The Foundation for Reentry and Employment Project released the Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies white paper, which provides guidance to policymakers, agency and program administrators, and practitioners working in the reentry and workforce development fields on how to develop collaborative projects and maximize their investments aimed at shared public safety and workforce development goals.

This U.S. Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Webinar showed individuals how to use workforce data to identify growing and in-demand jobs, to determine which of them are good jobs, and to ascertain what preparatory education and training are needed to qualify for them. The webinar identifies some of the best multi-purpose e-tools that incorporate workforce data, job ads, and other job-related information in one place -- including a new resource that explains what kind of information is available from different e-tools.

The Employment Training Administration's Disability Employment Initiative developed hypothetical case scenarios and video vignettes that help Disability Resource Coordinators and other project staff connect strategies for serving persons with disabilities to overarching customer service strategies. The vignettes touch upon real-life situations that staff faces with their customers such as: How can enrollment in Workforce Investment Act services assist in providing the full range of services to their customers?

On behalf of The U.S. Department of Labor, the Social Policy Research Associates and AHA Consulting released a toolkit that describes Oklahoma's Workforce System Certification process – a Governor-backed initiative to encourage voluntary collaboration across partners to create a shared vision for local economic needs and strategies to meet them. This toolkit presents six useful steps: system building, standards and measures, the review process, a self-assessment tool, certification application, and lessons learned from three pilot areas.

ProLiteracy and its publishing division New Readers Press released their latest white paper, "The 2014 GED® (General Equivalency Diploma) Test and Its Impact on Adult Literacy Providers." The white paper addresses the core challenges adult literacy and basic education programs face in trying to prepare students for the new test, which launches in January 2014. The report notes that, as a result of more rigorous assessment targets and the computerization of the GED test, programs and providers must search for creative ways to build infrastructure and adapt curricula or risk being unable to prepare students for taking the new test.

The Center on the Developing Child from Harvard University released a Question and Answer sheet assessing the "Long Reach of Early Childhood Poverty" report. The report was authored by Greg Duncan and Katherine Magnuson. This piece reviews the evidence linking early childhood poverty to long-lasting consequences and discusses strategies to combat the effects of poverty-induced stress on vulnerable families with young children. The new data shows that when children experience poverty, it affects their later-life outcomes. Children's eventual labor market success appears to be compromised much more by poverty experienced early, rather than later, in childhood.

The Employment Training Administration released a guide of relevant sources that will allow individuals to shed light on labor or skill shortages, skill mismatches, and skill deficiencies. Skimming for Skills provides links to surveys, reports, and customized data tools. Each entry notes whether the survey or source supplies information on current or projected employment, job openings, occupational or industry data, and earnings. Skill-related topics include information on the education, training or skills required for jobs; educational attainment; educational field (e.g., college major) or coursework; and the skills individuals possess, including skill assessments. Each entry also lists availability at the national, State or local level, and the time period covered. For the user's convenience, the numerous skill-related sources are classified by those pertaining to adults, postsecondary students, secondary students, and longitudinal surveys that span ages from student to adult. The guide concludes with a list of supplementary resources for understanding occupational, industry and instructional classification codes; science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classifications; and other sources on State and local workforce data and how to use it.

This paper was developed by the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) to inform those working with career pathways programs of a common language and standards for programs. Through a review of existing literature, feedback from the ongoing Alliance for Quality Career Pathways project, and communication from field researchers, CLASP has designed a conceptual framework for identifying and designing high quality career pathways programs. The framework contains four components which are discussed.

In 2008, Virginia set out to design and implement a statewide career pathways initiative to better meet the needs of regional employers. This report is a case study of Virginia's experience and highlights lessons learned through the process. Virginia's system has garnered attention because it was developed with very little additional funding, a reality for many States in the current economy.

In April 2012, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor released a letter endorsing the concept of "Career Pathways" as a promising approach to address the country's challenge of how to prepare workers of all skill levels to participate fully in the country's economic future. The Departments defined Career Pathways as a series of connected education and training strategies and support services that enable individuals to secure industry relevant certification and obtain employment within an occupational area and to advance to higher levels of future education and employment in that area and encouraged the constituency of each Department to work together to create seamless systems that would result in workers gaining industry-recognized credentials and jobs with family-sustaining wages.