Institute for the Future of Work

Invest now in community colleges to fuel economic opportunity

The time is now to forge new pathways between learning and work so that more workers can thrive

Using regional skill shapes to build a better learning ecosystem

Building an education-to-employment system centered on adult learners

Fueling Innovation for the Learning Ecosystem of the Future

Human+ Skills for the Future of Work

We’re getting mixed messages about the outcomes of liberal arts graduates.

Underemployment’s Long-Term Effects on the Careers of College Grads

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.

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.

This career exploration and readiness program’s formula for learner success combines social capital, self-discovery to launch career pathways for first-gen grads

Invest now in community colleges to fuel economic opportunity

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.

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

Skillist helps connect a worker’s skill shape with an employer’s needs

Strada Institute for the Future of Work: Understanding local workforce needs

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.

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.

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.

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.

Social capital, defined as the networks you have that help you get ahead in life, is vital to success in education and employment. Yet many people who could benefit from social capital have not had the chance to build it. Through interviews with experts in the field, we examine how organizations are helping learners develop their networks and strive for better futures in the workplace.

At Strada Institute, we focus on the need for more on-and off-ramps for adult learners and workers, especially in the face of a more turbulent future of work. Nevertheless, we recognize how interdependent K-12 and postsecondary education and training systems are. Take, for example, an adult learner seeking to upskill by learning to write computer code. That person must have a working knowledge of logic processes, pattern and sequence recognition, as well as basic numeracy skills.

For decades, employers have relied on educational credentials—like the high school diploma and bachelor’s degree—to sort and filter job applicants. Degrees from highly selective colleges have a powerful brand attached to them that signals valuable skills and traits. But these credentials have always been a blunt instrument—because they reflect the assessment (and conception) of skills from the perspective of educators, not employers.

Changes in the economy, technology and the future of work are already having broad implications—but the benefits are not distributed equally.

Strada Education Network improves lives by forging new pathways between education and employment.

Colleges and universities, the institutions that have historically defined higher education in America, are apprehensive over the prospect of declining cohorts of newly minted high school graduates that have flocked to their campuses in growing numbers for decades. The writer William S. Burroughs once said “If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” a truth higher education administrators have undoubtedly taken to heart.

It’s now been seven years since The New York Times dubbed 2012 the “Year of the MOOC (massively open online course).” Since then, online learning has evolved, but not in the ways that were predicted. Recently, there have been promising signs that online education could still change the game. YouTube has already become the most widely used platform for independent learning, especially for the so-called iGen.

How can we create more transparency around shifts in the labor market and employer needs?

Analysis by Strada Institute for the Future of Work and Entangled Solutions explains how a new breed of training programs can unlock opportunities for the 32 million Americans at risk of being left behind by the future of work

Depending on who you ask, liberal arts graduates are either headed for a lifetime of serving coffee as a barista or are capable of doing absolutely anything. Most of these bold claims have little data underpinning them, so Strada Institute for the Future of Work joined forces with Emsi, a labor market analytics firm, to get some definitive answers.

At Strada Institute for the Future of Work, we believe that all Americans will need to harness the power of education throughout their working lives. Why? As medical advancements potentially extend our lifespan and as technology changes the nature of work, we are all potentially facing longer and more turbulent work lives.

Rob Sentz, the Chief Innovation Officer at Emsi, discusses the findings of the new report released by the Strada Institute for the Future of Work. This new report allows educators and education consumers to explore the outcomes of majors, such as humanities, social studies, and liberal arts, that are highly valuable in the workforce.

Andrew Hanson of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work discusses findings in the institute’s new report. Skills such as creativity, communication, and problem solving are not only highly valued in the workforce, but are also uniquely human skills that will help prepare the workforce for technological advancement.

Michelle Weise, Chief Innovation Officer of the Strada Institute for the Future of Work, describes what it means to be “Robot-Ready.” The Institute’s new report concludes that technical skills must be combined with uniquely human skills for the workforce to be fully prepared for the future of technological advancement.

New report from Strada Institute and Emsi finds liberal arts grads may be better prepared for the impact of automation, but struggle to translate their skills to the world of work

Tell me how you do your job. This simple phrase is one way to determine how quickly your job might become automated in the future.