Workforce Assessment Tool

The items in this assessment tool reflect strong practices observed through Aspen’s research and direct engagements with excellent community colleges, which we define as those achieving high and improving levels of student success (1) both while in college and after graduation (2) overall and for students of color and low-income students. The assessment tool is organized into several domains of practice emerging from Aspen’s research and prompts users to rate their institution’s adoption of each item within each domain. Once complete, a summary of scores will allow colleges to identify strengths and weaknesses in specific practices aligned to each item and to observe which domains most need improvement. 

In this assessment tool, the term “student success” has the following meaning:

  • Success in college: Students (1) learn and (2) complete credentials.
  • Success after college: Students (1) get good jobs and/or (2) transfer and attain a bachelor’s degree.
  • Equitable outcomes and access: For Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and low-income students, the college ensures high absolute rates and minimizes gaps in (1) learning and completion outcomes for students in college, (2) transfer and workforce outcomes for students after college, and (3) enrollment of different demographic groups relative to the college’s service area.

Directions: Assess the extent to which your college engages each of the following practices, according to the scoring rubric.

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Domain 1

Vision
The president and senior team incorporate the improvement of graduates’ employment and earnings outcomes as a core component of their student success agenda, reflected in college-wide strategy documents.
College leaders have a clear, prioritized agenda for improving workforce outcomes across the entire college that includes goals for graduates’ employment and earnings and strategies to improve program value.
The college’s prioritized agenda for improving workforce outcomes includes substantial components aimed at addressing inequities in employment and earnings outcomes for students of color and those from low-income backgrounds.
The president and senior leadership have adopted priority metrics related to graduates’ employment and earnings outcomes; disaggregate the metrics by race, ethnicity, income, age, and gender; and monitor the metrics frequently and meet regularly to review relevant data.
College-wide reports to the president, cabinet, and board of trustees about student outcomes include data on graduates’ employment and earning outcomes soon after graduation and over time.
The president and senior team consistently communicate the importance of improving graduates’ employment and earnings outcomes to college faculty and staff.
The president and cabinet meet at least annually to analyze employment trends, including data on educational requirements and wages associated with different jobs in the region, which they use to make changes in strategic direction to keep pace with the labor market.
The president and cabinet meet at least annually to review disaggregated data on poverty, credential attainment, and workforce participation levels in the college’s service area, which they use to make changes in strategic direction to ensure economic mobility is being advanced.
The college has developed (and periodically updates) a specific definition of the baseline living wage for graduates in its service area, which it uses to assess the success of graduates and programs.

Domain 2

Deliver Strong Programs Aligned to Regional Needs
The college has rigorous and consistent processes in place to decide where and how programs will be expanded or developed to ensure that students are graduating into “good jobs,” meaning those that offer a specific wage threshold.
The college closes or redesigns programs due to low graduation rates or poor employment and earnings outcomes (and not just due to low enrollment numbers).
The president and cabinet annually review and refine the mix of programs offered—credit and noncredit, CTE and transfer-oriented—and enrollment within those programs to maximize students’ chances for good jobs and bachelor’s attainment.
The president and cabinet meet annually to consider equity in program enrollment and outcomes, considering which students—by race, ethnicity, income level, age, and gender—enroll in and graduate from programs that result in the strongest labor market and transfer outcomes, versus those that result in earnings below a living wage and poor transfer prospects/outcomes.
The program approval process considers whether a proposed credential is tailored to specific technical and professional skills required for targeted jobs. Considerations include program length, whether it should be credit-bearing, and whether it should end in certification, a technical associate degree, or an associate degree that leads to transfer to a four-year college or university.
Program heads and others who design curricula use processes that deeply engage employers. They begin by identifying the skills needed before designing the credentials to be awarded.
Internal processes promote sharing information between workforce and liberal arts programs and between credit CTE and noncredit workforce programs.
The program-design process considers not just the credential under consideration but also the trajectory of credentials required for continued momentum in the field—for instance, embedding industry-recognized certifications in associate degrees or ensuring workforce credentials are aligned to expectations of applied bachelor’s degrees.
Programs define and assess the professional, or “soft,” skills graduates will need, have plans to embed those skills in every student’s experience, and use assessments to ensure programs are effectively teaching those skills.
Programs include specific work-based learning requirements (such as internships, co-ops, clinicals, and apprenticeships) developed collaboratively with employers. The design considers whether employers can provide needed supervision and mentorship as well as the resources and equipment the college needs to offer high-quality experiences.
Where appropriate, explicit pathways allow students to move between workforce and liberal arts programs, credit and noncredit workforce programs, and community college workforce programs and university-based bachelor’s programs.
The college sets goals and criteria for what makes an effective CTE faculty or staff member, such as technical knowledge and skill, a focus on continuously improving teaching practices and learning outcomes, and a customer service orientation toward internal and external stakeholders.
Tools and processes, such as hiring rubrics, teaching demonstrations, and annual professional development design sessions, ensure the college’s overall goals/priorities for strong workforce education are embedded into its approach to hiring, professional development, and faculty evaluation.
Professional development for all CTE faculty ensures they have updated technical skills, including training on up-to-date equipment, required site visits to employers, and opportunities to maintain part-time or intermittent employment in the field.
The college evaluates program quality and makes improvements, based in part on results of students’ performance on third-party or industry certification exams.
CTE program review is conducted annually and includes reliable and actionable data on participation rates (disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, age, and income), graduation rates, and employment and earnings outcomes.
CTE program review includes active participation by all stakeholders, including faculty, program heads, students, advisors, graduates, and employers.
Advisory board meetings focus on problem-solving, rather than updates, and result in concrete next steps to improve program quality and equitable student participation and success.
Between advisory board meetings, program heads and faculty proactively solicit feedback from employers, particularly frontline managers—through faculty site visits, employer classroom observations, monthly check-ins, and more.
The program-approval process requires that design and delivery strategies address the needs of diverse students.
Proposed programs are approved only if they demonstrate the potential for strong labor market outcomes (and not just enrollment).

