Work Experience
2021-2022 Program Review

The entire report can be found here with accurate formatting: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HoCS95YzLmaukkLGzSnYBOmTiwBgeu65/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=103011916099238156224&rtpof=true&sd=true

The Work Experience and Internship Program (WEXP), in compliance with Title V guidelines, combines participation in work experience and/or internship opportunities with regular college instruction as an integral part of the community college curriculum. 

WEXP is a unique, experiential, academic program of education designed to develop and provide classroom instruction to students to gain viable on-the-job workplace skills and knowledge.  This also includes a focus on  improving self and career understanding by integrating classroom curriculum with planned, supervised internship/work experience. 

Work experience has 3 primary functions:

1. Instructional

  * A variety of Work Experience courses exist at ARC these include

     * Career Education courses - There are currently 49 Work Experience Course Outlines of Record (CORs) across a variety of disciplines at ARC

     * Apprenticeship courses - Apprentices earn college credit through Work Experience for their required On The Job Training (OJT)

  * Work Experience courses are also one of several Living Skills graduation requirements for an associate degree. Further, WEXP has been incorporated in some Career Technical Education (CTE) programs as an elective course. Students may earn 0.5 - 4 units per semester for a letter grade up to 16 units. The courses numbered 298 and 498 are CSU transferable.

2. Direct Services to Students

  * The program provides direct services to students focused on elevating students in their internship search by providing one on one meetings and workshops on topics such as resume writing, interviewing, and internship search strategies. 

3.Community Engagement

  * Develop internship opportunities for students with a focus on the college’s service area. This development is focused on providing internships that adhere to federal and state laws regarding internships as well as the Los Rios Community College District’s Equal Opportunity Policy.   In addition, this process also focuses on ensuring that internship opportunities are inclusive and student centered by the following strategies:

     * including strategic questions for employers during the vetting process such as: why the organization is motivated to bring on an intern at this time, goals for the internship program,

     * declining internship opportunities that do not meet program standards such as: not having consistent and expert supervision and expecting students to provide their own equipment for unpaid internships

     * promoting paid internships when vetting internship sites to increase access to internships for low-income students

     * encouraging employers to consider the internship as an early talent program that the employer will consider hiring from

Research continues to  solidify Work Based Learning (WBL) or Work Experience as a best practice, particularly for low-income and disproportionately impacted students.  While this national research shows the importance of the program, the ARC Work Experience Program does not have data on: 

• How many students are gainfully employed in their chosen field after their WEXP enrollment
• Longitudinal data on the correlation between enrollment in a Work Experience course  and students ability to find and maintain employment in their field  post certificate/degree

What the ARC Work Experience data does show is that 

ARC Work Experience students demonstrate essential workplace skills and behaviors:  

Work Experience student’s final course grade heavily factors in the worksite supervisor’s evaluation of the student’s workplace skills, knowledge and abilities.  Looking at the Course Success Rates Course Success Rates (%A, B, C, Cr, P)of the Work Experience courses, between Fall 2015 and Spring 2021, almost 80 percent of students received an employer evaluation indicating sufficient demonstration of workplace skills, knowledge, and abilities. 

In fact, Georgetown University, Center on Education and the Workforce’s report “Born to Win, Schooled to Lose: Why Equally Talented Students Don’t Get Equal Chances to Be All They Can Be” advocates the need to continue to offer students Work Based Learning (WBL)  opportunities “go ensure that talented low-SES students get the most for their education, integrate career exploration and provide access to high-quality work experience at the high school and college levels.”  

https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/schooled2lose/?fbclid=IwAR16kYZTFwAcV4dNJzRCHmpYRrDa2PDmOkbEBwL8mMJ0sKUAHSRNLSYMXE4 

The Brookings Institute published a report in 2020, that highlights that the need for WBL is even greater post-COVID as the need for stronger pipelines for students of color to access the workplace is even greater.  The report highlights that high quality WBL programs offer students from disproportionately groups access to “Opportunities for young people to learn skills

and behaviors that enable them to build and enhance their relationships with others.”

