July 1 marked the launch of the Workforce Pell program—federal financial aid to short-term, high-quality workforce training programs. Now, those looking for careers after high school, working adults, and people looking to acquire new skills can potentially access Pell Grants for programs as short as eight weeks that prepare them for jobs in in-demand occupations or industries. To implement this program, states need high-quality data to identify the programs that qualify for Workforce Pell and to ensure that people can access this financial aid.
States will need to make changes, if they haven’t already. As we explained in a post co-authored with the National Skills Coalition earlier this year:
Many states already have pieces of the necessary data required for Workforce Pell, such as student enrollment, completion records, and wage data. The missing piece for most, however, is alignment across education and workforce data systems.
For example, even when credit and noncredit programs are offered at the same community or technical college, their data is often housed in separate systems, governed by different rules, and reported through different channels—making it difficult to understand outcomes across both program types.
States with robust P–20W data systems are more likely to have the necessary data connections in place and be ready to hit the ground running to access this new funding stream. And this is an opportunity for other states to lead on data, too.
The best way to both have an understanding of people’s pathways through education and training and into the workforce and implement Workforce Pell is through a robust data system, governed by cross-agency data governance. Fortunately, DQC’s latest resource provides a detailed roadmap of how states can implement best practice cross-agency data governance and ensure state leaders and communities can actively use data to understand outcomes and guide investments.
Don’t just take our word for it. Here are helpful resources from our partners:
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- Education Strategy Group’s Preparing for Workforce Pell provides a set of model policies with sample language that other states can adopt to codify effective practices related to Workforce Pell implementation, including the identification of other exemplary guidance.
- Jobs for the Future’s Workforce Pell Implementation: A Roadmap for States provides background and an overview of the new program, highlights opportunities and challenges to shaping successful implementation, and offers suggestions on how states might begin their implementation journeys.
- New America’s Quality Principles for Workforce Pell Programs and State Playbook for Implementation are designed to support states as they implement Workforce Pell.
- The Workforce Pell Data Collaborative’s Model Workforce Pell Data Framework is a collaboratively developed framework of critical data elements for collecting, reporting, and analyzing information on Workforce Pell-eligible programs, their participants, and outcomes.
More to come from DQC as states navigate implementing Workforce Pell. What are your questions?
