Narrative: III. a. 2. H.

There are significant opportunities to provide and improve access to postsecondary credentials. As mentioned above in Goal 2 (Improve Community Access to Workforce and Education Services), the DCWIC has engaged business leaders in high-demand industries to develop career pathway maps that provide information on the knowledge, skills, competencies, and credentials required to secure initial employment and progress in selected careers. These maps will be deployed across the American Job Centers and to other relevant parties, to assist job seekers and training providers in understanding and accessing existing pathways. Additionally, they will drive further analysis by the DCWIC to identify gaps in services and the need to expand access to high-quality training providers that align course offerings with the high-demand, high-growth occupations within each pathway.

Career Counseling. Career counseling services, for adults and youth emphasize access to a wide range of training providers and post-secondary credentials as the gateway to high-quality jobs that continue to grow in the District, such as those offered through UDC-CC WDLL and eligible training provider programs. Online tools, such as Career Coach DC, to allow adults and youth to survey their interests, learn about careers for which their interests may be a good fit, and to identify training and education programs in those fields.

Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship. OAIT is expanding pre-apprenticeship programs for DC residents, particularly those who are disadvantaged and hard-to-employ. Pre-apprenticeship programs enable participants to secure nationally recognized credentials. The pre-apprenticeship initiatives in FYs 17-19 enabled residents to secure nationally recognized credentials to enhance their eligibility for available apprenticeship opportunities. Residents enrolled in IT pre-apprenticeships secured industry credentials, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) Tech Professional, AWS TCO Cloud Engineer and AWS Business Professional.

Integrated Education and Training (IE&T). OSSE AFE providers are required to offer IE&T services, a best practice model of instruction that research and District performance data show leads to an increase in attainment of industry-recognized credentials, while students have supports to earn measurable skills gains in reading and math. Through their engagement in IE&T programs, District residents will have an opportunity to receive adult education and literacy instruction, concurrently and contextually with workforce preparation activities and workforce training for a specific occupation or occupational cluster. These and other related services (e.g. supportive and transition services) will be offered to District residents for the purpose of educational and career advancement.  Adult learners will have an opportunity to attain measurable skills gains, earn a secondary school diploma or its equivalent, attain one or more entry level and/or industry-recognized certifications, transition to postsecondary education, engage in work-based learning and/or be placed in unsubsidized employment in an in-demand industry and occupation that pays a family sustaining wage and/or that leads to economic self-sufficiency. To achieve these goals, eligible providers will partner with educational providers, workforce training providers, employers, postsecondary institutions and other entities to meet the diverse needs of adult learners and support them in the pursuit of their desired career path.  Furthermore, IE&T’s inclusion of industry-specific training typically incorporates instruction towards an industry-recognized certification which are considered postsecondary credentials.  Therefore adult learners enrolled in IE&T programs are frequently able to attain a valued postsecondary credential without having to navigate any change to program placement.  This model has allowed the District to achieve a 44% credential attainment rate which puts us in the highest performing quartile when compared to all other states in the country.  Moreover, OSSE AFE is working with UDC-CC to map out dual-enrollment options that will allow adult learners in OSSE AFE funded programs to begin accessing credit towards a postsecondary credential while still completing their secondary credential.  This partnership will tighten up the transition from secondary to postsecondary education for the District’s adult learners thus leading to further increases in their ability to complete postsecondary education programs and earn postsecondary credentials.  

Dual-Enrollment. District partners continue to expand and enhance articulation agreements, dual-enrollment opportunities, and other means of easing transition from PK-12 to postsecondary credential programs. All OSSE AFE providers provide transition services to participants, which include agreements connecting secondary instruction with postsecondary education and training programs, including apprenticeship programs. OSSE AFE is working to connect these AFE programs with UDC-CC dual-enrollment offerings, including connections to both postsecondary credit towards an associate degree as well as connections to UDC’s Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning (WDLL) division to explore stackable industry-recognized credentials aligned with the IE&T industry focus of AFE subgrantees.

In addition, OSSE is working with UDC to provide dual-enrollment and articulation opportunities for secondary students, including students enrolled in CTE programming, that could lead to postsecondary coursework aligned with each of DC’s 42 newly developed programs of study and in turn, lead to an associate and/or a bachelor’s degree. In the future, OSSE’s CTE team will explore other nontraditional postsecondary options that lead to industry-recognized credentials and support students’ advancement along their career path, such as enrollment in one of the District’s WIOA Title I funded job training programs, a Registered Apprenticeship program, and UDC-CC WDLL.

Information will be made available to help parents, teachers, counselors, and students understand and access the traditional and nontraditional postsecondary program options available to them. OSSE GED program representatives contact all GED recipients regarding how to “activate their acceptance” to UDC. OSSE’s Career Coach DC website helps users find and connect to a career pathway by providing current local data on wages, employment, job postings, and associated education and training requirements. OSSE is also developing a website with a comprehensive list of postsecondary financing options to help residents understand and access postsecondary education grants and scholarships.

WIOA Title IV offers individualized services, including transition services, to facilitate the transition from school to post-secondary life, as well as, vocational training itself. Pre-employment transition services further prepare youth with disabilities for post-secondary education.