WORK-BASED LEARNING CAN ADVANCE EQUITY AND OPPORTUNITY FOR AMERICA'S YOUNG PEOPLE 

The National Association of Colleges and Employers, Job Outlook Report for 2022, found that in terms of proficiency in the career readiness competencies, employers rate recent graduates as “very proficient” in only one area: technology.  This points to a discrepancy between the career readiness of candidates and the importance of those competencies that college graduates have: essentially candidates do not meet the level of competency that employers are looking for on 7 of the 8 competencies.  Work Based Learning provides students the opportunity to show their ability in all of these 8 areas: Critical Thinking, Communication, Team Work, Equity & Inclusion, Professionalism, Technology, Career & Self Development, and Leadership.  In fact the Work Experience Program at ARC includes all of these competencies as Student Learning Outcomes in the curriculum.  Students complete a self evaluation and a supervisor/mentor evaluation 2 times during the course.  

See below for the graphic representation of this data: National Association of Colleges and Employers, Job Outlook Report for 2022

The Work Experience and Internship Program serves the entire population of the College, including career and technical education, general education, apprenticeship, and transfer students.

The Work Experience & Internship Program supports the college mission of  providing “career as well as other academic and personal goals” in the following ways:

1. Providing education and training to prepare students for employment through the following coursework: WEXP 198, 298, and 498
2. Providing education and training to prepare students to enhance career skills by developing internship opportunities
3. Providing support services to help students identify their goals and achieve their potential by providing coaching, resume review, mock interviews and connections to employers during one on one sessions and workshops
4. Supporting a platform, Handshake, that allows students to connect to employers in an efficient and student-centered process
5. Working in partnership with businesses/organizations, the community, government, and other higher education institutions to foster community and economic development through the Handshake system
6. Hosting events for regional employers focused on providing students with internship opportunities each semester
7. Engaging with ARC’s advisory boards to foster awareness of the Work Experience program and promote internship opportunities  

Past Program Review 

The original Program Review was completed 2013-14 and since then, the college has implemented a new process.  The last program reviewed did not have any recommendations.

Past Annual Unit Plan

The Faculty Coordinator for the Work Experience and Internship Program has been doing Annual Unit planning and these are the goals that were set since the new process was implemented.  It is important to note that the system changed starting at the 2018-19 cycle and information prior to that is no longer available on the system.  In addition, it is also important to highlight that COVID interrupted much of the work outlined in the Annual Unit Plan and required that the program develop alternatives, change goals, and/or implement new processes and procedures:

2018-19

• Provide students with personalized, proactive support 
• JumpStart - This goal was accomplished and JumpStart was implemented.  However, it is important to note that the LRCCD DO exited the contract with the JumpStart vendor due to violations of the contract.  The program was required to pivot and dedicate resources to another district wide search for a new platform.  
• Provide proactive, effective, and efficient operational systems 
• Digital Signatures - This goal was accomplished and the classified professionals developed the Title 5 forms.  The Faculty Coordinator provided training to all Work Experience faculty
• Utilize innovative, high-quality instructional methods and technologies 
• Digital Signatures-  This goal was accomplished and the classified professionals developed the Title 5 forms.  The Faculty Coordinator provided training to all Work Experience faculty
• Promote data-informed approaches to planning, decision-making, and resource allocation 
• Data on Demand Review - This goal was not accomplished as the college’s Data on Demand platform did not yet have a way to query the entirety of Work Experience data.

2019-20

• Provide proactive, effective, and efficient operational systems
• Continued Collaboration with Apprenticeship Program - This goal was accomplished through communication with the program regarding:
• Title 5 updates and requirements. For example, share the change to Title 5 that allows Work Experience to be awarded in 0.5 unit increments.
• Collaborating to develop Title 5 forms for non-traditional apprenticeship programs such as Cybersecurity 
• Provide students with personalized, proactive support 
• Handshake implementation - This goal was accomplished by providing:
• Training for SPAs and Clerks to become proficient with using the platform, Handshake (which replaces JumpStart) to provide students with information on current internships and volunteer opportunities. 
• Marketing campaign for the new Handshake platform using district provided marketing materials targeting students, faculty and staff. 
• Provide easily recognizable pathways to employment
• Department, Homebase, and Affinity Group Outreach - This goal was partially accomplished as it was tied to the implementation of the Homebase pathway communities which,  as of writing this Program Review, are still being established and refined.
• Engage with different programs of study to promote the relevance and positive impact of Work Experience on student's employability. Infuse equity in outreach efforts. Develop awareness of virtual internship opportunities. 
• Promote data-informed approaches to planning, decision-making, and resource allocation
• Data on Demand - This goal was accomplished by the program
• Advocate for improvements to the Data on Demand reports available to Work Experience 
• However, the Institutional Research office is experiencing delays in setting up an automated query that would allow on demand access to the full range of data available for Work Experience.  As a result, the Program has had to continue relying on the more lengthy process of making research requests for manually run queries.

