Noncredit workforce education can play an important role in responding to local labor market demands, while also connecting students to long-term educational opportunities and documenting outcomes in a meaningful way.
By: Michelle Van Noy, James Jacobs, Suzanne Korey, Thomas R. Bailey & Katherine L. Hughes — January 2008. New York: Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University
Full Study: http://ccrc.tc.columbia.edu/Publication.asp?UID=572
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Strengthening America’s Middle Class: An Action Agenda for America’s Community College.
American community colleges are the nation’s overlooked asset. As the United States confronts the challenges of globalization, two-year institutions are indispensable to the American future.
They are the Ellis Island of American higher education, the crossroads at which K–12 education meets colleges and universities, and the institutions that give many students the tools to navigate the modern world.
In the century since they were founded, community colleges have become the largest single sector of American higher education, with nearly 1,200 regionally accredited two-year colleges enrolling 6.5 million students annually for credit (nearly half of all American undergraduates) and another 5 million for noncredit courses.
Students range in age from teenagers to octogenarians, annually taking courses in everything from English literature, biochemistry, and statistics to foreign languages, the arts, community development, emergency medical procedures, engine maintenance, and hazardous waste disposal.
Full Report: http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/prof/community/winning_the_skills_race.pdf