Jobs requiring some postsecondary education are expected to grow faster than average during the next decade, yet too many workers lack the skills and credentials essential for these twenty-first century jobs.  Addressing this mismatch is becoming an economic imperative for workers, employers, and the country as a whole.

The Joyce Foundation launched the Shifting Gears initiative in 2006 to help six Midwest states address this problem.  These states ― Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin ― are re-engineering adult education, workforce development and postsecondary education policies to support economic growth and expand job opportunities for low-skilled workers in the Midwest.

Because Shifting Gears focuses on state-led systemic change, this website is directed toward state policymakers and others across the country seeking to transform state education and training policies to increase economic opportunity for low-skilled adults. 

What’s New 

CLASP is launching a new Center on Postsecondary and Economic Success (C-PES) dedicated to increasing the number of low-income adults and disadvantaged youth with postsecondary credentials that are essential to opening doors to good jobs and economic mobility. Join CLASP for the launch webinar on September 13th.

Shifting Gears partners, Davis Jenkins and Tim Harmon, have developed a primer for states submitting applications to the Department of Labor Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) grant program. This brief guide describes how states can use the opportunity of this new federal funding to ensure their usage of data promotes continuous improvement of workforce education and employment programs.  The paper includes specific recommendations on what type of information states should include in their WDQI technical proposals. (July 2010)

Learn more about the policies that the Shifting Gears states are pursuing to achieve the goal of increasing the number of low-skilled adults with a postsecondary credential. A new CLASP report, Shifting Gears: State Innovations to Advance Workers and the Economy in the Midwest, provides an overview of the policy goals of Shifting Gears and highlights promising pilot programs sponsored by the initiative. (July 2010)

Shifting Gears Publications

Shifting Gears: State Innovation to Advance Workers and the Economy in the Midwest
Julie Strawn. CLASP. (July 2010)
Our country's shift from an industrial-based economy to a knowledge-based one requires more and more workers to have at least some postsecondary education beyond high school to obtain stable employment and a family-supporting job. Currently, many Americans lack the skills and credentials to compete for these skilled jobs and know they need to pursue postsecondary education. This is especially pronounced in the Midwest, where local economies have undergone wrenching transitions that have left lower-skilled workers behind. Through Shifting Gears, The Joyce Foundation is supporting the work of five Midwest states that are developing and scaling up innovative programs in adult education, workforce development, and postsecondary education to increase the number of low-skilled workers with a postsecondary credential. In this report, read about how Shifting Gears states (Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) are supporting innovative educational models and addressing barriers to completion for lower-skilled adults. The report also includes program details and outcomes from local Shifting Gears pilot sites in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. 

Using State Data to Promote Continuous Improvement of Workforce Programs: Guidance for States Preparing Applications to the U.S. DOL Workforce Data Quality Initiative
Davis Jenkins and Tim Harmon. (July 2010)
This new report from Shifting Gears partners, Davis Jenkins and Tim Harmon, is a guide for states that are submitting proposals to the Department of Labor Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI) grant program. It is designed to provide guidance to states preparing applications to WDQI so they can build provisions into their proposals that not only strengthen workforce longitudinal data systems, but use the data collected to improve outcomes for state residents and employers alike.

Educating Adult Workers: The Shifting Gears Approach to Systems Change
Brandon Roberts and Derek Price. (December 2009)
This initiative-sponsored report describes how Shifting Gears is supporting and guiding state policy systems change through the use of proactive coaching, evaluative feedback, and tools such as a structured policy agenda and action plan, and logic model.

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