Unrecorded and unofficial goals

The program achieved other goals, which COVID interrupted and required work arounds. Below is an outline of these unrecorded and unofficial goals:

* Curriculum Update to reflect Title 5 changes

  * This began in 2020 and required deep collaboration with both the faculty coordinator counterparts as well as collaboration with department chairs and deans. A total of 49 Course Outlines of Record (CORs) were updated.

     * 18 CORs that were across districts were updated

     * 31 CORs that are only offered at ARC were updated

* Develop new curriculum in collaboration with Department Chairs in disciplines in areas identified where students can benefit from work experience. A total of 4 new Work Experience courses were launched:

  * ADMJ 498

  * APPRT 498

  * BUSTEC 298

  * CALJA 298

* Roadmap Project

  * With consultation with the Roadmap Project team and collaboration with the Roadmap Project Faculty lead, Bill Simpson, language was drafted to be included in Roadmaps that include a Work Experience course. Below is the language that was approved by the Roadmap Project team:

     * Required Work Experience

        * An internship (XXXX 498) is required as it opens up potential employment opportunities. Students can earn between 0.5 – 4.0 units for related paid or unpaid work experience including volunteer and internship positions through XXXX 498. This course also satisfies GE Area IIIb. See the Work Experience website for more information

     * Optional Work Experience (either through the program or certificate or having a designator option)

        * An internship (XXXX 498) is highly recommended as it opens up potential employment opportunities. Students can earn between 0.5 – 4.0 units for related paid or unpaid work experience including volunteer and internship positions through XXXX 498. This course also satisfies GE Area IIIb. See the Work Experience website for more information

     * The following 33 Roadmaps were updated to include the respective above language

        * Automotive Component Service Technician certificate

        * Automotive Technology certificate

        * Automotive Technology A.S.

        * Automotive Analysis certificate

        * Automotive Analysis A.S.

        * Parts and Service certificate

        * Undercar Service certificate

        * Automotive Collision Technology certificate

        * Automotive Collision Technology A.S.

        * Biotechnology A.S.

        * Biotechnology certificate

        * Virtual Administrative Professional A.A.

        * Digital Repair and Upgrade Technician certificate

        * Mechatronics A.S.

        * Fashion Design A.A.

        * Fashion Merchandising A.A.

        * Geographic Information Systems certificate

        * Geographic Information Systems A.S.

        * Senior Fitness Specialist certificate

        * Horticulture A.S.

        * Para Professional Interior Planning and Design certificate

        * Interior Planning and Design A.A.

        * Taxation certificate

        * General Business A.A.

        * Paralegal Studies A.A.

        * Paralegal Studies certificate

        * Environmental Conservation A.S.

        * Environmental Conservation certificate

        * 3D Animation certificate

        * 3D Modeling and Texturing certificate

        * Welding Technology A.S.

        * Engineering Technology A.S.

        * Design Technology A.A.

        * Recreation A.A.

* Updated Platform Search

  * The decision by the District to rescind the original career/internship platform contract with JumpStart in 2019-20 due to the contractor's failure to deliver on services created the unforeseen need for the Work Experience Program to invest resources in a new search. 

     * The goal was successfully completed with the selection of Handshake. This tool elevates our Los Rios students to local employers who were already using the tool to recruit students from Sacramento State and UC Davis. In addition, the tool provides a confidence score by crowdsourcing vetting ratings from other colleges using the tool.

* Utilize data in Handshake to research our DI students engagement with Handshake

  * The data in Handshake needs to be further refined to allow for the data in Handshake to reflect the data provided by PeopleSoft. This requires that the District Office dedicate resources to finding a solution for the data incongruencies.

  * The data that currently exists allowed the program to look at Handshake users by race/ethnicity. Looking at the race/ethnicity categories provided by PeopleSoft, the program compared the Handshake engagement percentage with the ARC enrollment for the following DI groups: African American, Asian American, Latinx and Native American. From this effort, the program identified the disproportionate engagement of Latinx students with Handshake. The program took this information and connected with Comunidad to get feedback on ways to increase outreach to Latinx students. This resulted in an invitation to present to Puente students and also an emphasis on the mobile application of Handshake. 