Domain 3

Support Students’ Career Goals from Pre-Matriculation Through Post-Graduation
The college works with K-12 partners on strategies (including dual enrollment) to help high school students explore careers and choose aligned college-level courses.
The college has scaled strategies to move students from noncredit programs, such as GED and English as a second language, into credit-bearing programs, including workforce and CTE programs.
The college partners with community-based and other workforce organizations to provide adults with information on programs aligned to good jobs and creates clear processes for adults to easily connect to the appropriate contact at the college and enroll.
The college president, cabinet, and program heads regularly collaborate with marketing and communications teams and recruiters to enroll diverse populations in programs with strong labor market outcomes.
The onboarding process provides every student a structured opportunity to think critically about their interests, financial goals, and desired job characteristics (such as location, hours, and working climate), with the explicit goal of choosing a program that leads to a good job or four-year transfer pathway.
The onboarding process provides students with clear information about 1) The degrees, credentials or certifications, background checks, and other requirements for employment and career progression 2) Program costs and time commitment 3) Likely employment and wages (upon hire and in later years)
Advisors are trained to understand which programs have the strongest labor market and transfer outcomes, as well as gaps in participation by race, ethnicity, and gender.
Multiple times during their first year, all students meet with an advisor to explore careers with the explicit goal of choosing a program that leads to a good job or a four-year transfer pathway.
The college trains all students in interviewing, networking, and life skills directly tied to economic mobility (e.g., financial literacy and security).
The college plays an active role in connecting all CTE students to job opportunities.
The college collects feedback about the satisfaction of alumni and employers and proactively uses that information to improve program quality and inform employers’ ability to onboard new graduates.
Students in workforce programs receive regular coaching and mentoring from people within the industry sectors or organizations where they aim to work.

Domain 4

Develop Strong, Mutually Beneficial Employer Partnerships

The president and cabinet target outreach to important regional employers to maintain existing relationships and develop new ones with growing employers/sectors that offer good jobs.
To understand employers’ perspectives, the college president, cabinet, and program heads serve on industry advisory boards, regional workforce organizations, trade and industry associations, or other workforce entities.
The college equips program leaders to approach employers and respond to their requests by providing them training in how to collect data on job growth, turnover, and wages; engage employers with questions about their perspectives and incentives; make the business case for partnership; and understand the kinds of information available from different personnel in a company.
Communication and other materials from the college are targeted to employer needs and incentives, avoid lengthy text and academic jargon, and have uncluttered designs.
The college has a strong capacity for employer outreach and relationship maintenance, both in number of employees and their skill sets (such as being able to negotiate and communicate effectively).
The college has a system that enables its employees to be responsive to employers. The system stores employer contact and background information, prompts staff to respond quickly to inquiries, and helps organize regular touchpoints.
College leaders are creative and flexible in brainstorming partnerships and resource contributions in line with meeting employers’ specific needs and ensuring that the college has the capacity to deliver quality programming at scale.
College and program leaders periodically discuss with employers data and perspectives on the regional labor market, exchanging insights on topics such as trends in skills gaps, demographic changes, and wage levels offered by different jobs and sectors.
The college periodically convenes employers by sector to collectively solve problems multiple employers face.
The college convenes other education providers (K-12 and four-year colleges/universities) to solve workforce challenges the community college cannot solve alone.