Utilizing The National Science Foundation ATE Programs to Innovate Workforce Development

1
Utilizing The National Science Foundation ATE
Programs to Innovate Workforce Development

• James Jacobs
• Community College Research Center
• Teachers College, Columbia University
• National Council for Workforce Education
• February 1, 2007

2
The New Rules Governing Workforce Preparation In
America

• Part One

3
Work in America

• Direct labor and repetitive work shrinking as
  more demand for non-repetitive technical jobs
  grows
• College degrees are used as credentials at entry
  point for good paying jobsemphasis is on
  four-year degrees
• For incumbent workers, increasing emphasis on
  educational credentials for advancement on the
  jobthe internal labor market is also based upon
  degrees

4
Three Important Factors

• Greater skill level required as employers more
  often demand four-year technical degree for entry
  level jobs
• Response to state economic policy changes that
  argues degrees are central to economic
  development opportunities
• Response of the community college to the
  workforce needs of their community

5
Demand for High Skills Will Grow

• Demand for workers with BAs and technical AAs
  will grow
• The gap in wages between BA and AA graduates is
  growing
• Academic and generic content of skills is also
  growing

6
National Study of Adult Perception of Community
Colleges

• Public has high regard of community colleges as
  gateways to opportunity
• Positive view of community colleges and the role
  they play in workforce development
• At the same timecompared to four-year
  schoolsthey are considered inferior institutions

7
Increasing Policy Awareness of Community Colleges

• Growing demand for post-secondary education
  responsiveness toward economic development and
  workforce development needs
• Access is important, but new emphasis on
  outcomesdegrees matter to policy makers
• Increasing recognition of how little transitions
  between higher educational institutions actually
  workthe leaky pipeline

8
New Demands on Workforce Development Programs

• Must be able to integrate skills with degrees, in
  particular access to the four-year degree
• Must be based on emerging technologies, but as
  mediated within the particular industry
• Must supply foundation critical thinking skills

9
Knowledge Economy

• Poses new challenges skills higher than high
  school level are required for entry level work
• Disappearance of the wall between education and
  training
• What is the value of educational credentials in a
  period of continuous learning?
• What is the value of work-based learning?

10
Questions for Workforce Development Administrators

• As skill sets increase, should we exit certain
  occupations and concentrate on employers that
  will hire associate degree students?
• What is the commitment of the community college
  to the workforce development mission of its
  community?
• How can this happen and not alter the mission of
  the institution to serve the educational
  interests of low-income and low-skilled
  individualsis this just mission creep?

11
The ATE Program as Innovation for Workforce
Development

• Part II

12
Advantages of NSF ATE Programto Workforce
Development

• Concentration upon foundation STEM skills that
  are found in most expanding occupational programs
  in the knowledge economy
• Focus upon linkage with four-year programs and
  degrees
• Emphasis on new and expanding technologies that
  are non-repetitive and complex
• Demand driven insist upon employer input and
  based around faculty development of new curriculum

13
Important Program Features

• Emphasis on degree and credential completion
• Emphasis on curriculum integration which
  unskilled occupational programs and forces
  faculty collaboration
• Development of an industry-specific utilization
  of technology

14
Positive Impact of Workforce Development Programs

• Emphasize credit and degrees, not short-term
  training programs
• Focus on student employment their careers, not
  only company workforce strategies
• Recruit more minorities and women into technical
  programs and eventually jobs for students
• Integration of private sector representatives
  into the grant governance processnot clients,
  but partners

15
Impact of the NSF Programs

• Significant impact on the development of
  curriculum in new technologiesespecially in the
  information technology sector
• Significant impact through involvement of
  full-time faculty and interaction between liberal
  arts and technical faculty
• Significant impact on community college
  relationships with high schools and four-year
  institutions

16
Innovation Long Range Goals

• Break down the traditional distinction between
  liberal arts and technology
• Emphasis on understanding and application to the
  technical process
• Linkage to the four-year schools and earning
  degrees, not short-term customized training
• Use ATE National Center to develop and
  disseminate curriculum to other
  collegesencourage college learning networks

17
Issues to Consider When Adopting an ATE Program

• How to develop technology programs within the
  specific demands of industrycombination of
  sector and technology concerns
• How to develop meaningful faculty involvement
  that remains anchored within the real demands of
  industry
• How to sustain the program when the grant money
  runs out
• How to involve low-income students in the program

18
Summary

• ATE program a major success for community
  colleges and should be viewed as a potential
  lever for change in community college curriculum
  development and teaching
• Offers a new model to a major problem confronting
  the community colleges in the area of workforce
  development Most good-paying occupation programs
  are beginning to require a four-year degree

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For more information

• Please visit us on the web at http//ccrc.tc.colum
  bia.edu,
• where you can download presentations, reports,
• CCRC Briefs, and sign-up for news announcements.

Community College Research Center Institute on
Education and the Economy, Teachers College,
Columbia University 525 West 120th Street, Box
174, New York, NY 10027 E-mail
ccrc_at_columbia.edu Telephone [phone]
CCRC is funded in part by Alfred P. Sloan
foundation, Lumina Foundation for Education,
The Ford Foundation National Science Foundation
(NSF), Institute of Education Sciences of the
U.S. Department of Education