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Community Update
December 2023
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Cheers to a Fantastic 2023! | | |
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On my behalf and our entire MSSC Team, we wish our entire community the very best holiday season! 2023 shaped up to be a fantastic year for MSSC - we added over 200 authorized instructors and almost 100 new assessment centers!
Cheers to an even better 2024!
Neil Reddy
MSSC Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder
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House Education and the Workforce Committee Advances Key Legislation for Education and Workforce Success
Earlier this month, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved two crucial bills aimed at enhancing education and workforce success: H.R. 6585, the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act, and H.R. 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act. Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx expressed that these legislative measures reflect a commitment to aligning education and workforce priorities. H.R. 6585 facilitates students' entry into the workforce by supporting the expansion of Pell eligibility for high-quality, shorter-term CTE programs, establishing a quality assurance system for Workforce Pell Grant programs, and ensuring alignment with industry requirements. H.R. 6655 focuses on upskilling the workforce, allocating 50 percent of adult and dislocated worker funding to this purpose, emphasizing employer-led initiatives, and providing robust skill development services for displaced workers through "individual training accounts."
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Best of 2023: the Reshoring Initiative Article Collection
As we approach the end of 2023, Reshoring Initiative founder and president, Harry Moser, highlights key takeaways from their top editorials. With a positive outlook for the 2024 manufacturing industry, highlights include the importance of skilled workforce development in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the stabilization and growth of U.S. manufacturing, the case for returning manufacturing from China, and the impact of reshoring on projects for EV batteries and semiconductors. Originally published by published by “Assembly” magazine in their December 2023 issue, you can access the full report here.
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Manufacturing USA National Roadmap to Boost U.S. Manufacturing Workforce
As the United States advanced towards reclaiming its global manufacturing leadership with unprecedented resources, a crucial obstacle remains: the challenge of attracting and retaining skilled workers in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing USA, in collaboration with its network of institutes and agency partners, has developed a national education and workforce development roadmap that aims to together the public and private sectors to create opportunities for existing and prospective workers to find their pathways into the advanced manufacturing workforce. Access the Roadmap here.
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Three Ways States Can Lead on Postsecondary Education Reform
The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity recently published a brief that analyzes the current state of the postsecondary education landscape by focusing on outcomes-based funding (OBF), state authorization reform and state-imposed degree requirements as three key policy areas for immediate state reform consideration. The report describes recent trends for each policy area across multiple states. Access the report here.
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2023 Elections and Changes to State Education Leadership
Elections bring in new leaders that can impact education policymaking at the state level, which is why we track state-level elections every year. The Education Commission of States has created an infographic that captures the results of this year’s elections and looks ahead to the 2024 elections.
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US unveils up to $3.5B Funding to Boost Domestic Battery Manufacturing
The Department of Energy is allocating up to $3.5 billion from infrastructure funding to bolster domestic battery production and supply chains in a market that has been dominated by Chinese producers. "Positioning the United States front and center to meet the growing demand for advanced batteries is how we boost our global competitiveness, maintain and create good-paying jobs, and strengthen our clean energy economy," said energy secretary Jennifer Granholm. More information on the funding here.
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Can Microcredentials Bring Stop-Outs Back to College?
Microcredentials and academic credit for prior learning could bring students back to campus, a study by StraighterLine and UCPEA finds. About 40 million Americans have completed some college coursework but do not have a degree or credential, and colleges are looking for ways to bring them back and lower the barriers, often financial, that keep them away. Read the full InsideHigherEd article here.
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After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education, and Training Requirements through 2031
The Center on Education and the Workforce published a national overview of job projections and their educational requirements across industries, occupational clusters, and detailed occupational groups demonstrates the central role postsecondary education plays in preparing the workforce of the future. Access the overview here.
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Partnering with Middle Schools on Career Exploration Programming
American Student Assistance published a white paper that details five best practices for partnering with middle schools to build sustainable career exploration programming. Chief among the lessons is that the power of relationships can’t be underestimated. Student-teacher relationships. Interdepartmental relationships. Student-mentor relationships. School-employer relationships. School-community relationships. No matter how you look at it, a relationship-centric approach in education is vital to letting all parties build social capital, unlock networking opportunities, and helping kids to contextualize what they are learning. Access the white paper here.
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Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (MSSC) Website
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