Staying Ahead of the Game: The Power
of Partnerships for Economic Growth
Tools for Communities That Work
Changing Courses: Instructional Innovations
That Help Low-Income Students Succeed in Community College
1Getting Ahead: JFF Surveys Low-Wage Workers on Opportunities for Advancement
Jobs for the Future has released the results of a national survey
of low-wage workers. Seven in ten workers who earn less than 200
percent of the federal poverty level want access to education
and training programs that can help them advance to well-paid
positions. Nearly one out of four low-wage workers have paid for
instruction out of their own pocket despite competing financial
commitments and family obligations, a strong indication of the
importance they place on advancing their education.
According to the survey, low-wage workers who have used government-sponsored
or other workforce development programs for job placement, education,
and career training have found them useful. However, the survey
results also suggest a gap in workers’ awareness of the
public system and their use of its services, a gap that better
outreach and marketing might narrow.
“The survey shows that helping workers secure services
they want is the key to making the Workforce Investment Act’s
billion-dollar investment pay off,” said JFF President Marlene
B. Seltzer. “Good workforce investment programs can spark
the economy by filling skills gaps, raising productivity, and
boosting personal income, but they can’t succeed if people
don’t know about them or have misconceptions about their
availability and value.”
The survey was commissioned by Jobs for the Future as part of
Workforce Innovation Networks (WINs), with funding from the U.S.
Department of Labor.
2Back to High School 2003: 20+ Early College High Schools Open
As the nation’s
schools opened their doors this semester, student pioneers in
Brooklyn and Los Angeles, Spokane and Dayton, Salt Lake City and
Tucson, and other cities from coast to coast entered a new breed
of public school with an unique mission: to produce graduates
who have both a high school diploma and two years of college credit
or an Associate’s degree.
“We know that postsecondary success is essential for economic
success in this country,” said Dr. Michael Webb, a program
director at JFF, which administers the Early College High School
Initiative. “This is a promising strategy and one that can
ensure all students have the opportunity to attain the education
to earn a family-sustaining wage, continue their education after
high school, and contribute to civic life.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with
Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation, has invested over $50 million to support
approximately 100 new schools over the next five years. The schools
eventually will serve tens of thousands of students, demonstrating
ways to better serve the intellectual and developmental needs
of young people who now fail to complete high school or drop out
in the first years of college.
3Preparing Urban Teachers: A Community Curriculum for Interns and New Teachers
The
Urban Teacher Training Collaborative is an innovative school-university,
school-based, Master of Arts in Teaching program developed by
Tufts University in conjunction with three small Boston Public
Schools (Boston Arts Academy, Fenway High School, and Mission
Hill School). Since January 2002, the collaboration has refined
and expanded its efforts to deeply acquaint UTTC student teachers
with the diverse communities and cultures from which their students
come. Preparing Urban Teachers: Uncovering Communities, by Eileen Shakespear of Fenway High School, Linda Beardsley of
Tufts University, and Anne Newton of JFF, documents a series of
UTTC seminars. Prepared with funding from MetLife Foundation,
the curriculum is a joint publication of JFF and the UTTC.
4Double the Numbers: Postsecondary Attainment and Underrepresented Youth
This
national conference, hosted by JFF, is designed to explore ways
to dramatically increase the number of underrepresented youth
who attain postsecondary credentials. Confirmed speakers include,
among many others: Blandina Cardenas (University of Texas at San
Antonio), Peter Ewell (National Center for Higher Education Management
Systems), Chester Finn (Thomas B. Fordham Foundation), Nancy Grasmick
(Maryland State Department of Education), Darryl Greer (New Jersey
Association of State Colleges and Universities), Kati Haycock
(Education Trust), Neil Howe (coauthor, Millennials Rising: The
Next Great Generation), Utah Governor Michael Leavitt, Diana Natalicio
(University of Texas, El Paso), and Tom Vander Ark (Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation).
The conference is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, with Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation,
and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It will take place in Washington,
DC, on October 23-24. Space is limited.
5Retention and Advancement in the Retail Industry: A Career Ladder Approach
In this new JFF report, Heath
J. Prince addresses the key elements in creating career ladders,
examines what makes career ladders work, and presents their potential
benefits to the retail industry. Given the importance of the industry
as both an entry point into the labor market for new workers and,
increasingly, as one in which more experienced workers make a
career, this report highlights the emerging role for workforce
intermediaries in the efforts to improve retention and advancement
in the retail industry. It also distills out key elements, common
practices and design principles employed by a number of different
career ladder models.
6Toward a National Workforce Education and Training Policy
In the next two years, the federal government is expected to
reauthorize a number of programs that affect workforce education
and training: the Workforce Investment Act, the Higher Education
Act, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Vocational Rehabilitation
Act, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, and the Carl
D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. According to Toward a National Workforce Education and Training Policy,
a collaboration of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning,
Jobs for the Future, and the National Center on Education and
the Economy, incremental changes in current programs and services
are needed but are not enough.
Now is the time to take a more strategic approach and create
a seamless, dynamic, and sufficiently funded workforce development
system for advancing the skills and credentials and productivity
of our entire workforce. The authors, Ray Uhalde of NCEE, Marlene
Seltzer of JFF, and Pamela Tate and Rebecca Klein-Collins of CAEL,
put forth a series of recommendations to help move the various
building blocks toward the creation of a national system for workforce
education and training.
Staying Ahead of the Game: The
Power of Partnerships for Economic Growth
Ensuring opportunity and economic productivity are challenges
facing all sectors of society and need many hands pulling together.
This is the theme of the 2003 national conference of the National
Network of Sector Partners. JFF President Marlene Seltzer will
moderate the September 12 plenary, “Hot Strategies for Staying
Ahead.” JFF’s Jack Mills serves on the NNSP Advisory
Committee and the conference Local Planning Committee. Staying
Ahead of the Game will take place September 10–13 in
Boston. Click
here for more.
Tools for Communities That Work The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute and a number of
other organizations are sponsoring a conference of ideas and innovation
on: retaining and increasing good jobs in the community; helping
workers find and prepare for those good jobs; and encouraging
strong and smart economic growth. The conference will take place
in Milwaukee, November 9-12. Click
here for more information.
Changing Courses: Instructional Innovations That Help Low-Income
Students Succeed in Community College:
As part of MDRC’s Opening Doors Project, JFF examined curricular
and program redesign strategies that community colleges are using
to speed advancement from lower skill levels into credential programs
and to shorten the time needed to earn a credential. Changing
Courses, by Richard Kazis and Marty Liebowitz, presents a
framework for understanding the range of experimentation taking
place in community colleges and identifies programs that exemplify
promising approaches. Click here
to download Changing Courses.
Getting Ahead: JFF Surveys Low-Wage Workers on Opportunities for Advancement
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