The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unprecedented wave of challenges for students, faculty, and staff. In March 2020, a thousand community colleges in the United States shifted to online instruction, which affected around 10 million students. Community colleges are used to responding to their communities during times of crisis. But individual…

In today's evolving economy, state policymakers, education leaders, workforce system leaders and employers are all looking for opportunities to meet rapidly changing workforce needs. Economists project that shortages of workers with postsecondary education -- some college, an associate degree, bachelor's degree or higher -- could lead to nearly…

Each year, governors take the stage to highlight accomplishments and outline policy priorities for their states. In an effort to provide up-to-date information on education policy trends, Education Commission of the States tracks all education policy proposals and accomplishments featured by governors in these State of the State addresses. At the…

In 2011, the Harvard Graduate School of Education released "Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century." The report argued that the current education system was too narrowly focused on the goal of preparing all young people to pursue a four-year college or university degree immediately…

This brief begins with a discussion of the composition of state leadership teams and organizing structures for supporting a Pathways to Prosperity Network initiative, and then describes effective strategies currently at play in the network states for jumpstarting work in the regions. It goes on to review state policies that support 9-14…

The "Dream It. Do It." campaign was launched by a community that cares about its growth, its future and the future of its young people. Launched as a joint initiative with the National Association of Manufacturers and its Manufacturing Institute in a bold and committed effort to fill the talent shortage looming for U.S. manufacturers,…

Volume 2 of a larger study to formulate an economic development program for St. Louis, this is a comprehensive economic profile of an inner city poverty zone designated as the Target Area (TA). Data are presented on age, sex, race, income, education, and other socioeconomic characteristics of the TA population, together with information on the…

This Plan for Postsecondary Vocational Technical Education is a work in progress to build a seamless technical education delivery system from secondary through postsecondary education to employment. The plan outlines mechanisms to heighten citizen awareness of the critical importance of technical human resources to the state's economy. Similarly…

In April 1998, Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education established basic indicators against which outcomes of the state's investments in postsecondary technical education are measured. One year later, the Coordinating Board approved a set of performance measures to be used to guide research on the results of Missouri's postsecondary…

To assess the status of and need for vocational-industrial education within Jefferson county, and to provide a more objective basis for program and curriculum development, data were gathered on (1) employment opportunities within the labor market area, (2) student interests in vocational-industrial education, and (3) the financial potential of the…