In 1994, the Mississippi legislature enacted the Workforce Education Act, Senate Bill 2955, which called for the creation of One-Stop Career Centers affiliated with each community college district. The mission of the One-Stop Career Centers was to provide assessment, training, and placement services to individuals needing training, retraining, and…

This document is a report on the Wisconsin Technical College System's (WTCS) benefits to community college students and the overall state economy and welfare. The report shows how the WTCS rates, using the Association for Community College Trustees' (ACCT) model for measuring the economic and social benefits of technical colleges to their…

This report follows an initial study that identified evolving best practices in workforce development. The prior study defined three themes that reflect a developing consensus among policymakers and researchers and point to the opportunities for a career pathways model. These themes included: (1) individuals need some form of postsecondary…

The 25 colleges of Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology have strategic directions built upon new programs services, accessible diverse learning options, state-of-the-art learning technology, innovative alliances with business and education, and inter-institutional resource sharing. Yet the implementation of these strategic directions…

The issue of credentialing and certification has become a major topic of discussion in America's community colleges. At the heart of this issue is the movement of private sector companies into areas previously viewed as the province of higher education: education and training, assessment of competencies, and the awarding of credentials that carry…

The purpose of this project was to review the use of price measures in education and training and to consider the types of measures that could be applied. There are several contexts in which price measures are needed and the context will affect the type of measure of price change that is needed. Section 1 of the report discusses budget estimates…

Nationwide, public attention has increasingly focused on the need for a variety of early care and education arrangements to meet the changing needs of families. The demand for early care and education has grown for families from all socioeconomic sectors, intensifying as participants in welfare-to-work programs enter the workforce, and as work…

Extensive research has focused on factors that hinder the advancement of women in organizations. However, scarce literature exists about factors that facilitate such development. This paper reviews recent scholarship on women at work, through an analysis of existing literature, in order to identify factors that facilitate the advancement of…

Through further implementation of distance education, Chinese Taipei may both continue and increase its economic development. The benefits of lifelong learning have been demonstrated in the past 30 years by the economic growth and labor force skills development in Chinese Taipei. The founding of the National Open University, in 1986, with its…

This paper describes a policy exercise on education and the new economy held in Aspen, Colorado, in June 1997. The exercise was designed to help the National Center for Research on Vocational Education understand the development of education and training in the near future. The exercise took advantage of expertise in social gaming developed at…

Drawing on case studies of six urban community colleges, this report examines the community college mission with respect to economic and workforce development and describes model partnerships involving colleges, community-based organizations, government, and social service organizations to create pathways to employment for the urban poor.…

A study was undertaken to examine the factors that influenced the decision of firms to provide training for their employees. It also identified the types of training provided, how the training function was organized and administered within firms, and the extent to which firms provided formal training programs for their employees. The study was…

The study reported in this book investigated the capacities, capabilities, and potential of predominantly minority two-year colleges to provide a skilled workforce and assist minority-owned businesses with industrial modernization. The underlying research hypotheses are as follows: (1) certain segments of the populations are underrepresented in…

The fall 2001 issue of New Directions for Community Colleges discusses the changes in policy and practice of vocational education at community colleges. The 10 chapters included in this volume are: (1) "Opportunities and Challenges for the New Vocationalism" by Debra D. Bragg; (2) "The Role of Leadership in Successful Vocational Initiatives" by…

This is a qualitative study of four women receiving assistance through the Trade Readjustment Act (TRA) and who were enrolled in a developmental writing course. The TRA provides money to displaced workers for the purposes of retraining them to reenter the workforce. The four women in the study were nontraditional students and displaced garment…