The Landscape of Noncredit Workforce Education: State Policies and Community College Practices and Winning the Skills Race and Strengthening America’s Middle Class: An Action Agenda for America’s Community College.

The final report provides detailed findings on state policies and community college practice from CCRC’s study of community college noncredit workforce education. Drawing on interviews with state policymakers in all 50 states and case studies of 20 community colleges in 10 states, the report offers recommendations for policy and practice.

Noncredit workforce education can play an important role in responding to local labor market demands, while also connecting students to long-term educational opportunities and documenting outcomes in a meaningful way.

By: Michelle Van Noy, James Jacobs, Suzanne Korey, Thomas R. Bailey & Katherine L. Hughes — January 2008. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University

Full Study: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=572

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Strengthening America’s Middle Class: An Action Agenda for America’s Community College.

American community colleges are the nation’s overlooked
asset. As the United States confronts the challenges
of globalization,
two-year institutions are indispensable to the American
future.

They are the Ellis Island of American higher
education, the
crossroads at which K–12 education
meets colleges
and universities,
and the institutions
that give many students the tools to navigate
the modern world.

In the century since they were founded, community colleges have become the largest
single sector of American higher education, with nearly 1,200 regionally accredited
two-year colleges
enrolling 6.5 million students annually for credit (nearly half of
all American undergraduates) and another 5 million for noncredit courses.

Students
range in age from teenagers to octogenarians, annually taking courses in everything
from English literature, biochemistry, and statistics to foreign languages, the arts,
community development, emergency
medical procedures, engine maintenance, and
hazardous waste disposal.

Full Report: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/prof/community/winning_the_skills_race.pdf