Guiding states on workforce data proposals.
National Skills Coalition recently reported on the Department of Labor's request for proposals from states interested in competing for $12.2 million in grants under its new Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI). Authorized under the Recovery Act, WDQI grants are intended to encourage states to more effectively link participant and outcome data under a range of workforce and social service programs—including Workforce Investment Act, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Wagner-Peyser / Employment Service, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families—to student-level data being tracked across a state’s traditional K-12 and higher education systems. If done effectively, states would be able to develop a much better picture of the range of individuals—including working adults as well as young people—who are gaining skills across a range of publicly funded education and workforce development programs, and to assess how they are progressing over time in their attainment of credentials, employment and increased earnings. State proposals are due August 16th, 2010.
Recently, the Joyce Foundation’s Shifting Gears Initiative released a paper—entitled Using State Data to Promote Continuous Improvement of Workforce Programs: Guidance for States Preparing Applications to the U.S. DOL Workforce Data Quality Initiative—with specific suggestions to state workforce agencies for incorporating the widest range of workers and education and training providers into their WDQI proposals. Written by researchers Davis Jenkins and Tim Harmon, the paper draws on the experience of Midwest states participating in the Shifting Gears Initiative, which are attempting to develop new statewide career pathways strategies that help low-income working adults progress through basic skills education, occupational training, and traditional post-secondary study over time while working and sometimes supporting a family.
National Skills Coalition hopes states will incorporate some of the paper’s suggestions into their WDQI proposals. More information about the Shifting Gears Initiative can be found at www.shifting-gears.org.
