When West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) learned there was a need for computer engineering technology professionals in the western part of the state, the college partnered with the University of Kentucky to create a new “2+2” program that would help fill this need.
It’s an example of the kind of innovation that happens all the time as community college leaders use local workforce data to guide their programming.
Yet, getting good, reliable workforce data — and especially information about what former students are doing after they complete a degree or certification program — can be very challenging.
This article is an excerpt from the current issue of the Community College Journal, published bimonthly by the American Association of Community Colleges.
“There is a lot of workforce data available. But there are also many gaps,” says Alisha Hyslop, chief policy, research and content officer for the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE). “There are questions that colleges and states would like to be able to answer that they don’t have the data to answer at this time.”
This challenge not only makes it harder for colleges to measure their success and create or adjust programs in response to industry demands. It can also have larger policy implications. For instance, it can affect how much funding colleges receive in states that use performance-based accountability systems. A lack of data might also mean that policymakers aren’t effectively tracking equity in the workforce.
“The most important reason we need strong data systems is to better serve students,” Hyslop says. “Knowing where students are going, how successful they are, what industries they’re entering, and what kinds of jobs they’re getting helps local educators tailor and improve their programs to make sure they really are preparing students for the future.”
Without access to this information, she says, “it’s hard to make informed decisions about how to improve your programs.”
Data gaps
Colleges receiving federal Perkins money must report on what students in career and technical education programs are doing six months after they graduate or complete a credential. Did they find a job? Did they enroll in further education?
“Colleges have pieced together various ways to report on these indicators, and they have been doing so for a long time,” Hyslop says. “Some do it better than others. Some do it more efficiently than others, depending on the situation in their state.”
Getting accurate information can be difficult. The “gold standard” is to match student records with the state’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) wage records system to determine whether former students are gainfully employed.
However, some states’ UI wage records systems won’t share this information with individual colleges. Also, if former students have joined the military, are self-employed, or are working for the federal government, they won’t show up in these UI wage record searches.
There used to be a Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES) that provided state agencies with federal employment information, but the program was suspended in February 2018.
“At a school like Northern Virginia Community College, you might have a lot of students going to work for the federal government upon graduation,” Hyslop observes.
To supplement UI wage data, many colleges survey former students to learn what they’re doing six months after they finish a program. “Colleges might ask: Are you employed? What’s your job title? What’s your salary?” Hyslop says.
However, survey data can be notoriously unreliable.
“You don’t always get a high response rate,” she notes. “And you can’t always verify the information.”
