A Fresh Take on Community College Workforce Certificates

When we think about “onboarding” students our minds move towards structured orientation programs, introductory course sequences in meta-majors or academic pathways, and other systematic ways of helping students transition. But from a workforce perspective, onboarding can encompass initial contact, entry, and preparation to become a member of a company or organization.

As boundaries between work and education continue to blur, and students of all ages seek opportunities to earn and learn simultaneously, what if one program design could serve as an on-ramp to both college and career? This is exactly what Lorain County Community College (LCCC) sought to do when creating and then evolving its successful Fast Track program.

Connecting Individuals to Work Through Short-Term Certificates

Starting in 2018, sparked by the availability of a state-based grant designed to connect Ohioans to workforce-aligned training, LCCC opted to follow a road less traveled when identifying and promoting short-term certificates. In addition to focusing on non-credit workforce training, LCCC also reviewed its credit-based curriculum that would or could meet employers’ entry-level workforce needs in high-opportunity industries.

An initial review of LCCC’s short-term certificate offerings identified fifteen programs that directly aligned to in-demand careers. Our college’s deans and faculty collaborated with employer partners to collectively evaluate the curriculum and make minor adjustments where needed to offer them as revamped short-term certificate programs.

A strong and sustained culture of employer engagement was an important factor in LCCC’s ability to quickly identify short-term experiences within its existing curriculum that aligned with regional needs. With employers already viewed as critical stakeholders in program development, their input was especially critical to identifying and confirming employability at the certificate level. For example, an advisory board providing input to the college’s occupational safety program confirmed that entry-level opportunities were strong for individuals with an associate degree or less, despite workforce datasets listing a bachelor's degree as required for entry.

LCCC’s Fast Tracks, a collection of workforce-aligned, credit, and non-credit certificate programs, offered individuals access to over fifty workforce-aligned programs designed for completion in as little as sixteen weeks and at no cost to the student. LCCC primarily leveraged state-based grants, community partnerships, and other financial supports, such as scholarships, to ensure students could take the first step toward a new career without incurring costs.

The concept drew interest from the communities LCCC serves in light of economic disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing a high return on investment in as little as 16 weeks, Fast Tracks helped LCCC reach disconnected populations during the pandemic, with 43% of survey respondents indicating their primary reason for enrollment was unemployment (LCCC Institutional Research, 2021-2022). Two years later (2023) and even as the pandemic’s acute impact on the economy had subsided, 21.9% of adults who took their first class at LCCC did so through a Fast Track program. The Fast Track programs’ ability to reach previously disconnected populations was especially promising given how deep LCCC’s roots run within the community it serves: community outreach efforts indicate over three-quarters of Lorain County residents surveyed report they or someone in their household has taken classes at LCCC or through LCCC’s University Partnership program.

LCCC supported over 800 students in completing Fast Track programs in just two years of the pandemic. During this time, over half of Fast Track completers returned to LCCC in the semester following their completion, even among those who had originally stated earning the short-term certificate was their primary intent. Centering Fast Tracks on existing certificates within its credit-based curriculum was key to creating a smooth transition from certificate completion to advanced credentials.

Casting a New Vision: The Evolution of Fast Tracks

Driven by a commitment to ensure individuals can achieve economic stability and mobility through access to high-quality education, LCCC remained focused on ensuring Fast Track completers maintained momentum on their career trajectories. This meant prioritizing completers’ return to LCCC for the advanced credentials that would lead to family-sustaining wages and career advancement within the high-opportunity industries. Without this vision driving action and design, LCCC knew Fast Track completers may begin to plateau within their entry-level roles or encounter barriers to promotion, increased wages, and professional growth opportunities.

With the pandemic behind us, and state-based aid programs evolving over time, LCCC positioned its work within New America’s Community College Workforce Transformation Cohort to focus on a structured redesign of its Fast Track programs. With the help of coaching and connection to other innovative colleges working to address workforce challenges, LCCC aimed to refine program offerings, systems, and support necessary to ensure more than 60 percent of Fast Track completers would both find employment and return to LCCC for advanced credentials within one year.

Establishing and Applying Design Principles

LCCC’s participation in the New America Workforce Transformation Cohort helped our leaders shape a new vision that led to refinements within the already successful Fast Track program. Putting aside individual programs and enrollment management considerations, the LCCC team adopted a working theory that a targeted, curated collection of certificates aligned to pre-determined design principles may be the answer to strengthening the program’s outcomes.

Through this process, the team identified five specific design principles that now shape the college’s Fast Track program offerings:

1. Included programs must be structured for completion in just one semester, or 16 weeks
2. Directly stack into a one-year certificate or associate degree pathway
3. Align to a sustained funding source to ensure students can access the program and the first step towards a new career without cost
4. Begin in all semesters (Fall, Spring, and Summer) to meet community member and student needs; and
5. Lead to labor market outcomes and serve as an on-ramp to a high-opportunity industry in northeast Ohio.

Using these design principles, LCCC identified a list of fourteen Fast Track programs, as well as a secondary list of programs for which adjustments or modifications would later qualify them for inclusion under Fast Track’s funding and promotion plan.

As LCCC’s academic, outreach, and student service teams collaborated to expand the number of students each Fast Track can support, the college also continued to align other short-term programs with the five design principles.

A Success Story in Agility and Transformative Leadership

Perhaps the most impactful lesson learned from LCCC’s evolution and design experience is centered on adaptability, responsiveness to a changing economic landscape, and informed risk-taking to strengthen students’ labor market outcomes.

LCCC leveraged its stackable curriculum to first identify certificates embedded within its credit course offerings and programs and push its vision beyond access to ensure more students could build upon their certificates and achieve long-term career success. The college designed its short-term offerings with the long run in mind, both for students and employers. Fast Tracks provides access to higher education and a shorter path to a new career but are intentionally designed to serve as on-ramps rather than a final destination.

What is next for LCCC and Fast Tracks? Through its work with New America and as part of the Workforce Transformation Cohort, LCCC has not only reshaped its vision for Fast Tracks as an important on-ramp to both education and employment but has identified employers as key collaborators in supporting advanced education and career advancement. Using the refined list of Fast Track offerings, aligned to the design principles established to guide current and future offerings, LCCC is facilitating a deeper analysis of the employer landscape connected to the certificates.

Through collective efforts among the college’s Business Growth Services, Career Services, and academic program advisory boards, LCCC has been able to identify the employers most frequently hiring Fast Track completers within each certificate program.

Additionally, the teams have identified gaps or opportunities where employer partnerships can be grown to support an increased number of Fast Track completers. We are actively seeking employer engagement in various forms, including mock interviews, shadowing experiences, professional networking access, and career fair participation specifically designed to connect employers to Fast Track completers.

Fast Tracks, as an on-ramp to both higher education and career, serves as a promising model for higher education-based workforce development.