Innovation:
Progressive Career Ladder Programs
The “chunking” of degree and credential programs into smaller modules supports the development of career ladder programs (also called “career pathways” or “career advancement” programs). As defined by the Workforce Strategy Center (2002), career ladder programs “focus on high-demand, well-paying employment sectors, such as manufacturing, healthcare or information technology, and have incorporated into one seamless system all the steps—skills training, work experience and upgrade training—needed to prepare an economically and educationally disadvantaged worker for employment in the field and advancement in a career.”
Learning activities can begin prior to employment, in either bridge programs or other learning opportunities that prepare for entry-level jobs. Once established in a job, the individual can then continue learning activities, tackling one “chunk” at a time until earning a credential that can lead to higher-skilled and higher paying positions. These different learning experiences can use both new and existing community college curricula, which allows the individual learner to earn college credit as they proceed through the pathway. It also means that the individual learner may qualify for federal or state student financial aid programs (Poppe et al, 2004).
A good career ladder/pathway program will be able to show learners what their various options are for advancing to higher level jobs as they earn more credentials and gain more work experience. They can see which courses, or combination of courses, lead to which job opportunities. An example of this kind of a “road map” is shown in Figure 2 (reprinted from Poppe et al, 2004) for a career ladder program in microelectronics developed by Portland Community College (PCC) in Portland, Oregon. The box at the top of the page shows the bridge program, followed by the various chunks or modules that can lead to higher level positions.
Figure 3 shows a graphic depiction of a career ladder program in Information Technology (reprinted from Workforce Strategy Center, 2002). Like the Portland example, this career ladder has several levels of training, with each level offering a new opportunity for career advancement. This structure provides a tangible incentive for training, which is an important way to keep learners motivated to continue.
Perhaps more than any other kind of learning program, a good career ladder initiative depends upon identifying the right career path for the program by conducting a thorough assessment of labor market needs and projections during the Analysis phase. The task is not just determining whether there will be long term employability, but also whether the job targets for the early phases of training will provide opportunities to advance in a career and to earn higher wages. The ladders are most often created for a single industry, although new work in cluster development is promising to expand the options available to a worker.
As mentioned earlier, employer involvement is important to the design of any learning initiative, even at its earliest development stage. Once the career path is chosen for the program, continued employer involvement is crucial. Not only should employers be consulted to make sure that the program is designed around skill needs of the local labor market, but employers will need to be close partners in the design, development and implementation of the program as well. They will need to be a part of the curriculum development, they will need to adjust their own internal human resource practices to accommodate career ladders, and they will need to make firm hiring commitments to make the program work (Mills & Prince, 2003; Prince, 2003). At the same time, the program needs to be attractive to the employer. It should be cost-effective, meet a real need that the employer has, and it should be easy to use (Prince, 2003).
Next: Apprenticeship programs innovation>
Related Organizational Examples