* Employer Outreach Campaign

  * This campaign was funded by LRCCD District Strong Workforce monies. The following recommendations were made:

     * Target industries that have high student enrollment in the respective discipline

     * Target companies/organizations that do not currently promote internship opportunities to Los Rios students

  * Since the campaign shifted its focus to only raising awareness among students and employers, the above recommendations were not realized and did not lead to maximum impact. The outcomes of the awareness campaign are below.. It is important to note that the outcomes of the campaign did not specify any impact on internship development. Looking forward, the possibility of engaging in another campaign focused on paid internships for DI students is a high interest and priority of the Program.

Strengths

Program Relevancy

  * Enrollment and Academic Program Collaboration

     * The continued engagement with various departments, such as Legal Assisting, Art, and Interior Design, as well as a 6 year average enrollment of 236 non- Apprenticeship enrollment indicate continued relevance of the program.

     * Expanded Apprenticeship course offerings as well as a 6 year average enrollment of 3,057 per academic year enrollment also indicate program relevance. 

        * Highlights include Work Experience course offerings for non-traditional trades that include:

           * Cybersecurity Concentrations

              * Security Operation Center (SOC)

              * Operations

              * Policy

           * zSystems Concentrations

              * Software Engineer

              * Mainframe Systems Admin

              * Application Development Specialist

           * Financial Services Concentrations

              * Accountants

              * Auditors, Tax Exam & Rev Agents

              * Accountant Trainee

  * Partnerships and synergies

     * Continue to collaborate with faculty, particularly Career Education faculty to develop internship opportunities

  * Curriculum Relevance - Reflect best practices based on research- Valley Vision’s May 2021 report titled Skills for a Ready Future Workforce - Valley Vision - Sacramento explored ways to upskill and reskill Sacramento in light of the impact of both automation and the pandemic’s impact on the workforce. The report sought to identify where resources would be best targeted to provide Sacramento area residents, particularly those who are from DI communities, the opportunity to upskill and/or reskill. The report found that among “good jobs” (defined as a “minimum threshold of $36,000 in annual income was applied to target occupations along with reduced automation risk and a minimum of 500 openings) Soft/Social-Emotional Skills are the highest requested skills with the following skills rising to the top:

        * Communication Skills,

        * Teamwork/Collaboration,

        * Organizational Skills

        * Problem Solving.

* The report notes that interpersonal skills are relatively un-automatable. As such, the report recommends that there needs to be an increased emphasis on building and deepening skills training in these areas is highly valued by employers. Work Experience curriculum currently mirrors this recommendation by including the following SLOs in all 40+ CORs. Students complete a self evaluation and a supervisor/mentor evaluation 2 times during the course relating to these SLOs.: 

     * communicate in oral, written, and other formats, as needed, in a variety of contexts during work.

     * apply effective leadership styles during work, with consideration to group dynamics, team and individual decision making, and workforce diversity.

     * make effective decisions, use workforce information, and manage their personal career plans.

     * locate, organize, evaluate, and reference information during work.

     * behave responsibly during work, exhibiting initiative and self-management in situations where it is needed.

     * demonstrate originality and inventiveness during work by combining ideas or information in new ways, making connections between seemingly unrelated ideas, and reshaping goals in ways that reveal new possibilities using critical and creative thinking skills such as logical reasoning, analytical thinking, and problem-solving.

Curriculum Update

  * Reflect Tile 5 changes

   * Variable Units - 0.5 units option

   * Title 5 was updated to allow for half units to be granted. Given that students may have multiple commitments and may have a limited number of hours to dedicate to completing an internship, this change in the curriculum was made to allow for students to work 30 hours per semester to earn 0.5 units of Work Experience. 

   * Allow for Distance Education

  * All Work Experience curriculum was updated to allow for virtual learning. This change reflects the fundamental change in the workplace as a result of COVID. The program has seen an increase in the number of remote/virtual internships and forecasts that the skills required to be successful in this work modality will be sought after by employers. Prior to COVID, remote/virtual internships were not permitted by Los Rios District. During COVID, this limitation was removed and allowed the program to begin to develop remote/virtual opportunities. Looking at the current Handshake data, 298 employers are advertising at least 1 remote/virtual internship for Los Rios students. 

Response to COVID/Campus Closures

  * The program demonstrated its ability to remain student-focused while being flexible and innovative by implementing

   * Virtual appointments

   * Outreach to employers to explain the college protocols and requirements

   * Increase communication with Work Experience faculty to assist in troubleshooting

   * Researching, implementing, and training staff on software that LRCCD uses to allow for digital signatures

Title 5 Compliance

   * The program continues to promote professional development by funding, through Perkins, variety of trainings

   * Document Management

   * The classified team scans all documents into OnBase. 

