National Council for Workforce Education

I just returned from the National Council for Workforce Education's Annual Fall Conference in San Antonio. NCWE is an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). I presented to stakeholders from business and education; toured Roosevelt High School, St. Philip's College and Palo Alto College; and talked to researchers and practitioners from Puerto Rico, New Mexico, Louisiana, Washington, Arkansas, the Community College Research Center at Columbia University, and many others.

Though most conference presentations were excellent, I was somewhat disappointed. I will expound in future posts, but I was struck by two things the community college system in this country doesn't seem to understand, both of which the CEC model solves very well: too many colleges are unwilling or unable to acknowledge the fuller role business can play in making education more relevant, and many are too eager to be mini-universities to see the importance to our national economy of directly partnering with secondary school systems and business/industry in collabortive ventures, sharing control and promoting regional economic expansion.

I also noticed the lack of "buzz" about the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative and Community-Based Job Training Grants, which appear to be focused (from the administration's standpoint, at least) on community colleges. I wonder if colleges are ready to embrace this national role.

I was very impressed by San Antonio, the connection its system of colleges makes with business, and how community colleges there are working closer with independent school districts. San Antonio appreciates the need to prepare a highly-skilled workforce, and its leaders are open to exploring new and better ways to meet local needs.