adequate training for occupations is training through occupations”is training through occupations”

John Dewey , 1916John Dewey , 1916

QuestionsQuestions

jacobsj@macomb.edujacobsj@macomb.edu