Mississippi’s System of Workforce Education and Training

Background

For the past decade, responsibility for coordinating workforce education and training efforts in Mississippi has been centralized in the State’s Board for Community & Junior Colleges. It is designated as the primary support agency to the career centers and district councils. The State Board may exercise the following powers:

• To provide the career centers the assistance necessary to accomplish the purpose of the State’s Workforce Education Act and the Federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA);
• To provide the career centers consistent standards and benchmarks to guide development of the local workforce development system and to provide a means by which the outcomes of local services can be measured;
• To develop the staff capacity to provide, broker or contract for the provision of technical assistance to the career centers, including, but not limited to: (i) Training local staff in methods of recruiting, assessment, and career counseling; (ii) Establishing rigorous and comprehensive local pre-employment training programs; (iii) Developing local institutional capacity to deliver Total Quality Management training; (iv) Developing local institutional capacity to transfer new technologies into the marketplace; (v) Expanding the Skills Enhancement Program and improving the quality of adult literacy programs; and (vi) Developing data for strategic planning;
• To collaborate with the Department of Economic and Community Development and other economic development organizations to increase the community college systems' economic development potential;
• To administer presented and approved certification programs by the community colleges for tax credits and partnership funding for corporate training;
• To create and maintain an evaluation team that examines which kinds of curricula and programs and what forms of quality control of training are most productive so that the knowledge developed at one institution of education can be transferred to another.
• To develop internal capacity to provide services and to contract for services from universities and other providers directly to local institutions;
• To develop and administer an incentive certification program; and
• To develop and hire staff and purchase equipment necessary to accomplish the goals noted above.

Reflections

We have found that it is important to keep emphasizing the need for the development of adult basic skills, as there are still many business people who are unaware of the needs in this area, and also unaware of the ways in which these skill gaps among their employees are negatively affecting their operations, and making it difficult for their people and their organizations to reach their potentials. Continuing public education / awareness efforts in this area, and pressing these issues at such meetings as the manufacturers’ association or chambers of commerce, are important ways of raising awareness and action. Having some key business people act as active and visible advocates for improved adult basic skills is an excellent way to keep the issue at the forefront.

Also, because significant pubic investments are made in workforce development, it is a good idea to report back to the stakeholders (legislators, business community, unions, public) on how these dollars were spent, and the outcomes achieved. In Mississippi, we produce a Legislation Accountability Report (LAR). This report outlines the following statistics on workforce development efforts in the state.

• Numbers of trainees served
• Types of training conducted
• Types of businesses served
• Training in workplaces vs. training centers
• Income generated as a result of jobs created
• Income generated as a result of pay increases
• Subsistence to work transitions
• Cost per trainee
• Return on investment for Mississippi

Eloise Richardson
Director of Literacy
State Board for Community & Junior Colleges
Mississippi

http://www.sbcjc.cc.ms.us

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