   * This helps the college stay in compliance with Title 5 by keeping the required documentation

   * Assists Evaluators when students uses a Work Experience course for a program requirement

   * Allows the program to assist former Work Experience students who may request these forms for workplace needs (e.g promotions, licensure, etc.)

Innovation

  * Virtual services

   * Events

   * The program continues to strive to offer students with relevant events such as Internship Info Month and has offered these events virtually during the pandemic. The program is exploring the best modality to offer these types of events to students.

   * Student appointments

   * The program currently offers students the option to meet remotely for one-o-one help with internship search, resume development, and interviewing. 

Outreach

  * Classroom presentations

   * The program continues to reach out to faculty, particularly CE faculty to offer workshops on the program

  * Webpage update

   * The program updated the website to offer more relevant information in a user friendly format

Districtwide collaboration

  * The program has capitalized on its strong districtwide relationships with the sister programs to collaborate to offer

   * Student Events such as Internship Information Month

   * Faculty/staff training on topics such as Handshake

   * Flex events

   * Handshake

   * Collaborate to vet Sacramento area internship opportunities to ensure they they meet state and federal requirements as well as benefit our Los Rios students

   * Update to District Work Experience webpage - Work Experience and Internship Program | Los Rios Community College District

Social Justice and Equity - Curriculum, Employer Development, Advising Students

Challenges

Staffing levels and structure

   * With a focus on collaborating with all 37 CE programs at American River College, the largest number of CE programs at a college in Los Rios, the ability to meet demands, interest and initiatives stretches the program often beyond the current staffing. In addition, the staff and faculty are generalists and are not experts in all the disciplines/industries. 

Program Identity

   * There is often uncertainty by faculty regarding where the program is organizationally within the college. Specifically, there is confusion if the program is instructional or if it is student services as it provides a direct service to students. Because of this faculty have had at times challenges finding and communicating with the program

   * As new faculty join ARC , the program has experienced a challenge with awareness of the Work Experience program by other departments, particularly Career Education departments

   * There is often the assumption that the program is in the practice of placing students in internships. The “placement model” does not apply to the Work Experience program and research has not definitely shown the student’s placement experience affects career outcomes (How) Do work placements work? Scrutinizing the quantitative evidence for a theory-driven future research agenda - ScienceDirect . The current WEXP approach is that the decision to accept a student as an intern is solely with the employer/organization. In some areas, such as Human Services/Chemical Dependency, faculty have a list of preferred employers and share that list with students. Faculty can make recommendations to employers , but it is ultimately up to the employer to decide on which student to hire. The WEXP provides students with hands-on experience of applying to work/internships/volunteer opportunities within their chosen industry, which typically includes interviewing for the position. 

Apprenticeship Program connections

   * The Apprenticeship Program involves a fairly complex process and also has a significant number of students. This review recognizes that while the Apprenticeship Program has its own review process, there are a few challenges from the vantage point of WEXP

   * Volume of Title 5 documents that need to have a final review

   * Volume of Title 5 forms that need to be scanned into the OnBase system

Internship opportunities are dependent on employers and the marketplace

   * Even more prevalent during COVID

   * The program does not influence the number and types of internship opportunities available. Industries that have low internships are varied and were heavily impacted by COVID

   * Service industry

   * Arts industry

   * Unpaid internships are typically concentrated in specific industries. The development of paid internship, particularly for our DI students, continues to be a challenge particularly in the below areas:

   * Fine and Applied Arts

   * Behavioral and Social Sciences

Data Limitations

  * Data on a Demand

   * The current system does not meet the needs of Work Experience. Currently the system does not aggregate 198, 298 and 498 courses regardless of designator. A research request was submitted Fall 2021 to request that Data on Demand accurately reflect the program offerings. 

   * The current system also does not provide the opportunity to disaggregate data by course number (e.g. 198, 298, and 498) to allow the analysis of data by a variety of vantage points including race/ethnicity. This analysis would allow a variety of questions to be explored related to differences in student outcomes by race/ethnicity in all of the course offerings. 

   * Handshake

   * The current Handshake system pulls data from PeopleSoft and also includes the Handshake’s own categories/data sets. For example the Handshake system currently has both the race/ethnicity data from PeopleSoft and also its own Handshake system for categorizing race/ethnicity. The data in Handshake needs to be reconciled with PeopleSoft data and also disaggregated by race and ethnicity. This requires the involvement of the District as this is an operational District tool. 

