Across the United States, state leaders are examining their current and future economic landscapes to ensure today’s learners are prepared for the workforce of tomorrow. As technology advances and the global economy evolves, workforce success increasingly requires not only postsecondary education and training, but the ability to continually build new skills throughout a career.

ESSA, Perkins V, IDEA, and WIOA provide opportunities for states to develop a coherent approach to ensuring that all of today’s students are prepared for tomorrow’s careers and workforce demands.

State leaders need to align labor market efforts with the education pipeline to provide students with the academic, technical, and employability skills they need to be successful in the workplace. Aligning the education-to-workforce pipeline can help increase cost-efficiency, promote coherence, and produce better outcomes for students and workers.

Originally released by AIR's College and Career Readiness and Success Center, the Strategic Funding and Finance Center recently updated and released these resources.

This resource includes:

• a brief to help state and local agencies  understand where opportunities exist to align and leverage policies, programs, and funding across the laws to support the education-to-workforce pipeline;
• a planning workbook to discuss those opportunities in the context of their state plans as they relate to ESSA, Perkins, IDEA, and WIOA and helps states and local agencies develop a plan that respects the requirements of the laws as well as maximizes opportunities for college and career readiness alignment.