Recent Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act legislation in the United States has initiated increasingly complex and multi-tiered systems for program implementation in the adult learning, career training, and workforce development sectors. The paper presents a conceptual framework to assist in understanding capacity building for implementation…

Our nation's economy and global competitiveness depend on an educated, skilled workforce that can quickly adapt to changes in technology and business processes. Adult educators understand that adult learners need opportunities to obtain workplace and career management skills through work-based learning experiences that prepare them for the complex…

In this second annual summary of the their work, the Investing in Community Initiative provides practical advice for community leaders and policymakers around four critical issues. First, how should local needs be defined? Chapter 1 argues that data about local economies can show whether communities are best served by creating new jobs,…

Despite legal mandates and evidence of predictors of success in transition, there continue to be poor outcomes for students with disabilities as compared to students without disabilities. This article describes the first steps of a quality improvement project, including a needs assessment and description of the current constraints of transition…

The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) has achieved particular success in operationalizing the National Higher Education and Workforce Initiative (HEWI) in Maryland around cybersecurity. Leveraging its membership of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and government agency leaders, BHEF partnered with the University System of Maryland to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that training designers can, and should, account for organizational culture during training needs assessments. Design/methodology/approach: Utilizing the approach and arguments in Giddens' structuration theory, the paper conceptually applies these tenets to training and development programs…

This is the first in a series of Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) playbooks intended to assist companies, higher education institutions, private philanthropies, membership associations, professional societies, government agencies, and other stakeholders seeking to understand the potential value of investing in coordinated strategic,…

The American Association of Community Colleges' (AACC) Plus 50 Initiative (2008-2011), funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, was created to build the capacity of community colleges nationwide to develop programming that engages the plus 50 learner. The Initiative supported a pilot group of 13 two-year institutions to develop or expand college…

Training needs analysis, training program planning, pilot sessions and their evaluation, and follow through sessions on a continuing basis are examined, using an approach applicable to an outside or inside trainer. (LH)

Of 13 New York adult educators and directors of General Educational Development, English as a second language, and work force preparation programs, 12 used needs assessments. Assessment data were used most often for program redesign/development and teacher planning. They recommended involving students, using a variety of methods, administering…

Presents an annotated bibliography of documents from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Junior Colleges which would be useful to educational planners and manpower specialists who need plans of action in order to achieve a balance between the outputs of education and the requirements of industry and business. (MB)

Four human resource managers present their recommendations for establishing training/human resource development departments. They discuss the following elements: chief executive office support, the role of formal needs analysis, the role of operating managers, market research, and having a sense of teamwork. (CT)

These five papers are from a symposium that was facilitated by Michael Leimbach at the 1995 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (HRD). "Developing Systems Thinking Ability in Organizations" (Carol Ann Zulauf) reports a study that examined the relationship between cognitive complexity, locus of control, and selected…

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…

A useful, values-oriented human resource development (HRD) program evaluation approach is one that is empirical with its orientation derived from a social/technical perspective. The optimum mix between the technical skills of evaluation and the required social skills of evaluation delivery is crucial for the quality assurance process. The core to…