   * Customer Relations Management (CRM) tool

   * Currently the program does not have a tool to track internship development. By not having a tool, the program is not able to

   * efficiently store prospective employer partner data

   * track prospective employer partner interactions

   * share this information with colleagues

  * SARS

   * The program currently utilizes the college software, SARS. This system does not allow a lot of flexibility in tracking student interactions such as:

   * phone calls

   * emails

  * The Work Experience Program functions in support of other programs of study, therefore there is no direct success information or salary information for the program.

   * One possibility would be to aggregate data from Work Experience courses using Title 5 forms

   * There is a rich amount of data available via the required Title 5 documents such as employer information, pay rate, and learning done at the worksite. The data could provide a clearer picture of where our students are gaining work experience and the type of learning that is done onsite. With the hiring of a full time Clerk in December 2021, the program is in the early stages of exploring ways to accomplish this.

   * The Work Experience and Internship Program does not grant degrees or certificates. The program provides the campus community with a variety of course options to promote student success.

Overall Headcount Reflections

• Decrease in Enrollment (no Apprenticeship) - A more robust decline was beginning before the pandemic 
• In Fall 2018 the total enrollment was 295 compared to Fall 2019 with 205. The decline from 2018 to 2019 was more robust than the decline observed during the pandemic
• COVID greatly impacted student enrollment 
• For Co-located WEXP courses: .  Beginning Spring 2019 Work Experience was identified as having an FTE reduction from 0.8 to 0.6.  Currently for Fall 2021, the FTE allocation for Work Experience is 0.2.      
• Continued enrollment by Apprenticeship programs - Although heavily impacted by COVID, the data suggests that there will be an increase in Apprenticeship participation in Work Experience courses.  
• Call to Action: Focus on an overall increase in enrollment which is also tied to market and employer trends related to the ability of the program to promote internship development. 
• Gender
• Fall 2021 showed significant drop in Male identifying students 

Call to Action: Exploration of ways to increase enrollment of Male identifying students 

Race/Ethnicity

African American - decline in enrollment for this group beginning in Fall 2019 

Pacific Islander enrollment is much lower when compared to Asian and Filipino students.  This mirrors the AAPI report’s findings that Pacific Islander students are disproportionately impacted.  

Native American students overall the enrollment trend is low averaging 1 student.  

Latinx enrollment appears to be fairly consistent across the 6 years 

White enrollment was consistent but began a decline Fall 2019

Call to Action:  Exploration of ways to increase DI student population in Work Experience courses.  This may include revising curriculum to reflect the lived experiences of students who are disproportionately impacted. In addition, this may include targeted recruitment of students who are disproportionately impacted by partnering with Affinity Groups such as Umoja and Puente.  Once students are enrolled in a Work Experience course, this may also include framing the student’s experience in the course by incorporating thoughtful approaches and support such as utilizing examples of workers from DI backgrounds who have had a significant impact in their industry, discussions about the sense of belonging in the workplace, and impact of mentorship in the workplace on an employee’s workplace retention

First Generation

Averaged between 50 - 100 students over the 6 year period with a decrease beginning Spring 2018.  The current trend shows that the enrollment for this group has not been increasing.  This downward trend has continued through Fall 2021.  

Call to Action: More internships that support and target First Generation students to meet the need for Below Poverty Level students 

Poverty Level

Below Poverty Level overall had the highest enrollment in Work Experience trend over 6 years

Significant flip between Below Poverty Level and Middle and Above Spring 2021

Possible factors that may contribute to the decrease of participation of those students identified as Below Poverty Level are:

Childcare

Access to Technology

Need to work in an industry not related to their career path 

Call to Action: More paid internships to meet the need for Below Poverty Level students 

Course Success Rates

The data suggest that the program look closer at the course success rates such as for multi-race and African-American students

Call to Action: Look at ways that instructors can support students, particularly African-American students through instructional strategies such as through the Canvas Discussion Board

Course Drop Rates

External factors such as the economy, COVID, and other challenges may contribute to the higher drop rates.  

Call to Action: Increase student communication both before and at the beginning of the term regarding the program/course requirements to decrease the drop rate after Census.  

