A Technical Assistance Learning Lab
Strengthening students' pathways to employment and economic opportunity.
| → | June 4, 2026 — RFA Released |
| → | June 25, 2026 — Letter of Interest & Questions Due (optional) |
| → | June 30, 2026 — Q&A Session, 1 pm EST; written answers by July 2 (optional) |
| → | July 17, 2026 — Applications Due |
| → | Sept. 15, 2026 — Colleges Selected |
| → | Oct. 21, 2026 — Learning Lab Begins |
Community colleges are deeply committed to helping students enter good jobs — yet rigorous randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies have found that many college interventions produce few measurable impacts on employment or earnings. At the same time, a small set of nonprofit sectoral programs — including Per Scholas, Project QUEST, and Year Up United — have achieved striking, sustained gains in participants' employment and earnings through training that is often a year or less. These programs are built around what employers need — centering employer voice in program design and providing a robust set of services focused on the skills employers most value. Little is known about how community colleges might adapt these high-impact practices within their own institutional contexts, or what supports might help them do so effectively.
The Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students Technical Assistance Learning Lab is an initiative designed to explore just that. With a generous grant from Ascendium Education Group, the Learning Lab brings together community colleges ready to learn from and adapt the mindsets and practices behind these effective programs — and to build the evidence base for what works in community college settings.
The Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students technical assistance learning lab is designed to help colleges learn, test, and innovate these approaches in their own institutional contexts. Each college will be paired with a workforce expert who will provide up to five hours of tailored coaching each month, organized around the Sector-Based Workforce Education and Training (SWET) framework — a set of mindsets and approaches drawn from rigorous RCT studies on the most effective sectoral programs. Colleges also participate in a vibrant community of practice — a peer learning network where institutions share insights, strategies, and innovations for improving students' pathways to good jobs and higher earnings. Sessions feature insights from sectoral program leaders, researchers, and community college practitioners who are among the nation's leaders in this work, each contributing knowledge gained from leading, building, or researching the practices the Learning Lab seeks to foster.
Colleges will also work closely with the research team to build and innovate new mechanisms for tracking workforce outcomes, labor market information, and the quality of employer relationships — expanding colleges' capacity to measure and monitor students' success. Research on the Learning Lab will ensure that participating colleges' experiences and innovations generate important insights for the field on how community colleges can deepen their alignment with labor market and employer needs.
The application consists of two documents. The RFA Overview & Call for Applications provides background on the Learning Lab, eligibility requirements, key dates, and resources for application preparation — with appendices that can support your preparation. The Application Survey & Narrative Template includes two distinct parts: a survey of your current practices in relation to the SWET framework, and a narrative questions template that allows colleges the opportunity to expand on their survey responses.
A technical assistance learning lab and research study for community colleges
Community colleges are increasingly focused on building stronger workforce programs — and many are already doing important work in this space. The Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students Learning Lab is designed to help colleges go further by learning from and adapting a set of deep, employer- and employment-focused practices that have produced striking impacts in nonprofit sectoral programs. These practices span five areas organized within the Sector-Based Workforce Education and Training (SWET) framework.
Effective sectoral programs share a set of common practices and mindsets that distinguish them from many traditional college workforce programs. A few examples illustrate what these look like in action:
Per Scholas, Project QUEST, Year Up United, and other rigorously studied programs have produced:
College leaders view employers as key partners and clients, use clear metrics to track whether graduates are entering good jobs, and maintain sector-specific advisory boards with meaningful employer representation that meet regularly.
Dedicated staff who speak the language of business maintain regular employer relationships, bring employer input into curriculum decisions, and create opportunities for employers to interact directly with students through work-based learning.
Direct instruction in workplace norms and behaviors is embedded throughout training. Students are expected to demonstrate readiness, and evidence of those skills is made visible to employers.
Advisors proactively connect students to supports based on individualized needs assessments — including financial, mental health, and basic needs — rather than waiting for students to seek help.
The full SWET framework below provides a complete picture of the practices and mindsets the Learning Lab is designed to help colleges build and deepen.
Each participating college works with the research team as a partner in building new capacity to track workforce outcomes, understand labor market trends, and measure the quality of employer relationships.
The research team will also be conducting a mixed-methods research study examining how colleges implement SWET practices, what supports and challenges they encounter, and what early results emerge for students and employers. Findings will feed directly back into the technical assistance, helping the Learning Lab evolve in response to what colleges experience on the ground.
The study is led by EZR Consulting in partnership with RAND, with technical assistance from TPMA and Red Eagle Consulting.
The Lab's technical assistance and research are organized around the Sector-Based Workforce Education and Training (SWET) framework — a research-based set of practices and mindsets drawn from the most effective sectoral programs, as detailed in Ready for Work: Adapting High-Impact Workforce Training Models in Community College Settings (Rutschow, Feygin, & Chavarria, 2024).
| Component | Key Practices and Mindsets |
|---|---|
| Leadership & Accountability |
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| Employer Involvement |
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| Occupational Skills Training |
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| Work Readiness Training & Services |
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| Support Services & Advising |
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How to apply to Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students
We invite community colleges committed to learning from and adapting effective sectoral program practices to apply to participate in a two-year community of practice where they will receive tailored technical assistance services and supports to innovate and implement employment-focused sectoral program mindsets and practices across their institution.
