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.

Workforce Assessment Inquiry Guide

This guide aims to help community college leaders craft and review strategic priorities to improve student workforce outcomes.  The guide’s prompts and questions are designed to be considered alongside (1) data gathered by the college on student workforce outcomes and (2) a summary of responses to Aspen’s workforce assessment tool, built on research about effective practices in the field.  While we anticipate users of this guide will gather additional quantitative and qualitative information, the data and assessment responses—together with this guide—will support leaders in developing specific areas for improvement.  

Workforce Assessment Inquiry Questions

Where do you see stronger and weaker outcomes in your workforce outcomes data? Where are the largest differences among student groups? What is improving and what is not?

What in your workforce assessment results is strongest and weakest?

  1. In establishing a vision for talent development and economic mobility by tracking workforce data and economic indicators in your region and aligning your programs to workforce needs?
  2. In delivering high-quality programs with candid feedback from employers and meaningful, work-based learning opportunities for students?
  3. In supporting student career goals through strong recruitment and onboarding processes that help them make informed decisions about their programs of study?
  4. In building mutually beneficial partnerships with employers through hiring and empowering skilled workforce leaders, establishing honest feedback loops, and creating a customer-oriented workforce development culture?

How are your workforce data and assessment results connected?

  1. Where are your workforce outcomes strongest? Does anything in your assessment results explain those strengths?
  2. Where are your workforce outcomes weakest? What assessment results might explain those weaker outcomes? Which weaknesses seem most important to address?

What do your assessment results and labor market outcomes data tell you about your partnerships with employers and other workforce stakeholders?

  1. Which employer partnerships are strongest? What characterizes those partnerships? Could they offer lessons to strengthen others?
  2. Which employers that offer good jobs in large or growing industries do you not yet have partnerships with? How could you establish partnerships at the executive and hiring levels?

What do your assessment results and workforce outcomes data tell you about how your programs align with labor market trends?

  1. What are the largest industries that offer good jobs? What education levels do these jobs require?
  2. Which demographic groups have access to the industries that offer good jobs in your service area?
  3. Which labor market trends would be best served by credit vs. noncredit programs? Where are you meeting those trends? Where are there still gaps?

Next Steps

  1. What 1-5 important things have you learned about your workforce outcomes data? What do you most want to improve?
  2. What 1-5 important things have you uncovered about practices to improve workforce outcomes from your assessment tool and the above questions? Among the areas of weakness, what few changes would make the biggest positive difference?
  3. What next steps can you take to make progress on these lessons learned?
     

Workforce Assessment Data Queries

Employment: What is the employment rate of your graduates one, five, and 10 years after completion? How does this vary by student demographic? By program of study? 

Median Earnings: What are the median earnings of your graduates one, five, and 10 years after completing their program of study? How does this vary by student demographic? By program of study? How do these earnings compare to your region’s living wage standard? 

Applied learning participation: What number and percentage of your students participate in high-quality applied learning aligned to their post-completion goals? How do these values relate to post-completion employment rates? How does this vary by student demographic? By program of study? 

Passage of licensure exams: What is the passage rate of licensure exams in programs that require them? Does this vary by student demographic? By program of study? 

Average student debt after completion: What is the average student debt for those who complete a credential at your college? What would a typical monthly repayment amount be for someone who took out student loans to attend your college? How does this compare to typical median earnings, post-completion, by program of study? 

Cohort default rate (CDR): What percentage of your graduates default on their student loans within three years of completion? How does this relate to their average student debt, their employment rates, and their typical median earnings? Which program’s graduates are most likely to default on their student loans?  

High-value program enrollment: Which programs at your college lead directly to opportunities for living-wage jobs? What percentage of students are enrolled in those programs? Are any student populations underrepresented in these high-value programs?  

Low-value pathways: Which programs at your college lead to low-wage work? What percentage of students are enrolled in those programs? Are any student populations overrepresented in these programs? 

Labor market demand: 

  1. What are the most in-demand jobs in your region that pay a living wage? What is the minimum level of education they require? 
  2. What are the top jobs in your region that require more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree? Which of those jobs pay a living wage?  
  3. What are the fastest-growing employers and industries in your region? What do their jobs involve, and what does each offer in salary, benefits, and employment security?  

Employer satisfaction: How satisfied are your employer partners with your graduates’ skills and job performance?