The goal of this position is to support development of a responsive and better aligned education and training system that encompasses our education, training, and business partners throughout our education ecosystem in Colorado. Our team works at the intersection of work-based learning and skill-based hiring to support updating our policies and strategies as a state to more intentionally connect education and business.
Early Goals
- Support policy, strategy, and collaboration between education and business
- Build coherence between state agency and business efforts to better connect theour supply and
- demand sides of our economy
- Identify and address myths and misconceptions that are informing our education and workforce systems
- Connect existing on-the-job and work-based learning programs and pilots
There is substantial work already underway across our state and several promising pilots with early outcomes. We look forward to learning from these pilots and scaling their work to serve all Coloradans who are seeking to upskill or reskill.
Theory of Action
The office will use human-centered design and design thinking to increase stakeholder engagement and collaboration in education, higher education, industry, and business. In pursuit of this goal, it will (1) scale existing pilots that are effective in supporting work-based learning WBL and apprenticeship programs and (2) align existing incentives and systems levers toward the goal of WBL to ensure Colorado builds a connected education and training system to support business through collaboration, policy, and strategy.
- Skills-based Hiring: Hiring based on knowledge, skills, and abilities specific to the job in the position description and hiring process. This reduces potential barriers for applicants and allows for reduced bias in hiring procedures by providing a direct description of skills developed and demonstrated through education, training, and past experiences.
- Work-Based Learning: Learning opportunities which occur in part or in whole in the workplace and provide the learner with hands-on, real world experience. Work-based learning opportunities include but are not limited to: internships, apprenticeships, and residencies and incumbent worker training. Many employers pay wages for work-based learning jobs.