Narrative: II. c. 1.

The state’s workforce system is complex, comprising numerous programs, services, and initiatives administered by state agencies, secondary and higher education, community and technical colleges, local adult education providers, Registered Apprenticeship, and vocational rehabilitation providers. System partners are responsible for the delivery of a wide range of workforce education and training programs and related services, as well as education programs that support career preparation and advancement.

The system is interrelated because the programs and agencies serve either a common customer or are charged with achieving similar employment and education outcomes for their targeted customer groups. Therefore, the strategic planning process is designed to identify and focus on systemic issues that affect multiple parts of the system programs or agencies that address broad, big–picture workforce issues. Because the system strategic plan focuses on issues that span agencies and programs, it fulfills a unique and complementary role in the workforce system and does not duplicate the purpose or scope of other agency or program plans.

Several priority issues were identified by the Arkansas Workforce Development Board that will be addressed by system partners during the strategic plan period.

Industry Sector Partnerships

The Arkansas Sector Partnership (ASP), a partnership of employers, state agencies, education providers, Registered Apprenticeship, and community leaders, will engage project stakeholders in ongoing regional planning efforts across the state to assess workforce development needs and job demand. Input obtained from regional planning efforts will be used to adjust training (on an as needed basis) to meet employer needs. The ASP will utilize a regional planning sector framework that focuses on critical factors that include: 1) existing labor market information and other workforce related data; 2) regional input from community stakeholders; 3) industry sector/employer input; 4) aligned education and training activities to meet employer needs; 5) aligning business services/workforce services/case management services to serve workforce customers (both employers and dislocated workers); and 6) continuous improvement and sustainability after the life of the grant.

ASP will engage in regional planning activities, structured around WIOA regions, including assessing the workforce development and economic landscape to identify employer training needs, industry trends, and areas of job growth. The resulting information, data, and analysis will serve as a basis for serving dislocated workers and employers under ASP as well as serve as the cornerstone of WIOA regional and statewide planning activities. The regional and sector strategies planning activities will include career pathways to design career ladders that will focus on hard to serve individuals.

Both geographic and industry–based sector strategies are proven to be effective methods for aligning workforce service providers and community partners to address the occupational based training needs of employers. The ASP regional planning process will also assess existing workforce services and community resources infrastructure to support workforce development efforts emphasizing the needs of hard to serve populations including those participating in career pathways. The ASP will engage in the following activities to ensure the development of a comprehensive regional and sector plan:

• Partnership and program development with stakeholders, employers, and training programs;

• Acquisition, analysis, and utilization of LMI and workforce information to identify regional trends;

• Asset mapping and other analysis, such as SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats);

• Developing regional plans;

• Training for staff in State and local areas necessary to facilitate regional planning and implement regional strategies;

• Establishing social and/or peer learning networks among regions using sector strategies;

• Identifying and mapping the necessary skills and competencies for in–demand jobs;

• Assessing how well those skills and competencies are reflected in existing training programs and curricula; and

• Identifying aligned industry credentials for those skills and competencies needed.

This structure will also ensure that employers and regional industry representatives are actively engaged in designing and implementing strategies in five key areas: 1) serving on the project’s leadership team; 2) helping implement program strategies and goals; 3) identifying and mapping the necessary skills and competencies for the programs; 4) assisting with curriculum development and designing the program; and 5) assisting with the design of an assessment and/or credential that will address industry skill needs.

Career Pathways

Arkansas leaders recognize the need for an education and training system that addresses the state’s economic challenges. Through the Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative (CPI), the state has sought to coordinate publicly funded education with social services and workforce and economic development programs to produce a better–trained workforce and promote economic growth. The Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative is a series of connected education and training programs and support services that enable individuals to secure employment within a specific industry or occupational sector and to advance over time to successively higher level of education and employment in that sector. Each step on a career pathway is designed explicitly to prepare workers and students for the next level of employment and education. Using the career pathways framework, the workforce system seeks to target jobs in industries of importance to local economies and create avenues of advancement for current workers, jobseekers, and future labor market entrants, as well as a supply of qualified workers for employers.

Community colleges play a linchpin role in career pathways. The career pathways framework promotes systemic reform for community colleges –– providing a model that better aligns their various mission areas of workforce development, academic credentialing, transfer preparation, and remediation with the needs of employers. Pathways commonly feature community colleges working in partnership with other educational entities, workforce and economic development agencies, employer and labor groups, and social service providers to ensure investments in education and training pay off for the region’s economic vitality. Students entering into adult literacy or college remedial coursework are better able to advance to and succeed in college–level programs, and all students can more readily earn postsecondary credentials and make progress toward a career. Incumbent workers are provided training opportunities that help increase their skills and subsequent wages.

CPI, which began serving clients in fall 2005, seeks to improve the earnings through postsecondary education attainment of Arkansas’s low–income "TANF–eligible" adults by enabling them to work in industries of regional importance. Administered by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) with funding from the Department of Workforce Services (DWS), ADHE/CPI provides an opportunity for 25 campuses to develop Career Pathways Initiatives. Through the implementation of WIOA, the State seeks to use lessons learned and the framework created through the CPI to educate and encourage other jobseekers to utilize career pathways as a method for preparing for their eventual career.

CPI’s objectives for program participants are:

• Increased enrollment in college–level certificate and associate degree programs;

• Increased attainment of college–level certificates and associate degrees;

• Increased job attainment and job retention in key industries; and

• Improve the level of engagement among educators and employers to generate work opportunities for students and serve the workforce needs of the private sector.

