Report: How Community Colleges Can Help Scale US Apprenticeships

Report: How Community Colleges Can Help Scale US Apprenticeships (Courtesy of Apprenticeships of America) — Apprenticeship in America remains massively under-scaled. Relative to its prevalence in other countries, apprenticeship represents a tiny fraction of the labor market and a niche talent development strategy.

But given increasing interest in alternative education pathways alongside traditional higher education, apprenticeship is getting more and more attention in the United States. Apprenticeship offers a low- or no cost educational opportunity, a paid on-the job learning experience, as well as mentoring and support to ensure individuals successful completion of the program and transition to the workforce.

Based on wage gains and job retention, it is the gold standard for workforce development. And because it starts with a real job, apprenticeship programs can help bridge the gap that sometimes exists between traditional academic programs and the evolving skills required by employers. Growing apprenticeship to levels seen in other countries will require significant effort and investment. However, community colleges seem well-positioned as a rare bit of low-hanging fruit: institutions that might act as an accelerator of apprenticeship.

Geographically wide-spread and already operating at scale, the American community college offers considerable assets as a partner, incubator, and manager of apprenticeship programs.

In this report, Apprenticeships for America offers an examination of the role community colleges can play in scaling apprenticeship programs in the United States. The primary objective of this research is to enumerate how community colleges can effectively contribute to the expansion of apprenticeship, thereby enhancing workforce development and regional economic growth. The research represents a comprehensive review of past studies and data, as well as the findings from a series of semi-structured interviews with administrators, faculty members, and staff from 18 community colleges actively engaged in apprenticeship programs. Community colleges we surveyed play a multifaceted role in the apprenticeship ecosystem, including delivering related technical instruction (RTI), advising on on-the-job training, engaging and organizing employer partners and recruiting.

For the full report, visit this link.