Request that the College collect data that measures:

Longitudinal data on how 298 and 498 students do post certificate/degree in terms of finding employment in the field and maintaining employment

According to McKinsey & Company “Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work” June 25, 2021Defining the skills citizens will need in the future world of work, with the forecast of both digital and AI innovations impacting the workplace, there is a recognition that the workforce and workplace will change. 

Specifically the research found that there would be:

• decrease in the need for manual and physical skills, as well as basic cognitive ones
• increased demand for technological, social and emotional, and higher cognitive skills 

With that foresight, McKinsey & Company researched what skills will be needed in future workplaces and identified 56 “foundational skills”.  These skills are forecasted to not only be in high demand, but also benefit the workforce by being associated with a higher likelihood of:

• employment, 
• higher incomes
• job satisfaction

These foundation skills that are forecasted to be needed in work  fall into 4 categories

1. Cognitive
2. Interpersonal 
3. Self-leadership
4. Digital 

Many of these skills already exist within the Work Experience curriculum, however, the Work Experience program will update the curriculum in the next curriculum cycle to reflect new research findings.  

Further, the Work Experience program is in a unique position within the college to collaborate with disciplines to support students in their career goals.

This includes sharing information on research and trends related to what employers identify as skills needed for the workforce.  Past examples of this include: the Faculty Coordinator connecting with new discipline specific WEXP faculty to process possible classroom content that includes research and trends and posting to the WEXP Instructor Canvas page to share research and trends.

In addition, this collaboration with other programs may include the development of discipline specific work experience courses and industry focused internship development. 

Looking at the data provided by NACE (see below) showing the overall hiring trend, the program anticipates an increased interest by employer recruiters looking to hire students with Associate degrees.   This data combined with the previous data suggests the continued need for Work Experience to collaborate with other disciplines, particularly Career Education programs.  

Taking the above data and research into consideration as well as the unit's experience with employers and students, the following aspirations have been identified  

• ARC's mission is stated as “critical thinking, learning and achievement, and responsible participation in the community” as well as supporting students to  “achieve career as well as other academic and personal goals.”
• Improve institutional effectiveness by collaborating with Career Education programs
• Continue to engage with Career Education programs through
• continued participation in the Curriculum Committee
• expand participation in Advisory Boards and the Faculty Coordinators  continued membership on the Career Education Taskforce.  This membership offers the opportunity to share information and updates widely with CE faculty. 
• share Workforce knowledge with faculty through professional development such as through Flex Activities 
• Continue yearly reflection by participating in the Annual Unit Planning process
• Continue to explore ways that data (both qualitative and quantitative) can inform program goals such as outreach, retention and program enhancement
• Exploring Handshake data and look for ways to the improve the quality of the data specifically for the racial/ethnicity dashboard
• Continue to explore aggregating data from Title 5 forms to provide an overall picture of where are students are interning and the types of skills they are developing
• Continue to engage with Affinity Groups, such as Comunidad to explores way to increase DI student participation 
• With both Institutional Research and faculty support, explore ways to gather qualitative and quantitative data with a focus on:
• creating focus groups or conducting exit surveys to gather input from DI students
• generating reports each term of students in Career Education programs who have completed half of their program requirement to do targeted outreach focused on supporting the student gaining work experience in their intended field  
• Survey students who have enrolled in a WEXP course within a certain timeframe to ask about what their employment status is, if they gained employment in their field of study and if they believe that their enrollment in a WEXP course was of benefit to them
• Increase academic quality
• Continue to engage with regional employers and organizations to develop internship opportunities
• Establish a strategy, that factors in staffing levels, to strategically focus on industries that will benefit our ARC students 
• Continue to monitor local, regional and statewide employment trends to inform:
• curriculum update
• Engage with faculty, particularly Career and Education faculty to partner to provide students with Work Based Learning opportunities.  

