DCT Advisors is pleased to have the opportunity to support this initiative.

• Green training for current, future and unemployed workers in building, construction, retrofitting, and installation occupations;
• The development of a new community and technical college GREEN-UP certificate program, the new wind energy technology program at Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, and new water and wastewater treatment programs at Marshall Community and Technical College;
• The development and implementation of community and technical college courses that teach basic and green technical skills in combination, as well as green entrepreneurship for those interested in starting green businesses; and
• Professional development for career center, registered apprenticeship program and community and technical college faculty to assist them in incorporating green concepts and skills into classes and programs.

The West Virginia GREEN-UP Council, along with five regional teams, will coordinate grant activities.

DCT Advisors LLC is pleased to have been able to assist WorkForceWV in obtaining this grant and looks forward to working with WorkForceWV on initial project start-up and facilitation of GREEN-UP Council activities over the next several years.

Creating an education pathway from apprenticeship training to associate’s degree: It’s a good thing.  Creating an additional pathway from associate’s degree to bachelor of applied science degree?  That would be a really good thing.

Given to organizations pursuing promising higher education innovations, the FIPSE grant will support the System’s Integrated Pathways for Adult Student Success (I-PASS) initiative aimed at addressing the need to expand high-need enrollment, particularly among adults; strengthening Adult Basic Education and Developmental Education; and improving persistence and completion rates.

Major initiatives focus on educational pipeline expansion and leakage reduction, with resources being devoted to an accelerated I-BEST exploratory curriculum involving early career planning, expanded learning support center services, and counselor/ coaches as primary points of contact for adult students, as well as improved recruitment strategies.

Last week the Democratic Leadership Council issued a report titled: “A Matter of Degrees: Tomorrow’s Fastest-Growing Jobs and Why Community College Graduates Will Get Them.” For the record, the DLC was formed in 1985 (shortly after Ronald Reagan’s resounding defeat of Walter Mondale for the United States Presidency) by a group of Democrats convinced that the party had moved too far to the left.  Despite its rightward leanings, the DLC recently has embraced much of President Barack Obama’s political agenda.

The report ostensibly makes the case for President Obama’s plan to increase the federal investment in community colleges.  The report cites Bureau of Labor Statistics data that suggest that there will be 2 million new jobs requiring an associate’s degree or post-secondary training over the next decade (actually 2006 through 2016) and that jobs requiring an associate’s degree will grow at almost twice the rate of occupations overall (18.7 percent vs. 10.4 percent).  Importantly, 1.3 million of those jobs make the hot jobs list, meaning above-average growth and above-average wages.  The report focuses on jobs associated with health care and education, information technology, and energy and the environment.

The report’s recommendations are surprisingly breathtaking in scope:

• Make community college free for the next two years for anyone who majors in health care, education, information technology, and clean energy. The report does not provide a price tag for such a proposal, nor explain how community colleges would ramp up to handle an influx of students in these majors.  (In an earlier section of the report, the DLC notes the challenge of finding nursing faculty, who make significantly less than their colleagues working for health care facilities.)
• Launch a national public campaign against both high school and college dropouts. All I can guess is that this must be someone’s pet initiative because the recommendation fits, at best, awkwardly in this report.
• Reform higher education assistance programs to reward and demand college completion, not just showing up. The report does not explain how this should be done, but West Virginia’s Community and Technical College System has a new financing system that could serve as a national model.  The  financing system will reward institutions who get students to key educational momentum points (e.g., completion of developmental education, earning a certificate, earning an associate’s degree).  The West Virginia approach is consistent with the “tipping points” research produced for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.
• Make the American Opportunity Tax Credit fully refundable and more generous. What is it with right-leaning Democrats and tax credits?  Research suggests that financial aid, not tax credits, are the way to go.  Making parents and students front money, rather than providing it when needed, is a barrier to access.
• Offer states job training program waivers in return for getting more of America’s workers the skills they need to excel in the new jobs market. Given recent research suggesting that traditional job training programs do not work very well, this proposal seems eminently reasonable.