How We Connect Education to Work

Strada Education Network is pleased to celebrate the opening of the Jackie Robinson Museum in New York City.

Over the past 80 years, our nation has made great strides in improving access to college, and then ensuring that many more students could complete a college degree.

Spring 2022 enrollment numbers from the National Student Clearinghouse reveal a fifth straight semester of enrollment declines, with more than 1 million fewer students enrolled compared to spring 2020

Phase 2 allows Taskforce members to seek up to $1.5 million ($6.25 million total) to expand efforts to connect education to employment.

Higher education’s measurement of student success is in the midst of an evolution. For nearly five decades, success efforts focused on access, then two decades with completion as the horizon for success, and now the focus is extending to student outcomes beyond completion.

At the innovative Rochester campus of the University of Minnesota, our vision is to “inspire transformation in higher education through innovations that empower graduates to solve the grand health challenges of the 21st century.”

Ducks Rise: Empowering Underrepresented Minorities and Low-Income Students Through Research Internships and Intentional Student Experiences

Developing In-Demand Skills Among Undergraduates for Better, More Equitable Post Completion Outcomes

Access to college isn’t enough. Neither is completion of degrees. It’s time to focus on outcomes

When Zaldwaynaka “Z” Scott became president of Chicago State University in 2018, things were in pretty dire straits: The state budget had been slashed, operations rolled back, and the university had gone years without permanent leadership.

Credit for prior learning helped Loyce Shelley see herself in a new way — and complete her degree.

Applied connections between education and work are increasingly a part of undergraduate education in the United States.

Millie Garcia understands the needs of first-generation college students because she was one. Now, as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Millie advocates for students just like herself — a group she calls “the new majority” (low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color). She shares what she’s learned about the importance of diversifying higher ed, from students and faculty to the highest leadership positions on campus.

Disparities in securing paid internships persist for women, people of color, first-generation college students, and students with low incomes — even when taking into account their fields of study

Even before the pandemic, employers struggled to find the skilled labor they needed to fill jobs.

The labor market in the United States faces seemingly contradictory challenges: Many employers have trouble finding qualified applicants for current and future jobs, while millions of Americans are out of work or are underemployed—their paths to living-wage jobs blocked by systemic barriers or lack of adequate skills.

Two centuries after the first historically Black colleges and universities were founded, the 101 accredited HBCUs in operation today continue to deliver on their legacy of expanding educational opportunity for Black students that leads to successful and fulfilling lives.

Americans are quitting their jobs at unprecedented rates, leaving millions of job openings and no one to fill them. The Great Resignation is likely motivated, at least in part, by the pandemic. But this trend speaks to a broader disconnect between employer needs and employee wants — a trend that’s been worsening for years now. Michele Chang, from the U.S. Department of Commerce, explains what the federal government is doing to help workers and employers address this.

The origin story of Grow With Google, like so many initiatives at the global technology company, begins with data.

As a field, higher education has experienced a continuing evolution in how to measure success. For nearly five decades success efforts were focused on access, followed by the past decade and a half pursuing completion, and the field now has a growing focus on the value of a degree and student outcomes beyond completion.

Strada Education Network announced today the winners in the initial phase of a $10 million grant challenge aimed at helping higher education institutions identify and expand new solutions that will improve career and life opportunities for more students of color, first-generation students, those who struggle to afford education, and adult students and workers.

Recent Strada research points to a striking disparity between first-year students’ aspirations for career planning in their undergraduate years and seniors’ actual experiences.

Strada’s prior research on undergraduate perceptions of the value of their education demonstrates that students value their education most when they receive support to connect their education and career interests.

NSSE and Strada researchers identify gaps in social capital development in 2021 NSSE career preparation data

We know a college degree is required for many jobs in the United States. Yet nearly two-thirds of Americans never earn a degree. Google’s Lisa Gevelber, chief marketing officer for the corporation’s Americas region, says short-term credential programs could be the key to improving career opportunities for more people — and they might even create a more equitable labor market in the process.

More than 18 months into the pandemic, the employment headlines can seem like an algebraic riddle: If U.S. employers are seeking workers to fill 10.9 million jobs, how can 8.4 million workers be unemployed?

In the wake of historic pandemic-related enrollment declines, postsecondary institutions have responded by developing and expanding innovative approaches to engaging learners.

Economist Beth Akers insists she’s not a college debt crisis denier. College is expensive — more than double the cost today compared to the 1980s. And too many students pay too much for it, she said, not only in relation to what they can afford now, but also to what they will earn after graduation.

Is the so-called “student debt crisis” really a crisis? Author Beth Akers brings an economist’s view of postsecondary education’s return on investment and says, on average, college is still worth the price — if you do it right.

Recognized Economic and Workforce Development Leader to Join National Nonprofit in January 2022

As provost and later president at the University of Utah, Ruth Watkins called out the “hollow promise” a university delivers to college students who have access to higher education but leave without completing a degree.

The baccalaureate degree remains the surest path to economic mobility, employment stability, and a host of associated social benefits.

Courses, faculty receive high marks, but valued education-career connections are less consistent, and females, first-generation, Black alumni are less likely to report successful outcomes

Deborah Santiago’s parents always made clear she and her three siblings would go to college.

Grant competition seeks to connect learning with employment for first-generation students, those who struggle to afford education, and students of color.

A college or university can be deemed a “Hispanic Serving Institution” if at least a quarter of its students are Latino. But Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education, says serving Latino students is about more than just enrolling them. It’s about supporting their journey through college graduation and into the workforce. Deborah and I discuss the Seal of Excelencia, and along the way we learn about her own journey growing up in a military family and pursuing her education as a first-generation college student.

Roslyn Clark Artis grew up in southern West Virginia, the only African American in her graduating class. The daughter of a coal miner, she dreamed of becoming a lawyer and applied to every public university in her home state, hoping to find an affordable route to college.

$25 million grant from Strada Education Network taps the collective experience and insights of HBCU leaders to scale experiential learning and leadership development within the college experience .main-content__header-area .header-image .text-box { max-width: 100% !important; text-align: center; }

New organization will allow each constituent part to focus on mission delivery, gaining operating efficiencies by leveraging support services from Strada

Steep declines in undergraduate enrollment during 2020 and 2021 threaten to widen existing equity gaps in college completion and career opportunities.

Surveys and interviews with 2020, 2021 high school graduates who postponed their education plans due to COVID-19 also show advising, financial assistance, career relevance are important to bringing students back to campus.

Most people agree we need to improve economic mobility in this country. How to do that is another question entirely. Join Strada Education Network’s Ruth Watkins as she talks to educators, employers, and innovators about their best ideas for the future of education and work.

Nationwide, about 80 percent of students enrolling in community college say they intend to continue at a four-year college or university to earn a bachelor’s degree. But only 15 percent of community college students achieve that goal within six years.

Nondegree credentials have been growing rapidly for decades. During the COVID-19 economic crisis, interest in nondegree credentials and skills training options was especially high. Questions about their quality and value, however, remain.

Report also finds that more respondents rate shorter nondegree programs as worth the cost than longer ones

The high school classes of 2020 and 2021 have endured massive disruption to their education.

Disrupted high school graduates cited stress, anxiety, and uncertainty as having the greatest influence on their decision to delay further education — and they say guidance, affordability, and connections to career would help them re-engage.