Working Together: A First Look at Lessons from the Cascades College and Career Academy and Other Job Corps Partnerships with Community and Technical Colleges Implementation Brief
About the Brief
The brief describes how Job Corps and community colleges serve young people, how Job Corps currently works with colleges, and how partnerships between Job Corps and colleges could benefit students, Job Corps, and the colleges. The brief also describes the evaluation’s methods and shares what the Job Corps centers identified as the core principles and practices undergirding their successful college partnerships. These core principles and practices include shared goals, clear roles and responsibilities, constant communication, and accommodating each organization’s different requirements. The brief also discusses emerging promising practices and challenges to support Job Corps students attending college. These practices and challenges include how to screen students, ensure students are ready for a college experience, and monitor and support students while they are taking college courses. The brief also presents emerging promising practices and challenges related to some of the operational details of running a successful partnership between a Job Corps center and a college. These operational details include how to staff the program, deal with transportation, and handle college funding issues. The final section considers insights related to how Job Corps and colleges can work together and what additional research could be helpful.
Key Takeaways
- Add recruitment sources that would attract Job Corps students interested in college, such as college fairs at well-suited high schools.
- Recruit students with a range of occupational interests that can be met by the college to ensure the college partnership is large enough to be efficient.
- Arrange transportation to and from the college, accommodations for meals off center, and internet access needed to complete assignments.
- Assign a Job Corps staff member in charge of managing the funding for college.
- Identify enough Job Corps staff at the college to proactively monitor and assist Job Corps students.
- Clarify roles and responsibilities so both the college and the Job Corps staff know what services each are providing to the students.
- Facilitate Job Corps staff’s ability to communicate with students’ instructors.
- Check in with students frequently to help students navigate inevitable problems.
Citation
Grossman, J., Olejniczak, K., Klerman, J.A. (2021). Abt Associates. Working Together: A First Look at Lessons from the Cascades College and Career Academy and Other Job Corps Partnerships with Community and Technical Colleges. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.
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This study was sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development and Research, Division of Research and Evaluation, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.