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Vital signs of workforce education programs

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When we evaluate the health of Prof-Tech (workforce) programs, we focus on three numbers and the subset of measures that support them:

  1. Enrollment - how many new students and how many returning students enroll in courses?
  2. Completions - how many students complete and receive their pursued credentials?
  3. Employment - how many graduates successfully find employment in an aligned field?

For each number, we ask:

  • What are all relevant measures that support the number and how are these measures derived?
  • What are the trends for each measure and the overall number?
  • What are the causes for these current measures and numbers?
  • Where should these measures and numbers be in the near-term future?
  • What actions can be taken to effectively change these measures and numbers?

Below is a breakdown of the measures by each number. Typically, industry-accredited programs are better than non-accredited program in tracking and using these numbers. A frequent finding from our program evaluations is that most programs need to innovate solutions to support and track graduate employment.

  1. Enrollment
    • Quarterly and annual enrollment for new and returning students
    • Characteristics of enrolling students (i.e., gender, demographics, socio-economic contexts like Pell-eligible, 1st Gen, college-ready)
    • Origins of enrolling students (i.e., local, regional, national, international)
    • Program outreach channels leading to enrollment (how did enrolling students learn about the program?)
  2. Completions
    • Student learning success measures, namely course pass rates
    • Identification of credential track courses that function as gatekeeper
    • Number of students successful completing requirements for a credential track
    • Number of students receiving credential for track completion
    • Characteristics of students completing credential track (I.e., gender, demographics, socio-economic contexts)
  3. Employment
    • Identification of all occupations (SOC) aligned with program
      • Profile of regional availability (current and projected) of aligned jobs
      • Accessibility of a program graduate to attain employment in an aligned job
      • Profile of required and preferred skills, knowledge, and competencies for aligned occupations
      • Analysis of gaps between aligned job requirements and program outcomes
    • Number of program students participating in aligned workplace-learning experiences
      • Number of these workplace-learning experiences that are paid
      • Number of students participating in these workplace-learning experiences who are offered employment by the sponsor of their workplace-experience
    • Number of recent program graduates employed in a job aligned with the program’s focus within 1 year of graduation
      • Job title & SOC code
      • Wage and benefits
    • Number of program graduates who graduated >1 year ago employed in a job aligned with the program’s focus
      • Job title & SOC code
      • Wage and benefits

Of course, these three numbers alone do not tell us everything we need to know, but they are imperative to understand where the program has been, where is it today, and where it could go in the future. The whole point of evaluating a program is to chart a clear path to a stronger and sustainable future.