Annual Unit Plan Goals

• Continue to monitor workplace trends that may include but are not limited to:
• Use a race conscious lens to analyze workplace trends and data 
• Monitor changes in the workplace, particularly related to Virtual Internships: Quick Poll Results Show Virtual Internship Format Likely to Become Permanent 
• Monitor CA statewide trends regarding Work Based Learning.  More states, 27 states including the District of Columbia, are chosing to include work-based learning as an indicator of their Perkins V Secondary CTE Program Quality Indicator https://cte.careertech.org/sites/default/files/files/resources/WBL%20Report%20FINAL.pdf 
• Monitor Title 5 changes
• Currently, the Faculty Coordinator, Vivian Dillon, is a member of the California Internship & Work Experience Association (CIWEA)
• This membership and engagement with the professional organization provides the opportunity to consult regarding regulations and best practices.  
• During the Spring 2022 term, this membership allowed the Faculty Coordinator to provide feedback on the draft of Title 5 regulations for Work Experience
• Continue to explore/innovate engagement with students 
• Virtual Districtwide Internship Info Month 
• Continue to collaborate with sister programs to maximize efficiency to counteract overall low staffing 
• Mirror Homebase/Meta Major structure with industry-specific engagement
• Strategically focus outreach and relationship development with Homebases to connect internship opportunities with their respective discipline(s)
• Professional development of program faculty and staff with a focus on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion
• Continue membership to a variety of professional organizations (such as: CIWEA, NCDA, SARS, CCCAOE) to promote professional development with a focus on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.  
• Cultural Competency Professional Development for Faculty and Classified 
• Explore frameworks specific to infusing diversity in career development in all facets of the program 
• Yosso’s Cultural Wealth Framework
• Takes the perspective that students, particularly students of color come to the workplace with a diverse set of talents, strengths and experiences: 
• aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistance 
• Fouad and Bingham’s culturally appropriate 7-step career counseling model 
• (1) establishing rapport and a culturally appropriate relationship, (2) identification of career concerns, (3) examination of the impact of cultural variables on the identified concerns, (4) establishing goals consistent with the client’s worldview, (5) identifying culturally appropriate interventions, (6) decision making and implementation, and (7) follow-up. 
• Utilize existing resources such as
• NCDA resources: NCDA | Social Justice 
• Elevate serving DI students
• Continue to advocate for our students by using a culture add framework when working with potential employer partners both in the classroom and when providing direct services to students
• This may include sharing resources with both employers and students such as Interview questions to assess for culture add 
• Strengthen relationships/collaboration with affinity groups by offering
• Workshops
• Just in time communication regarding internship opportunities
• Continue to advocate for data that will allow for analysis through a race conscious lense.  
• Handshake utilization 
• The Handshake platform was selected in 2019.  The selection process was led by district administrators with the participation of faculty and classified.  The final decision to select Handshake was made by administrators with the input of both faculty and classified staff.  
• The tool became active and viewable to students and employers beginning Summer 2020
• The next phase of utilizing the Handshake tool is the operations phase directed by management and implemented by classified staff.  Considerations include:
• Student appointments
• Shift from the classified team using SARS for student appointments to Handshake to encourage student engagement with the platform 
• Data
• Continue to request that LRCCD District Office strategically approach PeopleSoft data integration with Handshake (e.g. ethnicity categories) 
• Workshops
• Expand the workshops that are offered through Handshake
• Focusing on Graduating and Transferring students
• Strategically utilize Handshake to focus on connecting with students who are soon to graduate and/or transfer and may need just in time connection with Work Experience

Working with Employers, the program anticipates more interest in Social Justice and Equity:

• Context
• How diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) matter | McKinsey analysis in 2019  found that “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile—up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014”

• Nearly 90% of Employers Have a Diversity Recruiting Strategy for Class of 2021 Research done by NACE, 2021 Job Outlook Information shows that most employers have a diversity recruiting plan.  The data to the right show that beginning in 2017, there was a marked increase in employers' focus on a recruiting strategy that includes a focus on diversity.  This increase indicates that many employers may be seeking out ways to connect to a diverse talent pool.  

• Strategies Include:
• Bringing an awareness to the Work Experience team of people of color’s experience in the workplace through such research as “The Black experience

at work in charts”.  The diagram to the right shows ways that the Work Experience team can work with prospective employers to support diverse interns in the workplace.  

• Cultural Wealth perspective when working with prospective employers
• Diverse students bring a cultural add to organizations
• Los Rios’ diverse student body is a strength and employers should be seeking out this diverse talent pool 

Working with students the following are recommendations to infuse:

• The diversity of students includes race and ethnicity as well as immigration status, justice-impacted individuals and differently abled students.  
• Using a data-inquiry approach using disaggregated data on race and ethnicity to identify what areas there is a need to improve, enhance, or change. 
• Strategies to include in working with students is to take a Cultural Wealth Framework in approach to interactions with students and college programs:
• This is a strength-based approach grounded in the idea that students come with talents, strengths and experiences to the workforce. 
• This approach encourages students to communicate their motivations, passions and skills that are often overlooked and undervalued when talking and writing about why they are a qualified candidate.