Aligning Community College Credit and Noncredit Workforce Education Programs: An Examination of Emerging Practices

March 2019–August 2019

Noncredit education at community colleges can function as a bridge to enrollment in credit courses and programs, becoming the first step into college and higher future earnings for low-income students. Yet prior research suggests that practices aimed at improving the alignment of credit and noncredit workforce education programs at community colleges are underutilized and underevaluated. The Capital One Foundation is partnering with 13 community colleges engaged in various efforts to improve credit and noncredit alignment of workforce programs. With funding and guidance from the foundation, the colleges are building upon previous efforts and experimenting with innovative approaches to better alignment. CCRC is the Capital One Foundation's research partner on this project and is documenting emerging practices in credit/ noncredit alignment among these colleges. CCRC is also supporting Capital One’s ongoing efforts to guide a subset of the colleges as they develop an alignment prototype.

This project is funded by the Capital One Foundation.

Blog Posts

CCRC Working With Colleges to Create Data Tool for Aligning Credit and Noncredit Programs

Project Lead

Maria S. Cormier