This article explores utilizing a post-graduation success lens to help community college leaders frame the challenges of achieving equitable improvement for their students. Specifically, it posits that providing and exploring customized labor market data presented in an accessible format can help institutional leaders provide a "true…

The U.S. faces increasing demand for STEM knowledge, contributing to enhanced products, improved health care, more efficient energy sources, a preserved environment, safeguarded national security, and economic growth. In addition, high-paying occupations increasingly require STEM knowledge, and in non-STEM occupations, workers increasingly need…

This study examines employment and earnings outcomes for Bachelor's of Applied Science (BAS) degree-holders who graduated from a Washington community and technical college baccalaureate (CCB) program in business, computer and information sciences, healthcare, and visual and performing arts. These graduates are compared to graduates from public…

Advancing technologies such as artificial intelligence and robots are steadily replacing jobs in the USA. Continuous skill-upgrading and re-skilling are critical for workers to remain employable throughout their careers. In these social and economic contexts, community colleges play significant roles to provide workforce education and training…

This study examines the employment and earnings of Washington Bachelor's of Applied Science (BAS) graduates in business, computer and information sciences, healthcare, and visual and performing arts. Complimenting research by Kaikkonen (2020), we report results of two studies that find high employment match rates and increasing annualized earnings…

Advancing technology such as artificial intelligence and robots is steadily replacing jobs in the USA. Continuous skill-upgrading and re-skilling are critical for workers to remain employable throughout their careers. In these social and economic contexts, community colleges play significant roles to provide workforce education and training…

This report outlines key data elements related to the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP), and Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) for the 2021-22 academic year and is a core resource for policymakers, institutional leaders, counselors and other stakeholders across the region. This report…

There has been growing national political interest in promoting community college education as a way of improving economic opportunities for disadvantages members of local workforces. Recent work mainly focuses on human capital gains, but few studies have investigated how community college credentials can affect the level of job prestige…

In this descriptive study, we use longitudinal student-level administrative records from 4 cohorts of high school graduates in Kentucky to examine the extent to which students persist and attain post-secondary credentials in the CTE fields of concentration they choose in high school. To our knowledge, this is the first paper to use student-level…

This report outlines key data elements related to the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP), and Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) for the 2019-20 academic year across a range of categories. This report contains participation and migration statistics for each of the Western Interstate Commission…

Deciding which field to study is one of the most consequential decisions college students make, but most research on the topic focuses on students attending four-year colleges. To understand how students attending community colleges make field of study decisions, I link administrative educational records of recent high school graduates with local…

Career technical education (CTE) programs at community colleges are increasingly seen as an attractive alternative to four-year colleges, yet little systematic evidence exists on the returns to specific certificates and degrees. We estimate returns to CTE programs using administrative data from the California Community College system linked to…

This paper presents a foundational classroom exercise used to help introduce the systemic and interactional aspects of the binary gender system, using 12 occupations selected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and personality characteristics from the Bem Sex Role Inventory. This activity was conducted in an introductory Diversity course at a…

A significant percentage of the former students who are surveyed by BC Student Outcomes every year have participated in STEM programs; that is, science, technology, engineering, or mathematics and computer programs, which include computer science and information technology-related programs. This fact sheet presents the outcomes of post-secondary…

For 65 years, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) has been serving the students of the West. The largest of WICHE's three Student Access Programs, the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE), helps more than 40,000 Western undergraduates save on nonresident tuition. The Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP) allows…