What State Strategies Best Facilitate Your Learners’ Transitions to Post-Secondary Opportunity?

The American Institutes of Research (AIR) and the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences' Regional Educational Laboratory Program, have released a report on state strategies to facilitate adult learners’ transitions to post-secondary opportunities.  The purpose of this study was to catalog the strategies Midwest states use to support adult learners’ transitions to post-secondary education and training.  One element of this study looks at data from the National Reporting System for Adult Education Programs (NRS), which indicates a large variation in adult learners’ post-secondary participation, and suggests that this data may not be reported consistently nationwide. 

 

The report suggests areas for future research that can build off findings; for example, future studies may investigate the degree to which NRS data are comparable across states, or the efficacy of the policies, programs, and strategies described here on outcomes of interest.  The implications of the study are copied below; the boldface type is added here for emphasis.

 

This report sheds light on six REL Midwest Region states’ use of strategies and program- or policy-specific substrategies to support adult learners’ transitions to postsecondary education and training opportunities as reported by state and local program directors. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014, the first piece of federal legislation in this area in 16 years, acknowledges the need to align employment, education, training, and support for adult learners and holds programs accountable for reporting on

outcomes related to employment or post-secondary education, wages, credentials or credits, and skill gains (U.S. Department of Labor, 2014). The emergence of new and unique combinations of substrategies and hybrid strategies between the passage of WIOA and the Workforce Innovation Act of 1998 suggests the need to collect and analyze more data on how states are effectively supporting the transition of adult learners to post-secondary education.

 

Program directors in six REL Midwest Region states report using a variety of strategies, including some identified in the literature and others that have been combined into hybrid strategies or refined into substrategies by practitioners. Although this report can increase understanding of the landscape of state strategies to address adult learners’ transitions to post-secondary education and training opportunities in the REL Midwest Region, program directors cite the need for more closely linked data systems to support decisionmaking. For example, future studies may investigate the degree to which National Reporting System data are comparable across states or may assess the efficacy of the strategies described here in achieving the outcomes of interest. In addition, researchers may want to consider whether more systematic data collection would reveal additional strategies or confirm the strategies and substrategies discussed in this report.  The additional data that will be collected as a result of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act may inform these questions in coming years. These data could provide policymakers with important, program-specific information on student performance and transition trends, information that could be shared across programs to increase support and improve services for adult learners.

 

Is this an area of research that would help your program to better understand which strategies and substrategies to use with your learner population?  Would having the proposed analysis of NRS data across state systems help to advance your state's WIOA work plans moving forward?  Take this opportunity to make your voice heard by your research colleagues, and share your needs for more informed decision-making around WIOA.

 

Mike Cruse

Career Pathways Moderator

michaelcruse74@gmail.com