The Impact of Institutional Collaborations on the Earnings of Adult Workforce Education Completers

Abstract

This article reports findings from a mixed-methods study of the impact of collaborations between adult education organizations and nonprofit or business partners on the earnings of program participants. The project uses survey data collected from a network of state-sponsored educational institutions and unemployment insurance data from program participants. Findings from the study emphasize that collaboration between adult workforce institutions and business, government, or nonprofit partners increases the earnings of adult training participants. The effects differ for men and women. These results were estimated using regression analysis, which related changes in quarterly earnings to two aspects of institutional collaboration: the intensity of collaboration and employer involvement.

Transfer of Skills From Simulation Lab to Surgical Services: Impact of a Decade Long Laparoscopic Urology Surgical Course

“…National workforce planning and anticipation of opportunities should guide investment in skills training in surgery. Continuous encouragement within workplaces should include methods to enhance self-efficacy and peer networking for trained surgeons to establish new services (21)(22)(23). This was clearly demonstrated in the present study as participants identified a few of these areas as barriers to application of their skills.…”

Community College Adjustment Among Dislocated Workers

“…Further, two-year colleges commonly partner with the U.S. Department of Labor Workforce Investment Act's (WIA) one-stop system, bundling together such programs as career assessment; counseling, advising, and mentoring; vocational training and retraining, life skills education, and academic preparation; and community referrals for additional assistance (Hawley, Sommers, & Melendez, 2005;Jacobs, 2001;Walters, 2003).…”

“…These benchmarks include providing institutional supports to address community college students' academic challenges, interactions on campus, effort and motivation, and other learner needs. For dislocated workers, two-year colleges prototypically offer Workforce Investment Act (WIA) one-stop centers (Hawley et al, 2005;Jacobs, 2001;Walters, 2003) or work in partnership with local workforce agencies (Schwitzer, Duggan, Laughlin, & Walker, 2006) to provide comprehensive wrap-around services that can accomplish these benchmarks. Based on a well-established track record of existing research examining Baker and colleagues' model with other college populations (Baker & Siryk, 1984;Baker et al, 1985;Baker & Siryk, 1989;Beyers & Goosens, 2002;Chartrand, 1992;Napoli & Wortman, 1998;Schwitzer, Robbins, & McGovern, 1993;TomlinsonClarke, 1998), in the current study we assumed that understanding how dislocated workers experience and respond to these four aspects of college adjustment might help guide effective programs.…”

Trends in spending on training: An analysis of the 1982 through 2008 Training Annual Industry Reports

“…Some of these studies explore these benefits in the context of government and nonprofit organizations. For example, Hawley, Sommers, and Meléndez (2005) empirically demonstrated that partnerships between government programs and employers can have a positive effect on the earnings of adults who finish the programs.…”