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Plan: Minnesota PYs 2016-2017
Combined Plan C

Section: WIOA State Plan Common Elements

Narrative: III. a. 2. E.

Published
Located in:
  • III. Operational Planning Elements
    The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that support the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II.(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
    • a. State Strategy Implementation
      The Unified or Combined State Plan must include—
      • 2. Implementation of State Strategy
        Describe how the lead State agency with responsibility for the administration of each core program or a Combined Plan partner program included in this plan will implement the State’s Strategies identified in Section II(c). above. This must include a description of—

III. a. 2. E. Partner Engagement with Educational Institutions

Describe how the State’s Strategies will engage the State’s community colleges and area career and technical education schools, as partners in the workforce development system to create a job-driven education and training system. WIOA section 102(b)(2)(B)(iv).

Current Narrative:

Minnesota has an established history of developing partnerships within education. Minnesota’s FastTRAC program represents a strong partnership between Adult Basic Education, DEED, MnSCU, and other post-secondary institutions. This program demonstrates the coordination but also the alignment and leveraging of resources, including financial and human, to better serve individuals on a career path to academic achievement and employment. This model exemplifies the six elements of the career pathway system and moves new programming into innovative ways to develop skills, which include credentials that lead to employment. FastTRAC programming is only one of Minnesota’s best practices that move individuals forward in developing the skills which result in either credential or academic credits leading to degree attainment. Minnesota’s Pathways 2 Prosperity program, funded by the state legislature, is yet another step in moving career pathways forward with a priority to address the disparities gap for individuals with barriers to employment. Minnesota’s partnerships have expanded across education, workforce, Adult Basic Education, and community-based organizations to not only develop the skills of individuals but meet the demand of employers. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, DEED, MN Department of Education, and several state community colleges have partnerships with industry which are implementing new programs for youth and adults in dual enrollment in apprenticeship programs funded by state and federal funds (including non-traditional occupations in Minnesota’s key industry sectors).

As Minnesota establishes its career pathway system, it will draw on existing educational partnerships, several of which have been a part of career pathway projects or have contributed to our development of career pathway thinking. Partners include:

  • State agencies engaged in the talent pipeline
    • Department of Education
    • Department of Employment and Economic Development
    • Office of Higher Education
    • Department of Human Services
    • Department of Labor and Industry
    • Department of Human Services
    • Department of Human Rights
  • Higher Education Entities
    • Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
    • University of Minnesota
    • Minnesota Private College Council
  • Other Systems and Providers
    • Adult Basic Education
    • Career and Technical Education
    • Community–Based Organizations
    • Philanthropy
    • Local Workforce Boards
    • Organized Labor
    • Economic Development
    • State Legislature

Education and Workforce Alignment

Minnesota has a fully interoperable, enterprise–level data collection, reporting and analysis system that stores student data from pre–kindergarten through completion of postsecondary and into the workforce. The system is jointly managed by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), the Office of Higher Education (OHE) and DEED, and includes:

  • The Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS), which is led by OHE and brings together data from MDE, DEED and OHE; and
  • The Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (ECLDS), which is led by MDE and brings together data primarily from MDE and the Minnesota Departments of Health (MDH) and Human Services (DHS).

SLEDS brings together data from education and workforce to identify the most viable pathways for individuals in achieving successful outcomes in education and work. It can be used to inform decisions to support and improve education and workforce policy and assist in creating a more seamless education and workforce system for all Minnesotans.

The general purpose of the SLEDS system is to identify and analyze the 4 P’s of Minnesota’s education and workforce systems:

  • Pathways: The movement of individual students between K–12, higher education, and workforce
  • Progress: The benchmarks transition points students meet or fail to meet
  • Predictors: The characteristics or patterns that help explain which students succeed and which do not
  • Performance: The alignment of education and workforce for individual success

In 2015, Minnesota received a 4–year national SLDS grant through the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) with a focus on early learning and college and career. The grant projects have high potential for expanding SLEDS use in ways that will inform and improve education programming, policies and resource allocation decisions. The proposed projects have been designed to support increased use of SLEDS, improve key stakeholders’ data literacy and/or add new linkages to important additional data.

DEED is leading one project to measure workforce and educational alignment, which is known to yield vital information about a state’s economic health. The alignment involves matching current and future need for workers in specific occupations with the numbers of students currently in education pipelines who will potentially fulfill those needs.

At this time, however, only potential workforce needs have been measured in other states. Minnesota proposes to take a leadership role is creating a web–based tool that allows for measuring the alignment between actual need and available workforce. This innovative and valuable tool will enable users to quantify and map real over– and under–supplies of workers for specific occupations.

Resulting analyses will provide vital information to multiple stakeholders. For example, postsecondary institutions will have access to essential information that will inform programming and enrollment decisions. Workforce development counselors will be able to better guide clients in selecting educational opportunities that are aligned to in–demand and growth occupations in Minnesota.

State Educational Attainment Goal

In 2015, the Minnesota Legislature set in statute the goal of 70 percent or more of Minnesota residents ages 25 to 44 to hold a postsecondary degree or certificate by 2025. This law also emphasized the importance of achieving comparable attainment rates across all race and ethnicity groups. The Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) is tasked with reporting on progress towards this goal annually, and will use benchmarks of 30 and 50 percent to report progress by race and ethnicity groups.

DEED serves as a key stakeholder in this effort to increase educational attainment levels because of our role in administering workforce training programs for adults and youth with barriers to entry, particularly those from communities of color. Approximately 45 percent of WorkForce Center customers and 48 percent of our eligibility–based program customers do not have education beyond a high school diploma or GED. Providing them with access to education and training opportunities will DEED representatives currently serve on the OHE’s advisory group to identify best strategies for meeting the state’s attainment goal.

Transparency of Educational Outcomes

In 2015, the Minnesota Legislature also set in statute the higher education reporting requirements for institutions that participate in state financial aid programs administered by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) These requirements included enrollment and graduation data; financial aid information; cumulative debt of graduates by race and ethnicity, gender, and income; persistence and completion; and employment and wage outcomes.

DEED is a key partner with OHE in this push towards transparency of educational outcomes. Data on institution–level employment and wage outcomes by program of study (i.e. major) are now integrated into DEED’s Graduate Employment Outcomes tool, a product of the Labor Market Information Office.