WTCS CertificatesWorkgroup Update

Northcentral Technical CollegeOctober 2, 2013

WTCS Certificates Workgroup

• Agenda–Review Objective of Workgroup–Review Current Definitions• Certificates• Career Pathways• Embedded Technical Diploma

–Discuss Next Steps–Other

WTCS Strategic Directions

WTCS Strategic Directions

Act 20: Performance-Based Funding

Criteria 2:

“Number of degrees and certificates awardedin high-demand fields.”

Current Certificate Types (ESM 2.70.1)

• Local Certificate • Advanced Technical Certificate (ESM 7.10.1)

• WTCS Pathway Certificate (ESM 4.10.7)

Purposes of Certificates

• Local Certificate:– Fast response to employer needs– Courses are approved – exception codes– 3-year cycle– No reporting

• Advanced Technical Certificate:– Intended to be training beyond the approved degree– New and Emerging content– 3-year cycle– Sometimes courses displace existing program courses– GPR funded curriculum development is possible– No reporting

Multi-purpose

• Career Exploration• Provide “advanced” skills• Used to “test the waters” in new and

emerging program areas• Stackable credential within a Career Pathway

21st Century Career Pathway• American workers experience high

job turnover, holding down an average of 11 different jobs between the ages of 18 and 42.

• Developing stackable credentials that are valued by employers and credible to educators are a key ingredient in developing Career Pathways.

Career Pathways

Career Pathway Core

• A way of organizing college level occupational training as a sequence of certificates that leads adult learners in attainable steps toward better jobs and a degree or technical diploma.

• Each step improves the learner’s career and earning opportunities and provides a skill set wanted by an industry or an industry sector.

Benefits of 21st Century Career Pathway

• Encourage the building of relevant skills for today’s and tomorrow’s markets.

• Institutionalize lifelong learning as an individual and collective imperative.

• Facilitate workers’ capacity to adapt to dislocation and evolving labor markets.

The Goals of the Policy Change

• Preserve the Rigor by wholly embedding the courses

• Preserve the State Board’s role in “Approval”/”Recognition”

• Acknowledges the low financial risk/high potential benefits

• Preserve an “Employment Outcome”• Efficient process built upon the existing

approval process

Embedded Technical Diploma

Next Steps

• WTCS Certificates Work group – Will meet later this month– Review a White Paper which will inform the work

related to PBF– Later in November, early December more

definitive language will be shared

WTCS Certificate Workgroup Members

• Sheila Ruhland, MPTC• Chris Matheny, FVTC• Ann Kamps, NWTC• Patti Balacek, WTC• Amy Charles, WTCS• Annette Severson, WTCS

• Laurie Borowicz, NTC• Tanya Wasmer, LTC• Mike Carney, WTCS• Conor Smyth, WTCS• Kathy Cullen, WTCS