Dr. Harry Holzer, Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University: New Research On How Educators Can Improve Alignment With The Job Market

When it comes to concerns about the performance of community college students, much of the conversation focuses on low completion rates and what should be done to improve them. But there's less attention given to why many students who do complete their programs are not earning credentials that are valued by employers. “It's really important that the institutions not only have high completion rates, but that their students have really good experiences in the labor market afterwards,” says Dr. Harry Holzer of Georgetown University, co-author of the report Creating Credentials of Value in Community Colleges with Amy Fagan of the American Institutes for Research. The report shows that top performers among the nation’s 1,000 public community colleges more consistently evaluate their programs to make sure they are keeping up with advances in various occupations and changing employer demands. In this WorkforceRx conversation with Futuro Health CEO, Van Ton-Quinlivan, Holzer reveals other key reasons for better performance, and takes a look at the broader workforce education picture, highlighting the work of sectoral training programs throughout the U.S. “These programs can achieve 30 to 40 percent earnings bumps that last a decade or more, so this approach works really well when it works."

Mentioned in this episode: Creating Credentials of Value in Community Colleges