Resources & Publications: State Postsecondary Policy

• Mar 25, 2013  |  Allegra Baider, Vickie Choitz, Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, Marcie W.M. Foster, Linda Harris, Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Neil Ridley, Julie Strawn Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States This toolkit is designed to help interagency state teams identify and facilitate "braiding" of federal resources to design and develop career pathways and bridges into them for adults and out-of-school youth. The toolkit also will help state teams identify state policy barriers to using federal resources for career pathways and bridges and, ideally, address them. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Feb 27, 2012  |  Marcie Foster Shifting Gears Winter 2012 Newsletter The Winter 2012 edition of Transmissions is the last newsletter of the Shifting Gears initiative, which ended on December 31, 2011. Although this work is formally ending, we hope that other states and the federal government can benefit from the lessons learned from this groundbreaking work. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Feb 02, 2012  |  Marcie Foster Adult Education Funding Levels and Enrollment This fact sheet on adult education funding and enrollment trends shows that funding for adult education and English language services has declined by 17 percent from 2002 to 2012 in inflation-adjusted terms. At the same time, enrollment has declined by 27 percent, signaling concern that the system is unable to serve the growing population in need of services due to insufficient funding. Download PDF
• Jul 06, 2011  |  Elizabeth Kenefick TANF Education and Training: Oklahoma's Special Projects One in a series of briefs profiling promising approaches to supporting education and training programs under TANF in spite of the limits imposed by the federal rules. Download PDF
• Jan 26, 2011  |  Jodie Levin-Epstein and Vickie Choitz Career Pathways Lead Low-Income People Out of Poverty In a new Spotlight on Poverty webcast, Vickie Choitz, senior policy analyst with CLASP's workforce development team and co-author of Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States, discusses approaches to help low-skilled, low-income adults earn postsecondary credentials that lead to good jobs with family-sustaining wages. Read Online
• Nov 19, 2010 Webinar: Dollars and Sense - Using Federal Resources to Fund Career Pathways and Bridges Since career pathways initiatives intentionally bring together programming and services from a variety of state systems, states must often "braid" together federal funding sources to develop and sustain these efforts. To help states navigate the federal funding landscape, CLASP's Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success has released a new revised edition of Funding Career Pathways and Career Pathway Bridges: A Federal Policy Toolkit for States. Read Online
• Nov 04, 2010  |  Vickie Choitz Getting What We Pay For: State Community College Funding Strategies that Benefit Low-Income, Lower-Skilled Students Community colleges across the nation appear to be facing a "perfect storm" during which surging enrollments, tepid state funding, and strong accountability forces are colliding to severely threaten access to and completion of postsecondary education and credentials by lower-skilled and low-income students. This policy brief describes strategies state policymakers can use to realign community college financing--including tuition policies--to improve postsecondary access and success for lower-skilled and low-income students and to achieve stronger state economic health. Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Sep 13, 2010 Webinar: Helping Low-Income Adults and Disadvantaged Youth Earn Credentials and Build Careers: Leading Foundations Speak about Policy Priorities Postsecondary education and credentials are key to economic mobility for individuals and economic competitiveness for our nation. Yet too many low-income adults and disadvantaged youth are locked out of the opportunity to earn credentials and are falling further and further behind. To combat this national challenge, CLASP has launched a new project, the Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success (C-PES) and kicked off the initiative with a policy discussion featuring thought leaders from the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation. Each of these foundations has made improving postsecondary access and success a top priority. During this webinar, they discuss their specific policy priorities for helping lower-income adults and disadvantaged youth attain postsecondary credentials and achieve economic mobility. Read Online
• Sep 01, 2010 CLASP's new Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success Download PDF
• Jul 16, 2010  |  Josh Bone TANF Education and Training: Maine's Parents as Scholars One in a series of briefs profiling promising approaches to supporting education and training programs under TANF in spite of the limits imposed by the federal rules. Download PDF
• Jul 08, 2010  |  Julie Strawn Shifting Gears: State Innovation to Advance Adult Workers and the Economy in the Midwest Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Apr 14, 2010  |  Josh Bone TANF Education and Training: Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative One in a series of briefs profiling promising approaches to supporting education and training programs under TANF in spite of the limits imposed by the federal rules. Download PDF
• Apr 14, 2010  |  Josh Bone TANF Education and Training: Kentucky's Ready-to-Work Program One in a series of briefs profiling promising approaches to supporting education and training programs under TANF in spite of the limits imposed by the federal rules. Download PDF
• Apr 14, 2010  |  Josh Bone TANF Education and Training: Pennsylvania's KEYS Program One in a series of briefs profiling promising approaches to supporting education and training programs under TANF in spite of the limits imposed by the federal rules. Download PDF
• Mar 22, 2010  |  Evelyn Ganzglass, Andrew Reamer, Brandon Roberts, Whitney Smith, Rachel Unruh Recommendations for Incorporating Postsecondary and Workforce Data into Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Read Online   |   Download PDF
• Mar 12, 2008  |  Amy-Ellen Duke and Julie Strawn Overcoming Obstacles,Optimizing Opportunities: State Policies to Increase Postsecondary Attainment for Low-Skilled Adults This paper, by Amy-Ellen Duke and Julie Strawn, provides an overview of state policies that can be most successful in helping lower-skilled adults enter and succeed in college and careers. The paper introduces a series of state policy reports developed as part of Breaking Through, a national project that is helping community colleges identify and develop institutional strategies that can enable low-skilled adult students to enter into and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs at community colleges. Download PDF
• Dec 18, 2007  |  Amy-Ellen Duke Statement Prepared for the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance; Community College Symposium Community colleges play a critical role in increasing economic opportunity for adults by helping individuals move out of dead-end, low-wage jobs into careers that can support a family. In a statement prepared for a symposium on issues effecting community colleges hosted by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, Senior Policy Analyst Amy-Ellen Duke focuses on two areas integral to the success of low-income adults at community colleges--policies to support student success and improve developmental education--and highlights successful programs across the country. Download PDF
• Feb 21, 2007  |  Christopher Mazzeo, Brandon Roberts, Christopher Spence, and Julie Strawn Working Together: Aligning State Systems and Policies for Individual and Regional Prosperity Julie Strawn of CLASP coauthored this new report, from the Workforce Strategy Center, which asserts that the current systems are not working effectively to produce the kinds of knowledge workers need for our new economy. The paper examines state policy and system improvements that would enhance the ability of workers to gain skills to advance to better jobs and the ability of employers to find skilled workers. These improvements include increasing access to postsecondary education and training; enabling current students to succeed and complete marketable credentials; increasing transitions between literacy, language, and postsecondary education and training programs; incorporating employer demand and state economic priorities in educational planning; expanding the capacity of postsecondary institutions; and measuring program results. Download PDF