(The Center Square) — Florida officials say a program designed to help workers gain more credentials to increase their earning potential isn’t being used as much as lawmakers intended.
The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability released a report this month saying that more workers need to utilize the workforce development program that helps students turn existing credentials into additional ones.
Statewide career articulation agreements allow students to gain a guaranteed course credit from a first credential toward a second credential.
There are two types of agreements: Long-term formal agreements, which focus on academic processes and policies that guide transfers and memorandums of understanding that are short-form agreements that focus on specific outcomes or responsibilities between parties.
Analysts found that students need to take advantage of these statewide agreements, which vary by region due to availability. Only 8.1% of students enrolled in a second credential within three years, a requirement of most statewide articulation agreements. Furthermore, it was found that only 5% of students went on to complete the second credential.
Florida has 12 state universities, 28 state colleges, and 52 career centers statewide that utilize articulation agreements. The report states that the number of local agreements reported to OPPAGA from state institutions ranged from zero to 63.
Hillsborough Community College in Tampa had the highest reported number of students with 63. St. Petersburg College reported 45 students, Broward College reported 34 students and Pensacola State College reported 34 students with local agreements.
The report stated that nine state colleges reported between 10 and 63 local agreements; the remaining 14 colleges had fewer than 10, while Florida State College at Jacksonville and The College of the Florida Keys reported no agreements.
There were several reasons why student uptake of articulation agreements could have been higher. These included the possibility that the low number of credit hours transferred was not an adequate incentive for students, students may be unaware due to limited marketing, and the three-year timeframe may be too short.
The agency offered recommendations to remedy this, including the Florida Department of Education providing more information about student enrollments to the Office of Articulation to evaluate agreements, which could also be used for marketing purposes.
Additionally, the legislative watchdog recommended that the state Department of Education consider extending the years between students completing their first credential and then enrolling in the second credential program.
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