Skills have long been associated with productivity and economic well-being. A large body of evidence shows the value of academic and technical skills in the workplace. And in recent years, soft skills--skills that make for an effective employee, such as time management and communication--have also become increasingly valued in the workplace.…

This report summarizes the two-year findings of a rigorous random assignment evaluation of the WorkAdvance model, a sectoral training and advancement initiative. Launched in 2011, WorkAdvance goes beyond the previous generation of employment programs by introducing demand-driven skills training and a focus on jobs that have career pathways. The…

New York's workforce system is a complicated entity that engages nearly a dozen state agencies and myriad funding streams originating at the federal and state levels, and operates on the ground in ten economic development regions, 33 designated workforce investment areas, community-based organizations, labor unions and 62 counties. This report…

This report summarizes the two-year findings of a rigorous random assignment evaluation of the WorkAdvance model, a sectoral training, and advancement initiative. Launched in 2011, WorkAdvance goes beyond the previous generation of employment programs by introducing demand-driven skills training and a focus on jobs that have career pathways. The…

The Learning and Skills Network's (LSN's) think tank, the Centre for Innovation in Learning, in association with the 157 Group, the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) and the Association of Colleges (AoC), has undertaken timely and important research into how to support and improve employer engagement in the further education (FE) and skills…

A key factor in the successful development of workplace learning is employer engagement (Leitch, 2006; DfES, 2007). However, despite numerous approaches by government in the United Kingdom to bring together employers, providers and learners so that economic success is generated by a skilled and flexible workforce, there continue to be challenges…

This document reviews the progress of the Employment Training (ET) initiative for employed adults in Great Britain. The document begins by explaining the changing context in which the project is operating, which includes a downgrading of the alternatives to ET, increased participation in ET, and increased employer involvement in ET. The response…

In an effort to explore the relationship between employed students and community colleges, this paper provides a extensive review of the literature on business and industry connections to higher education. First, introductory material examines the lack of comprehensive training programs in U.S. business/industry and the dearth of evaluative…

This volume, the second in a series of three, contains the reports of six European experiments that were part of a process of cooperative monitoring of a project on adult education and community development. The theme of these experiments is "responses to unemployment and to the consequences of economic restructuring." The six…

Recent evaluations of manpower training claim that: (1) nonexperimental methods produce unreliable estimates of program impacts and (2) randomized experiments are necessary for reliability. National Supported Work Demonstration data are used to reexamine nonexperimental estimates of net program impact on posttraining earnings of high school…

Two studies used experimental data to evaluate nonexperimental methods of program evaluation for employment and training programs. Results of both studies indicated that the nonexperimental methods might not accurately replicate the experimental estimates. Also, new methods for constructing comparison groups yielded little improvement over…

In anticipation of federal welfare reform, the Texas Department of Human Services developed and implemented the REFOCUS program, designed to enhance the economic self-sufficiency of English-as-a-Second-Language recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) through better use of existing education, job training, employment, and…

The reports are presented from three Cooperative Monitoring Groups of the Council for Cultural Cooperation. The groups studied 14 projects that contributed to local and regional development through their provision or encouragement of the provision by others of adult education and training as a component of that development. A brief introduction…

The Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) administers programs and activities designed to help veterans obtain employment and training assistance. By establishing one-stop centers for employment services, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) affects how VETS serves veterans. VETS has made some progress and improvements with regard to its…

A strategic planning process for work force development has been proposed as the best way to improve the coordination of Utah's many employment and training programs. At both the state and federal level, it is widely recognized that employment and training issues have not been addressed in a very coherent way. Both the federal and state…