Ascendium Education Group Awards Di Xu and Team $1.6 Million Grant to Investigate Noncredit Workforce Training Programs
Di Xu, UC Irvine School of Education professor, is the PI of a $1.6 million grant recently awarded by Ascendium Education Group. Through a longstanding partnership with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), the grant, From Training to Employment: A Multi-Inquiry Study of Noncredit Workforce Training Programs, will investigate Virginia’s FastForward programs. These noncredit Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are designed to lead to an industry-recognized credential in a high-demand field. In 2016 the Virginia State General Assembly launched the New Economy Workforce Credential Grant Program (WCG) to expand noncredit workforce training program offerings and increase student access to and participation in these programs. The WCG, implemented as the Virginia “FastForward program,” provides a pay-for-performance model for funding noncredit CTE programs that lead to a credential in one of the high-demand fields set by the Virginia Board for Workforce Development and defined as a discipline or field in which there is a shortage of skilled workers to fill current job vacancies or anticipated additional job openings, including welding, certified medical assistant, and commercial driving.
