This playbook provides ways in which Governors and teams can blur the lines between high school, postsecondary education, and the workforce. Governors play a significant role to Raise the Bar for student success by developing an "education-to-workforce system" that focuses on Unlocking Career Success.

Increasingly, companies are dropping four-year degree requirements in job postings, favoring skill-based requirements--such as communication and writing--instead. These types of nonacademic "soft skills" are viewed as essential for employment--employers consistently cite these abilities as among the most valuable in job applicants, yet…

Investing in education and training for all is a key priority for the European Union (EU). The importance of education and training, in order to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, is recognised in the Europe 2020 strategy, with two of its headline targets focusing specifically on education and training. The European Pillar of Social…

The rapidly changing economy is raising the stakes on states to address the skilled workforce needs of employers and to expand economic opportunity to more people and places. To guide the policy actions of states, Jobs for the Future (JFF) designed a comprehensive policy agenda for increasing attainment of postsecondary credentials valued in the…

Prior research has classified strategies to facilitate adult learners' transitions to postsecondary opportunities into five broad categories: advising, General Educational Development-plus (GED-plus), English as a second language, career pathways, and college preparatory (Zafft, Kallenbach, & Spohn, 2006). This two-part study relied on…

"Accelerating Opportunity" responds to the nation's growing need for improved pathways from Adult Basic Education (ABE) to credentials of value in the labor market. It builds on promising practices developed in "Breaking Through," an initiative of Jobs for the Future and the National Council for Workforce Education, and…

Nearly every high-priority item in national, federal, state, and local discussions about education--and policy proposals across the political spectrum--requires high-quality longitudinal data to inform its design, implementation, and evaluation. This factsheet shares Data Quality Campaign's (DQC's) analysis of what "Data for Action 2011:…

With the national spotlight on community colleges, Wyoming is poised to become a leader through its efforts to align the programs of its seven community colleges with defined state interests. As local economies become more globally focused and knowledge-based, community colleges are a critical way for learners to gain access to postsecondary…

To address key policy and programmatic questions and help improve student and system performance, states must work to link data across the early childhood, postsecondary and workforce (P-20/workforce) spectrum and share this information with appropriate stakeholders. This issue brief highlights current efforts in California, Florida, Indiana, and…

Discusses "Developing Career Education at the College Level" by Robert Reardon, which indicates the level of effort required to implement comprehensive programs. The benefits to students include smoother school-to-work transition, better relationships, and improved instruction. (JOW)

Describes four aspects of the 1990 Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology and Education Act Amendments and indicates their importance. Basic funds may be spent to integrate academic and vocational training using a job-skills training context and to provide needy students with supplementary services ensuring their participation. Includes…

In Spring 1997, ITT Technical Institute, a private technical college, initiated a partnership with a Wisconsin high school based on offering ITT electronics courses to junior and senior high-school students. The program has benefited both students and teachers. Implementation steps are outlined. (MLH)

This booklet offers guidelines on how to set up school-employer partnerships based on how others have planned, organized, operated, promoted, and funded their programs. This document describes the following strategies that work in school-to-work transition: (1) developing and maintaining partnerships; (2) planning; (3) learning; (4) anticipating…

This annotated bibliography contains 55 citations of materials that contain information on transitional programs for the physically or mentally challenged or disadvantaged students. Citations include descriptive, evaluative, and research reports; guides; information analyses; opinion papers; and reference materials. Materials for inclusion in this…

The Patterns of Linkage project investigated the assumption that linkages between training institutions and employers can reduce discrepancies between training programs and employer demands, and hence increase the employability of youth. The purpose of the study was to examine and describe patterns of linkage between training institutions and…