Workforce groups submit WIA Title II recs.
National Skills Coalition, Other National Workforce Groups Submit WIA Title II Recommendations to Senate Subcommittee
On May 26, National Skills Coalition joined with the Center for Law and Social Policy, the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, the Council for the Advancement of Adult Literacy/National Commission on Adult Literacy, and Jobs for the Future in submitting recommendations to the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety on ways to improve Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Title II adult education programs.
The joint recommendations include:
Increasing the focus on postsecondary and workforce success under Title II, requiring that all new federal funding for adult basic education, literacy, and English as a Second Language (ESL) services be used solely to support pathways into college or family-supporting employment.
Explicitly allowing adult education and literacy, family literacy, and English literacy services to be provided either before or concurrently with work or postsecondary education and training, including through strategies that integrate basic skills and postsecondary education and training, or provide for dual or concurrent enrollment.
Requiring states to develop comprehensive statewide plans for workforce and literacy services in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders, including WIA Title I and Title II programs, higher education, business, and labor unions. Plans should include descriptions of how states will recruit and serve very low-skilled adult learners.
Requiring states to negotiate rates of co-enrollment in WIA Title I and II for eligible individuals, and holding states accountable for establishing and achieving annual increases in co-enrollment rates.
Ensuring that individuals without a high school diploma or GED have access to a sufficient array of adult education programs leading to credentials with value in the labor market.
Supporting local partnerships of cross-system providers – including basic skills, workforce, and postsecondary education and training partners – to help ensure a continuum of services, integrated programs, and coordinated transitions for all learners.
Requiring the Secretaries of Labor and Education to adopt common performance measures for employment-related services, including benchmarks of progress toward achieving and retaining family-supporting employment. States should be encouraged to engage in research to identify interim benchmarks most likely to lead to success, and the National Reporting System should be refined to more accurately reflect student achievements.
Supporting innovative approaches to Title I and Title II collaboration under the proposed “Workforce Innovation Funds” at the Departments of Labor and Education, and encouraging collaboration with other federal programs and agencies.
Increasing capacity for distance learning to expand the reach of services for underserved participants.
National Skills Coalition looks forward to working with our partners and policymakers to ensure these critical reforms are adopted as part of WIA reauthorization.
