“Employment is the answer to poverty. Education is the answer to unemployment,” said Sharon Morrissey, senior vice president for the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS), at the inaugural meeting of the Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment (CAPSEE) at Teachers College, Columbia University.
CAPSEE will research how well a variety of postsecondary pathways—short-term occupational degrees, non-credit workforce programs, associate and bachelor’s degrees in an array of subjects—prepare students for the workforce. Researchers will work with North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Florida and Michigan to link education and employment data.
“With these very large state data sets, we can look at the relationship between different programs or majors or degrees with employment on a much more detailed level,” said (CAPSEE director Thomas) Bailey.
Florida already links high school, college and clearinghouse data for all students in the state, said Judith Scott-Clayton, a Community College Research Center researcher at Teachers’ College. It’s possible to analyze high school grades, 10th grade test scores and college outcomes. Scott-Claytone plans to add a link to national census information to track long-term outcomes for students who leave the state after college.
Students who earn a credential from California community colleges double their earnings in four years, said Patrick Perry, vice chancellor for the California Community Colleges.
