Community Colleges as Engines of Opportunity

This brief presents results of a meta-analysis of quasi-experimental design (QED) evaluation studies to estimate the average effects of TAACCCT grants on four student outcomes: program completion, credential attainment, post-training employment, and pre- to post-training wage change. Complementing emerging evidence on TAACCCT reported by the Urban Institute (see Cohen et al., 2017; Durham et al., 2017; Eyster, Cohen, Mikelson, & Durham, 2017; and Durham, Eyster, Mikelson, & Cohen, 2017) and forthcoming results from ABT Associates’ national impact evaluation, we hope this brief contributes to a fuller understanding of the impact of TAACCCT on the outcomes of student participants, many of whom enrolled in community colleges to master skills needed to secure living-wage jobs in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

Here you will find the executive summary of the Estimating the Impact of Nation’s Largest Single Investment in Community Colleges meta-analysis.

In this report, we walk through a systematic review of how PLA was implemented under the ideal circumstances provided by the TAACCCT grant program that we conducted. We found that there was plenty of positive policy development, but student use of PLA opportunities was low. In some isolated places, we found policy and practice changes that were actually connected to an increase in students’ use of PLA. From this analysis, we distilled lessons on implementation and suggest how to scale up the use of PLA in higher education.

The evidence base on adult training and employment strategies is thin. However, multiple studies have pointed to the effectiveness of advising, counseling, and job search assistance for helping adults progress through training programs and secure employment. This report examines the effects of TAACCCT on such student services.

Based on careful analysis of all TAACCCT final evaluation reports jointly conducted by CESNA and Bragg & Associates, this brief by Debra Bragg offers recommendations for the evaluation of future federal investments in community colleges and workforce development.

As the skills and credential requirements of good jobs continue to increase, institutions of higher education – especially community colleges – have become increasingly central to developing the nation’s workforce. Particularly in times of economic downturn, community colleges provide a critical service by helping workers build new skills, enhance existing ones, and transition back into the labor force. Historically, however, there have been few federal resources available to build the capacity of community colleges to carry out these critical aspects of their mission. This blueprint is designed to help policymakers strategically invest in community colleges to insulate the workforce against the next recession.

Many colleges moved all classes online in just a few days, telling students and faculty not to return to campus. It was a huge undertaking. Community colleges are used to responding to their communities during times of crisis. But individual colleges should not have to carry this weight alone. And they do not have to. Lessons from the last recession can show how to share the burden and improve online learning and simulation through collaboration.

Using TAACCCT to enhance and expand programs and services for adults, students got the support they needed to move forward. Advisors encouraged participation in a “career pathway” program that offered coordinated and interconnected services – academic and employment advising, financial assistance, and more – designed to help progress toward a career.

This webinar highlights lessons from TAACCCT to support community colleges and students who are experiencing the detrimental impact of the COVID-19 crisis, including online learning practices. Lessons from rigorous evaluation studies of TAACCCT grants have a great deal to teach us during and after COVID-19.

Hear from a panel of experts on leveraging open educational resources (OER) to meet student and institutional needs. Presenters will cover available resources and repositories of OER, how to identify high-quality resources, how to build institutional teams to support OER usage, and best practices for using OER in online or hybrid course environments. These resources and recommendations for institutions, faculty members, and other leaders can help colleges lower students’ cost of materials, provide tailored curriculum, and draw from a variety of existing course materials to achieve course goals.

Join us on April 15 from 2-3:30 pm ET to hear from community college leaders, student advisors, and grant evaluators about how lessons from past federal investments are making a difference in our nation in the time of COVID-19 and informing the transition to fully online student support services.

Join us on April 16 from 2-3:30 pm ET to hear from community college leaders, healthcare education experts, and grant evaluators on how the lessons from past federal investments focused on healthcare can inform community colleges’ response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Please join the Center on Education & Skills at New America from 2–4 p.m. ET on October 1st for a virtual public event in conjunction with the publication of our latest research. We’ll hear leader perspectives on the value of the CCB, research presentations from our team, and a live panel of CCB students and recent graduates speaking about their experience in these programs.

Our Blueprint for a Federal Investment in Community Colleges is designed to help craft policy that makes a difference for students and communities.

Here is a quick summary of some of the key investments it would make in community colleges, workforce development, apprenticeships, care workers, and worker protections.

Here’s what you need to know about TAACCCT’s funding and program structure.

House and Senate lawmakers approved a FY 2022 budget resolution, which unlocks the reconciliation process, divides up the $3.5 trillion among the committees, and instructs committees to begin writing the portions of the reconciliation bill that fall under their jurisdictions. Here are priorities the Center on Education & Labor is monitoring as work on reconciliation moves ahead.

Congress created the original $2 billion TAACCCT grant in 2010 at the height of the Great Recession. The program was the largest targeted investment in community colleges the federal government had made and was meant to increase the schools’ capacity for providing training for in-demand jobs.

It makes sense for Congress to create a new, similar investment to address the fallout from COVID-19. Already, the Department of Labor has put out a solicitation modeled on the TAACCCT grant to distribute the $40 million that was approved in the last appropriations bill. We need more resources for this effort and a focus on how the new programs will connect to good jobs.

This $2 billion investment supported new workforce training programs at community colleges. A new iteration of TAACCCT designed for the COVID-19 era could focus on helping increase the capacity of existing CTE programs both responding to the pandemic and to increase their capacity into the future.

The federal government should increase funding to community colleges to help America recover from COVID-19.

The Department of Labor Office of the Inspector General audit of TAACCCT skimmed the surface of what the program accomplished. But it'll take much more than that to inform future policy.

In just over a year, the TAACCCT-supported Go Open Initiative saved students more than $1 million.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that—in the near-term—almost 35 percent of jobs in the United States could be either automated or fundamentally changed. With this upheaval in the labor market, supporting flexible, lifelong learning to help people adapt is more important then ever. But we don’t have a lot of evidence on how to support reskilling the labor market. There is an opportunity to improve that evidence by capitalizing on the largest ever federal investment in community colleges.

Mary Alice McCarthy, Director of the Center on Education & Skills at New America, wrote an op-ed for The Hill. She writes:

Recognizing that education would be critical for helping Americans get back on their feet, the Obama Administration put community colleges at the center of their economic recovery strategy. In 2009, the White House worked with Congress to pass the Trade Adjustment Act Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grant program…

Matt Reed of "Confessions of a Community College Dean" at Inside Higher Ed wrote a piece about New America's TAACCCT reports. He writes:

Did you know that additional resources can enable better performance? It’s true! And we have a national meta-analysis to prove it. New America just published a rigorous look at the Obama administration’s TAACCCT grant. I’ll admit to some pride in this one, because when I was at Holyoke, we had a TAACCCT grant…

During her first semester at Inver Hills Community College, Brittany Block was introduced to a support program for adult students that helps them earn college credits for what they already know. Joining the program, Block was able to transfer her experience from her previous job into college credits, rather than sitting through classes teaching content she already knew.