Strada collaborates with students, policymakers, educators, and employers across the U.S. to strengthen the link between education and opportunity.
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We prioritize policies, practices, and programs that help ensure postsecondary education provides equitable pathways to opportunity.
We advance our mission through research, grantmaking, social impact investments, public policy solutions, Strada-supported nonprofit organizations, and strategic initiatives.
In a world of jarring economic and technological transformation, workers will need to access education and skills training throughout their working lives to remain competitive and employed.
Already, 44 million Americans without a college degree are either jobless or earning less than a living wage to support themselves and their families. They are most at risk of being left behind by the future of work.
Our research examines the challenges and opportunities these workers face with the goal of driving innovations to help people thrive by transitioning seamlessly between learning and work.
This career exploration and readiness program’s formula for learner success combines social capital, self-discovery to launch career pathways for first-gen grads
The story of one learner’s journey through education and employment is told across several data sets. Enrollment and graduation outcomes tell one part of the story, with labor market information and employer data filling in the blanks. Brighthive, led by CEO and founder Matt Gee, is connecting siloed data systems so learners, employers, and educators alike can make better informed decisions about preparing tomorrow’s workforce.
Skillist helps connect a worker’s skill shape with an employer’s needs
Clayton Christensen Institute’s Director of Education discusses how opening up greater access to networks, otherwise out of reach, is key to leveling the playing field
What does it take for adults to be able to advance their learning while working in today’s labor market? Here are some innovators whose unique efforts are creating opportunities in their communities.
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Invest now in community colleges to fuel economic opportunity
Workers can’t rely on promises alone to advance. They need clearer paths from training to career opportunities.
Earning a degree should help you advance in the work you love — not get in the way of it. Learner-centered programs fit learning into the rest of life.
Life’s curveballs can make our plans go awry. Better options can help us finish what we started.
Committing to education, alongside all of life’s other commitments, takes coordination, determination, and dedication. Financial support and a flexible work schedule can make it all come together.
All the planning in the world can’t guarantee success. Learners need opportunity and support to put their plans into action.
What if, instead of adding work on top of education, the work you did advanced your education? Integrated earning and learning makes the most of learners’ time and talent.
Long Life Learning offers readers a glimpse into a future where the average working life has no beginning, middle, or end. Contemplating a shift from the educational all-you-can-eat-buffet of college and university to an “as-you-need-it” approach to delivering education, author Michelle Weise explains why and how worker education is overdue for momentous changes.
Techtonic Academy’s apprenticeship program is building a more diverse talent pipeline for the tech industry
In this 38-minute episode, host Rick Maher is joined by Dr. Holly Ann Custard, Strada Education Network’s Deputy Director of Institute Partnerships and Outreach
COVID-19 has helped unmask a glaring lack of meritocracy in education and career outcomes. This highlights the urgent need for transparency to ensure a better way forward.
Today, millions of Americans who labored in retail and hospitality jobs, which remain decimated by the stay-at-home directives issued during the Covid-19 crisis, might need to pivot to new fields in search of employment. New research highlights ways
You can’t judge a job by its title. The same role can actually require different combinations of skills, called “skill shapes,” depending on the industry, employer and region. People have skill shapes too, formed by their work experience and training. Skills gaps emerge when the skill shapes that employers need don’t align with the skill shapes that local workers offer. Precise learning pathways, attuned to regional workforce demands, can close those gaps by helping people develop a skill shape that snaps into place in the local labor market. This 2-minute video reveals what a job title doesn’t tell you, and how skill shapes analysis can help connect more people with their perfect career match.
Why understanding local labor markets will be critical to our economic recovery
Pluralsight uses machine learning to put learners on direct path to acquiring skills employers need
University of Cincinnati program creates a successful path from education to careers
GLEAC helps assess workers’ behavioral skills and map workforce training to build those strengths.
Many employers and jobseekers overlook the most valued skills; here’s how to make sure they’re noticed
SV Academy helps employers find depth beyond their typical talent pool
The analysis by the Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Emsi, a labor market analytics firm, draws on broad data sets about supply and demand in job markets. It is designed to identify skills that matter most, describing “skill shapes” or unique demands in a career field, region or individual. The goal of this approach is to inform the design of more targeted postsecondary training programs, curricula and related microcredentials, the two groups said.
Strada Institute for the Future of Work: Understanding local workforce needs
These days working in a fast-food restaurant or other service-industry job often comes with a new benefit: a college education.
Good leaders analyze and tackle problems, inspire and motivate others, build relationships, and foster collaboration in pursuit of their goals. But their impacts can also manifest through the “ripple effect” of leadership that influences others to emulate positive behaviors.
Founded in 1998, i.c.stars creates opportunities for underserved communities by bridging the gap between resilient young adults and high-growth tech companies. The rigorous four-month leadership and technology training program gives low-income learners close to 1,000 hours of training in preparation for work at leading technology service providers and then supports them for 20 months afterward as they transition to high-paying, full-time employment.
Making progress in our lives as adults is a challenge as we juggle multiple family and work responsibilities. Navigating a changing labor market and finding the best pathways between learning and work is daunting and nearly impossible.
At the 2019 Strada National Symposium, Strada Chief Innovation Officer Michelle Weise explained how the New Learning Ecosystem will help more people find jobs and advance in their careers throughout their lives.
The New Learning Ecosystem provides working-age adults with opportunities to gain the training or education they need to advance or transition to new careers at multiple stages of their lives.
Forty-four million Americans are struggling to earn enough to support their families. Even if they are working, many are underemployed and lack the postsecondary credentials or training to progress in their careers. What will it take to remove the barriers and help them succeed? It’s time to build a New Learning Ecosystem to help them learn and earn throughout their lives.