Improving Workforce Readiness Skills Among Community College Adult Learners Through New Technologies:

Employers report struggles to find work-ready candidates who possess a desired combination of job-specific technical, general math and reading, and social and behavioral skills. Community colleges are ideally situated to address these shortages, delivering a trained local labor force and often collaborating directly with employers and regional development boards to ensure the employability of their students and the economic vitality of their regions. One tactic to address these shortages is to introduce trainings geared directly toward soft and basic skill development. This paper presents case studies of two schools that use technology-enhanced trainings to incorporate work-readiness skill trainings in career technical education programs that are (1) flexible and learner-centric due to technology-enhanced delivery, and (2) use evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies to promote soft skill and literacy expectations. The trainings were provided by a non-profit education research and measurement company, which served as developer and research partner for the community colleges. Results demonstrate adult learner satisfaction and commitment with these blended learning and mobile technology solutions. Factors that facilitate training success, which include securing student buy-in and developing collaborative partnerships, are discussed.

What Does It Mean to Be College-Ready for Career Technical Education?

Objective/Research Question: Surprisingly, little research explores the literacy practices specific to career technical education (CTE) courses at the postsecondary level, yet the number of students coming to college needing literacy support continues to increase. There is a need for focused research on what constitutes college-readiness. The study described in this article addresses this overarching issue by exploring the text expectations, including text types, tasks, and goals in both CTE courses and developmental reading (DR) courses to determine whether, how, and to what extent text expectations align across the DR and CTE courses. Methods: This multisite research project involved three community colleges in one Midwestern state. Data sources included surveys, focus groups, and textbooks for all courses. Data collection procedures were comparable for each type of data, across all study sites, focal tracks, and constituency groups. Results: This study’s findings suggest a lack of alignment between the DR courses and the introductory-level CTE courses, on a number of levels. Conclusions/Contributions: This study’s findings suggest a need to continue investigating what constitutes college-ready for reading, across multiple disciplinary and career technical areas.

Secondary Transition Predictors of Postschool Success: An Update to the Research Base

Research suggests youth with disabilities are less likely to experience positive outcomes compared to peers without disabilities. Identification of in-school predictors of postschool success can provide teachers (e.g., special education, general education, career technical education), administrators, district-level personnel, and vocational rehabilitation counselors with information to design, evaluate, and improve transition programs. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to examine secondary transition correlational literature to identify additional evidence to support existing predictors and identify new predictors of postschool success. Results provided additional evidence for 14 existing predictors and identified three new predictors. Limitations and implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Career Pathways

Numerous transformations have taken place in the workplace during the past several decades, combining to produce a dramatically different career landscape for individuals, educators, and organizations. Career pathways is a workforce development strategy that can be used to support career development activities and transitions across school and work roles. Adopting a career pathways framework and approach can help guide educational institutions in teaching students competencies that will increase their employability and can also help organizations develop people strategically, build engagement, and improve retention. In this book, a wide variety of critically important career pathway topics are addressed, including the role of career technical education, apprenticeships, and career support in career pathways; proactivity and career crafting; the gig economy and emerging career pathways; the role of data analytics in providing career and workforce insights; and career pathways for late career workers. It includes case study chapters that provide important practical insight into the development and use of career pathways in both educational and workplace settings. This book brings together leading workforce researchers and practitioners to provide new perspectives on school-to-work and workplace career pathways. It shows how career pathways can help individuals and organizations succeed in today’s workplace and in the workplace of the future.