Addressing Completion in Level I Workforce Certificate Programs in Rural East Texas
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By 2018, 56% of all job openings required skilled training or a workforce certificate to meet the technical skills needed for business and industry. The problem of this study was that low completion rates in Level I workforce certificate programs at community colleges across Texas contributes to the increasing shortage of available skilled workers to fill vacated and new positions in business and industry. This study was intended to provide answers to the research questions about which groups of students enrolled in Level I workforce certificate programs in rural east Texas are completing at higher rates than others. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to discover to what extent significant correlations exist in completion rates by gender, race/ethnicity, and college for adult students in Level I workforce certificate-programs at rural, east Texas community colleges from 2014-2017. The quantitative correlational research study was conducted using archival data posted on a public website. The population consisted of approximately 470,000 students across Texas, the archival data were collected, and the sample included all students who failed to complete a Level I workforce certificate from one of four community colleges listed in the study. While research has been conducted about completion in higher education in general, there was little information specifically targeting completion from Level I certificates at rural community colleges.