Ed479 041 - Documented Characteristics of Labor Market-Responsive Community Colleges and a Review of Supporting Literature

This paper discusses the mission of the market-responsive community college. These colleges include mid- and high-level workforce training in their curriculum. Some of the characteristics of a market- responsive community college detailed here include: (1) allocating resources to develop training programs; (2) reaching out to businesses and other organizations; (3) responding rapidly to changes in local economic conditions and training needs; (4) recruiting faculty from among local experts in the field; and (5) partnering with other local educational institutions to deliver comprehensive training. Over 200 publications were reviewed for this report, and the 25 articles that contained the most relevant information, including descriptions of labor-market responsive behavior, were selected. The four methodologies used in preparing the articles that were selected were: (1) statistical analysis; (2) less formal data analysis; (3) literature reviews; and (4) anecdotal evidence. The conclusions of this review will be used as hypotheses to be thoroughly tested in the next phase of this initiative. A reading of the literature found that outsourced training expenditures for U.S. companies nearly doubled, from $9.9 billion to $19.3 billion annually, between 1994 and 2000. Includes brief outlines of specific community college programs and 25 annotated references to literature analyzed for the ‘study. (NB) .