New Fact Sheet: Adult Educators & Local WIOA Planning

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Local planning for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is underway, and adult educators should weigh in. That’s the message of a new fact sheet from National Skills Coalition.

Under WIOA, local areas are required to develop four-year plans for addressing workforce needs in program years 2017-2020. Plans are required to include both strategic and operational elements.  Among the specific components required in local plans are analyses of regional economic conditions, local employers’ skill needs, the education and skill needs of the local workforce, labor market trends, and current workforce development activities in the local area.

In addition, plans must include a description of the local board’s strategic vision and goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce, and the board’s strategy for working with WIOA core program partners to align resources and achieve the strategic vision and goals.

Local workforce boards are required to make draft plans available for a 30-day public comment period. NSC’s fact sheet provides specific suggestions for adult educators who are participating in WIOA planning as members of their local workforce boards, as well as for those who are engaging as members of the public.

For example, the fact sheet recommends that adult educators identify specific ways that local boards can capitalize on adult education expertise to meet WIOA’s mandates, such as by:

• incorporating Title II partners in the design and implementation of career pathways;
• formalizing a policy on participant co-enrollment in Title I/Title II programs;
• drawing on input from Title II partners in identifying employers’ skill needs and developing industry sector partnerships; and/or
• developing robust integrated education and training policies and programs that braid funding across multiple sources.

View the full fact sheet here.

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