With a generous grant from Ascendium Education Group, the Learning Lab will select up to eight community colleges for individualized coaching, community of practice participation, quarterly webinars, and data-driven improvement support — all guided by the Sector-Based Workforce Education and Training (SWET) framework.
We welcome colleges at varying stages of workforce program development — what matters most is a genuine commitment to growth and a willingness to engage fully in the Learning Lab's activities. To be considered, applicants must meet the following criteria:
To be considered, complete the application packet, which includes two components: the SWET Survey of current practices and the Narrative Questions Template. Submit your completed application as a single PDF to readyforwork@ezrc.org.
Final selection will prioritize a balance of geographic diversity (rural and urban), institutional size (large and small), and at least two colleges willing to share de-identified student-level data for more rigorous analysis.
Two documents are required to complete your application.
The application consists of two documents. The RFA Overview & Call for Applications provides full background on the Learning Lab — including eligibility requirements, key dates, and how applications will be reviewed. Its appendices provide reference material and examples that can support your application preparation. The Application Survey & Narrative Template contains two distinct parts: a survey of your current practices in relation to the SWET framework, and a narrative questions template that gives you the opportunity to expand on your survey responses and provide more detailed information about your college's specific situation, goals, and vision.
Provides full background on the Learning Lab — including the project goals, the SWET framework, eligibility requirements, what colleges will receive, key dates, and how applications will be reviewed. Its appendices provide reference material and examples to support your application preparation. Start here.
Download PDF ↓Contains two distinct components. The SWET Survey asks you to rate your college's current practices across the five framework areas — this is your starting point. The Narrative Questions Template is separate and gives you the opportunity to expand on your survey responses, providing more detailed information about your college's specific situation, goals, team, and vision for participation. Most narrative responses are up to 500 words. A cover sheet and required attachments are also described here.
Download Word Doc ↓Publications, evidence, and the research study underpinning Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students
The publications below inform the design and focus of Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students. They document the gaps between employer and college expectations for partnership and the challenges that arise between labor market needs and the credentials colleges provide; discuss the practices of community colleges that are among the nation's leaders in graduating students with credentials of value leading to strong employment and earnings outcomes; present rigorous RCT evidence on the strong outcomes of effective sectoral programs such as Per Scholas, Project QUEST, and Year Up United; and analyze the high-impact practices that distinguish these programs — situated within a broader context of rigorous RCT research on college interventions and their impact on employment and earnings outcomes.
The researchers, practitioners, and leaders guiding Building Ready for Work Colleges and Students
The Lab draws on a senior advisory panel of 15+ scholars, sectoral program leaders, and community college advisors — each contributing knowledge gained from leading, building, or researching the kinds of practices the Lab seeks to foster.
| Name | Title | Organization |
|---|---|---|
| Scholars | ||
| Dr. Michelle Van Noy | Director & Associate Research Professor, Education and Employment Research Center (EERC) | EERC at Rutgers University |
| Dr. Zack Mabel | Research Professor and Director of Research, Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) | CEW at Georgetown University |
| Dr. Thomas Brock | Director & Research Professor, Community College Research Center (CCRC) | CCRC at Teachers College, Columbia University |
| Dr. Lindsay Daugherty | Senior Policy Researcher; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy | RAND |
| Dr. Kathy Hughes | Principal; former lead of the CTE Research Network | Edwordian |
| Sectoral Program Leaders | ||
| Bertina Ceccarelli | CEO | NPower |
| Chelsea Mills | Principal (formerly at Towards Employment) | TCMG |
| Pooja Tripathi & Kelcie Richart | Senior Director / Associate Director, Workforce Innovation | Manufacturing Institute (formerly at FAME) |
| Meghan Cressman & Melinda Day | VP, Development and Partnerships / Chief Academic Officer | Merit America |
| Claire Dennison | Chief External Affairs Officer | Propel America |
| Felida Villarreal | CEO | VIDA |
| Francisco Martinez | President and CEO | Project QUEST |
| Melanie D'Evelyn | Executive Director, Advisory and Capacity Building | One Million Degrees |
| Community College Advisors | ||
| Ben McCumber | Deputy Commissioner | Georgia Technical College System |
| Layla Merrifield | President | Wisconsin Technical College System |
| Dr. Lada Gibson-Shreve | Provost and Chief Academic Officer | Stark State College |
| Dr. Jayda Spillers | Chancellor | Northwest Louisiana Technical College |
* College advisors were identified through a national study analyzing colleges most effective at graduating large proportions of students with credentials of value leading to jobs with $45,000 or more in annual salaries.