Registered Apprenticeship

Many of the things that keep Arkansas’s many industries operative today were built long ago by trade and craftsmen. Fewer people are choosing a career in the trades, even as demand and unemployment rates continue to escalate. Arkansas, like many states in America, is suffering from a widening skills gap that desperately needs to be filled. That means, for everyone who enjoys modern day necessities like electricity, indoor plumbing, paved roads, air conditioning, homes, and buildings to live and work in, things could take a downward turn, because craftsmen and tradesmen are retiring at an alarming high rate, and not enough people are training to take their place.

Tradesmen and craftsmen are needed now more than ever. For those men and women that do step up to fill the ever–growing expertise gap in Arkansas, big opportunities await. From work–while–you–learn apprenticeships to career–elevating college and technical courses, there are hundreds of ways to kick start a craft career in Arkansas.

Support for Registered Apprenticeship continues to grow in the State due to the relationship between the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship, the Arkansas Apprenticeship Coordination Steering Committee (a Governor appointed committee), the Arkansas Apprenticeship Coalition, the Arkansas Department of Career Education, the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, and the Arkansas Workforce Development Board who collaborate continuously to address key issues regarding workforce development needs throughout the State of Arkansas.

As a way to attract more workers to Registered Apprenticeship, the Arkansas Apprenticeship Coordination Steering Committee established a website to inform jobseekers who may be interested. http://arkansasapprenticeship.com/. This website informs prospective apprentices of the occupations, the training, and what employment opportunities exist.

Closing the Gap 2020 – A Master Plan for Higher Education in Arkansas

A master plan for improving Arkansas higher education attainment was presented to the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board on October 30, 2015. The 2015–2020 five year planning cycle adopted in this plan is a critical component in the long–term objective to reach the 2025 goal of a 60 percent post–secondary attainment rate in Arkansas, increasing from the current estimate of 43.4 percent. By 2020, the plan is to reduce the educational attainment gap in Arkansas by increasing the number of postsecondary credentials by 50 percent over the 2013–2014 academic year levels; increasing the number of certificates awarded to 19,200; associate’s degrees to 12,700; and bachelor’s degrees to 19,900.

As the State moves to the implementation stage of the Closing the Gap Master Plan, the plan has been divided into core subsections. Each subsection has a committee tasked with finding the best way to implement the policy that will help achieve the goals of the master plan related to their subsection. The subsections include:

• Adult Learners

• College Readiness

• Remediation

• Student Success Innovation

• Affordability

• Institutional Funding

• Non–Formula Funding

• Communication Strategies

Supporting Goals

Below is a summary of proposed goals from the Closing the Gap 2020 Master Plan. The Closing the Gap 2020 Master Plan is accessible online at http://www.adhe.edu/institutions/higher–education–master–plan/.

GOAL 1: Raise completion and graduation rates of colleges and universities by 10 percent.

• Reduce the percentage of students needing remediation to prepare them for college–level course work.

• Reduce the time needed for students to complete remedial requirements.

• Raise first year retention rates of students to Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) regional averages.

GOAL 2: By fall 2018, increase the enrollment of adult students, age 25 to 54, by 50 percent.

• Reduce the remedial course enrollments for adults by 50 percent through alternative means of preparing adults for college–level work

• Improve communication of the value of higher education to non–traditional students

GOAL 3: Raise the attainment rates of underserved student groups in the state by 10 percent.

• Raise the overall college–going rate for all student groups by 5 percent from 50.1 percent to 55.1 percent

• Raise the underserved student college–going rate to equal that of other students

• Raise completion rates of underserved student groups equal to other students.

GOAL 4: Improve College Affordability through Effective Resource Allocation

• Reduced time to degree for students

• Allocate 25 percent of state scholarship funds to need–based programs

• Re–allocate institutional spending to maximize efficiency and effectiveness

Jobs for Arkansas’s Graduates (JAG)

The Jobs for Arkansas’s Graduate (JAG) program is a state affiliate of the national Jobs for America’s Graduates. Middle and high school students, who are experiencing barriers to graduation, are provided a comprehensive set of services designed to keep them in school through graduation and improve the rate of success in achieving their education and career goals. Along with the academic support, JAG also provides work–based learning experiences that will assist students to further their education and training in pursuit of a rewarding career.

The JAG model is based on and evaluated by a series of performance measures and standards, which allow the program to report student outcomes. The data collected and reported includes student demographics, contact hours with students, graduation rate, direct work experience, job placement one year after graduation, and employment outcomes.

The Arkansas Department of Career Education and Arkansas Department of Workforce Services have established a strong partnership to ensure Arkansas high students graduate and continue on the path to success either in today’s workforce in or postsecondary education.

Arkansas Career Coach Program

The College and Career program (formerly known as Arkansas Works) is designed to motivate and support Arkansas students to achieve their goals as it relates to college and career planning. Students may begin working with a Career Coach in the 8th grade (7th, if enrolled in Career Orientation) with continued services through high school graduation. Career Coaches work in partnership with the Career Orientation instructors and school counselors to assist with the development and revision of the student’s college and career plans. The College and Career Coach program provides assistance and information for resources in the areas of: academic tutoring, career counseling, mentoring, financial guidance, and other supports necessary for postsecondary education/training access, retention, and success.

The Arkansas College and Career Coach Program was introduced as a pilot initiative in January 2010. The program is administered through the Arkansas Department of Career Education and has established partnerships with the Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas Department of Higher Education, and Arkansas Department of Workforce Services. During the pilot phase, the program was designed to provide college and career planning services and activities to middle/high school students within the twenty–one most economically challenged counties across the state of Arkansas. After the completion of the pilot phase, the program demonstrated a positive impact in the areas of college–going rate, ACT Scores, remediation rates, and financial aid applications and was expanded beyond the initial twenty–one counties.