Arkansas Community Colleges Tap Education Design Lab to Expand College-to-Career Pipeline
A new program in Arkansas aims to create more community college pathways for learners to attain job-ready skills. The “Scaling Learner Opportunity and Economic Growth Across Arkansas” initiative, launched by Education Design Lab, will “bring colleges, employers, learners, and local stakeholders together to collaboratively design agile, skills-based education-to-career pathways to meet the state's evolving workforce needs,” according to a news announcement.
Participating institutions, including South Arkansas College, Arkansas State University, Newport, Arkansas State University, Three Rivers, Arkansas Tech University, Ozark Campus, East Arkansas Community College, North Arkansas College, Northwest Arkansas Community College, and University of Arkansas Rich Mountain, will use the Lab's human-centered design framework to create stackable credentials that can be achieved in less than a year. These “micro-pathways” will “put learners both on the path to an associate degree or to livable-wage employment in high-growth industries, based on data and feedback from industry partners across the state,” the announcement explained.
