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TEXAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE WORKFORCE EDUCATION STUDY In late 2020, Texas community and technical colleges participated in a national study of community college workforce education. Texas was one of 14 states where education authorities volunteered to encourage colleges to respond early enough in 2020 to receive preliminary statewide results in January 2021. This brief compares Texas to the 14 states in this early-responder group. The goal of the study: to explore the innovation under way at community colleges across the US and highlight what these institutions are doing to put Americans to work as the nation recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. Early responders Credit and noncredit enrollment Percentage of students in credit & noncredit programs Community and technical colleges report abundant Texas community and 75% 25% information about students enrolled in credit-eligible technical colleges programs. Much less is known about learners Credit Noncredit enrolled in institutions’ noncredit divisions. This All early-responder 72% 28% study begins to address that gap, with a special states focus on two-year colleges’ noncredit workforce Credit Noncredit education programs and relationships with employers. In 2019, 75 percent of Texas community and technical college students were enrolled in credit-eligible programs; 25 percent were enrolled in noncredit programs. This is similar to the average across all early-responder states, where 28 percent of students were enrolled in noncredit programs. Noncredit programs Noncredit programs may include customized contract training provided for specific employers, occupational education programs open to all qualified students, remedial education, English as a second language and personal interest courses, among other types of instruction. In 2019, 43 percent of Texas noncredit community and technical college students were enrolled in occupational programs open to all qualified students – similar to the average in all early-responder states. Texas community and technical colleges All early-responder states 2% Occupational programs open to all qualified students Customized contract training 10% 17% 17% ABE/ESL/remedial education 43% 42% 22% Recreational or personal interest 16% courses 16% 16% Other Noncredit workforce education Credentials earned in noncredit occupational education programs Students who complete noncredit workforce programs generally earn a credential of some kind, sometimes several credentials. In Texas, roughly one-fifth of students who completed noncredit workforce programs earned industry certifications – somewhat less than the average in all early- responder states. Percentage of program completers who earned credentials The round dots in this figure show the average percentage. The lines show the minimum and maximum percentages across participating colleges. Texas communityand technical colleges All early-responder states 0% 60% 100% Noncreditcertificate 0% 55% 100% 0% 21% 100% Industrycertification 0% 36% 100% 0% 25% 96% Other third-partycertificationsuch as governmentcertification orlicensure 0% 23% 100% 2 Embedding industry certifications Unlike traditional academic credentials, which signal that students have attended and completed a course of study, industry certifications signal what learners know and what job-related tasks they can perform – occupation-specific knowledge and skills measured by tests developed by industry groups. Percentage of Texas community and technical colleges that embed certifications in credit & noncredit programs Credit programs Noncredit programs 11% 48% 41% Program prepares learners for the assessment 4% 64% 32% but does not require it 22% 67% 11% Require an assessment to complete 8% 72% 20% the program None Half of programs or less More tha n half of programs Funding Texas community and technical colleges look to a variety of sources to provide funding for noncredit occupational education, with almost half coming from students paying for tuition out of pocket. Funding sources The round dots in this figure show the average percentage. The lines show the minimum and maximum percentages across participating colleges. Texas community and technicalcolleges All early-responder states Formula-basedstate funding 0% 22% 60% and state grants 0% 16% 73% 0% 5% 29% WorkforceInnovation andOpportunity Act (WIOA) funding 0% 8% 50% 0% 9% 63% Employer-paid 0% 18% 100% 0% 48% 90% Self-pay 0% 42% 100% 0% 17% 100% Other 0% 16% 100% 3 Quality assurance Texas community and technical colleges use a variety of strategies to ensure the quality of noncredit occupational programs. All two-year public institutions in the state report using local employer input or regional labor market information to design or revise programs. How community and technical colleges ensure the quality of noncredit programs 100% 96% 96% 91% 71% 64% 38% 25% Programs are designed or revised Students earn industry Programs meet WIOA or Perkins Institution tracks post-completion regularly based on labor market certifications or licensure standards or are approved by the employment outcomes information or input from employers state workforce board Percentage of Texas community and technical colleges Percentage of community colleges from all early-responder states Leveraging noncredit learning for college credit Roughly one-fifth of Texas community and technical colleges report that noncredit students who later enroll in credit-eligible programs can leverage most or all of what they learned in a noncredit program for college credit ‘always’ or ‘most of the time.’ Colleges where noncredit occupational students who later enroll in credit-eligible programs can leverage what they learned for college credit 54% 45% 8% 12% 17% 21% 17% 20% 4% 2% Never Rarely Sometimes Most of the time Always Percentage of Texas community and technical colleges Percentage of community colleges from all early-responder states Demographics Many community colleges do not track demographic data for noncredit workforce students. In Texas, where data are available for 89 percent of the noncredit workforce student body, roughly two-thirds of that group identify as underrepresented minorities – African American, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian, two or more races or some other race. Overall, 60 percent of Texas residents identify as underrepresented minorities. Percentage of Texas community and technical college noncredit workforce students Percentage of Texas population 2%3% American Indian 2% 5% Asian American 12% 14% Black or African American 32% 41% Hispanic 40% 49% White Two or more races or some other race 4 Employer engagement Employers collaborate with community and technical colleges in a wide variety of ways, from offering occasional labor market advice to partnering actively to design and provide instruction. Employers offering customized contract Employers offering work-based learning, including training internships, apprenticeships and co-ops 7% Percentage of employer partners at Texas 48% community and technical colleges More about this study A total of 58 Texas community and technical colleges were invited to participate in this study in October 2020, and 28 responded by December 10, 2020, for a 48 percent response rate. This brief reflects the responses provided by participating colleges only and may not be representative of all community and technical colleges in Texas. Texas data were compared with data from 127 community and technical colleges in 14 early-responder states. All questions in the study asked about fiscal year 2019. Participating colleges could pass over questions they were unable to answer; missing responses were excluded from calculated percentages. As postsecondary workforce education evolves, so does the language used to describe it, and different educators in different states often use different terminology. The language used in this study represents an effort to find common ground but may not conform exactly with the terminology used in every state. The survey is still being administered in some parts of the country and is still open to Texas colleges that have not yet responded. For more information about this report, please contact Nicole MartinRogers at Wilder Research, 651-280-2682 or [email protected]. Authors: Nicole MartinRogers, Edith Gozali-Lee and Julia Miller JANUARY 2021