ROI and the Workforce | OAS Episode 267

The focus of the podcast is how states are working toward connecting education and training systems with the workforce. State policymakers are keenly interested in measuring the return on investment or ROI that they can see from state investment in education and training programs of all kinds. Our guests are Mary Alice McCarthy, founder and senior director of the Center on Education and Labor at New America, a nonpartisan think tank; Alabama Senator Arthur Orr and Utah Representative Norm Thurston. All three joined a group of more than 30 legislators, speakers, and staff at a recent conference in Bozeman, Montana convened by NCSL. They discussed ROI and the related issue of career pathways and a variety of other topics and at how to align career and technical education, credentialed programs and apprenticeship opportunities with high-demand occupations. McCarthy explained the concept of ROI as it applies to assessing the effectiveness of educational and training programs, the types of questions legislators have about this approach and the different types of data most useful to policymakers. Senator Orr and Representative Thurston offered different perspectives from their states and discussed what they saw as the most valuable data to consider in evaluating the success of programs. Resources Connecting Education and Workforce for Higher Returns: A Scan of State Legislative Approaches, NCSL Enlisting ROI to Better Align Academic Credentials and Workforce Needs, NCSL New America