The impact of a cohort-based learning model on student success in vocational technical certificates at a community college

Abstract

Workforce practitioners within community colleges are increasingly faced with pressures from business and industry to offer academic and career oriented programs targeted to the workforce needs of local industry. Most recently, there has been a call from both industry and the White House for community colleges to complete more students in technical vocational certificate programs as a solution to creating a much greater supply of middle-skilled workers locally and nationally. As community colleges struggle to meet the challenges of the mission of an open access institution, issues of academic preparedness and low rates of student completion make it difficult for the community college to function as an efficient supplier of qualified workers targeted to skill based, in-demand occupations. Research suggests cohort-based instructional models hold promise for increasing student completion rates through increased engagement and peer support structures embedded within a program of study. With many local economies forecasting deficits in the availability of qualified workers, understanding alternative instructional models yielding higher rates of completion may be critical to create a more efficient community college capability in meeting the workforce needs of a local economy. This mixed methods case study examined student completion and performance from two cohort-based technical certificates taught over a four-year period at a community college located in Upstate New York. By analyzing student completion as well as student and administrator perspectives, this case study examined how the cohort-based instructional model may be considered a more effective completion strategy by the community college in meeting the need for business and industry to have access to a greater supply of trained technical workers.