CHAPTER 260H
PATHWAYS FOR ACADEMIC CAREER AND EMPLOYMENT ACT

  260H.1  Title.
  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Pathways for Academic Career and Employment Act”.
2011 Acts, ch 132, §71, 106
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  260H.2  Pathways for academic career and employment program.
  A pathways for academic career and employment program is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of projects in coordination with the economic development authority, the department of education, Iowa workforce development, regional advisory boards established pursuant to section 84A.4, and community partners to implement a simplified, streamlined, and comprehensive process, along with customized support services, to enable eligible participants to acquire effective academic and employment training to secure gainful, quality, in-state employment.
2011 Acts, ch 118, §87, 89; 2011 Acts, ch 132, §72, 106
Code editor directive applied
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  260H.3  Eligibility criteria.
  1.  Projects eligible for funding for the pathways for academic career and employment program shall be projects that further the ability of members of target populations to secure gainful, quality employment. For the purposes of this chapter, “target population” includes:
  a.  Persons deemed low skilled for the purposes of attaining gainful, quality, in-state employment.
  b.  Persons earning incomes at or below two hundred percent of the federal poverty level as defined by the most recently revised poverty income guidelines published by the United States department of health and human services.
  c.  Unemployed persons.
  d.  Underemployed persons.
  e.  Dislocated workers, including workers eligible for services and benefits under the federal Trade Adjustment Act of 2002, Pub. L. No. 107-210, as determined by the department of workforce development and the federal internal revenue service.
  2.  Projects eligible for funding for the pathways for academic career and employment program shall be projects that further partnerships that link the community colleges to industry and nonprofit organizations and projects that further program outcomes as provided in section 260H.4.
2011 Acts, ch 132, §73, 106
NEW section

  260H.4  Program outcomes.
  Projects eligible for funding for the pathways for academic career and employment program shall be programs which further the following program outcomes:
  1.  Enabling the target populations to:
  a.  Acquire and demonstrate competency in basic skills.
  b.  Acquire and demonstrate competency in a specified technical field.
  c.  Complete a specified level of postsecondary education.
  d.  Earn a national career readiness certificate.
  e.  Obtain employer-validated credentials.
  f.  Secure gainful employment in high-quality, local jobs.
  2.  Satisfaction of economic and employment goals including but not limited to:
  a.  Economic and workforce development requirements in each region served by the community colleges as defined by regional advisory boards established pursuant to section 84A.4.
  b.  Needs of industry partners in areas including but not limited to:
  (1)  Information technology.
  (2)  Health care.
  (3)  Advanced manufacturing.
  (4)  Transportation and logistics.
  c.  Any other industry designated as in-demand by a regional advisory board established pursuant to section 84A.4.
2011 Acts, ch 132, §74, 106
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  260H.5  Program component requirements.
  Program components of a pathways for academic career and employment project implemented at a community college shall:
  1.  Include measurable and effective recruitment, assessment, and referral activities designed for the target populations.
  2.  Integrate basics skills and work-readiness training with occupational skills training.
  3.  Combine customized supportive and case management services with training services to help participants overcome barriers to employment.
  4.  Provide training services at times, locations, and through multiple, flexible modalities that are easily understood and readily accessible to the target populations. Such modalities shall support timeless entry, individualized learning, and flexible scheduling, and may include online remediation, learning lab and cohort learning communities, tutoring, and modularization.
2011 Acts, ch 132, §75, 106
NEW section

  260H.6  Pipeline program.
  Each community college receiving funding for the pathways for academic career and employment program shall develop a pipeline program in order to better serve the academic, training, and employment needs of the target populations. A pipeline program shall have the following goals:
  1.  To strengthen partnerships with community-based organizations and industry representatives.
  2.  To improve and simplify the identification, recruitment, and assessment of qualified participants.
  3.  To conduct and manage an outreach, recruitment, and intake process, along with accompanying support services, reflecting sensitivity to the time and financial constraints and remediation needs of the target populations.
  4.  To conduct orientations for qualified participants to describe regional labor market opportunities, employer partners, and program requirements and expectations.
  5.  To describe the concepts of the project implemented with funds from the pathways for academic career and employment program and the embedded educational and support resources available through such project.
  6.  To outline the basic skills participants will learn and describe the credentials participants will earn.
  7.  To describe success milestones and ways in which temporal and instructional barriers have been minimized or eliminated.
  8.  To review how individualized and customized service strategies for participants will be developed and provided.
2011 Acts, ch 132, §76, 106
NEW section

  260H.7  Career pathways and bridge curriculum development program.
  Each community college receiving funding for the pathways for academic career and employment program shall develop a career pathways and bridge curriculum development program in order to better serve the academic, training, and employment needs of the target populations. A career pathways and bridge curriculum development program shall have the following goals:
  1.  The articulation of courses and modules, the mapping of programs within career pathways, and establishment of bridges between credit and noncredit programs. 
  2.  The integration and contextualization of basic skills education and skills training. This process shall provide for seamless progressions between adult basic education and general education development programs and continuing education and credit certificate, diploma, and degree programs.
  3.  The development of career pathways that support the attainment of industry-recognized credentials, diplomas, and degrees through stackable, modularized program delivery.
2011 Acts, ch 132, §77, 106
NEW section

  260H.8  Rules.
  The department of education, in consultation with the community colleges, the economic development authority, and Iowa workforce development, shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A and this chapter to implement the provisions of this chapter. Regional advisory boards established pursuant to section 84A.4 shall be consulted in the development and implementation of rules to be adopted pursuant to this chapter.
2011 Acts, ch 118, §87, 89; 2011 Acts, ch 132, §78, 106
Code editor directive applied
NEW section