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Higher Education, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, 3035 Center Green Drive, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301 | Publication Number ECMC008rs26  \nRESEARCH AND EVIDENCE: WORKFORCECENTERED STRATEGIES  \nSophia Harris | February 2026  \nAbout the Project  \nThis research summary pairs with a series of policy briefs that highlight various postsecondary completion strategies across the WICHE region. These reviews provide a brief overview of the research on the various strategies, policies, and initiatives identified in the landscape analysis of state strategic plans. Each research summary serves as the research context partner to the accompanying policy brief. Further details on the findings of this analysis, including the policy briefs on student success, workforce alignment, academic success, and coordinated collaboration strategies, and an interactive online resource displaying state-level strategies, are available at [wiche.edu/policy-research/completion](wiche.edu/policy-research/completion. This work was generously funded)[. This work was generously funded](wiche.edu/policy-research/completion. This work was generously funded) by ECMC Foundation.  \nA key theme from the landscape analysis of state higher education strategic plans was an  \nincreasing focus on aligning higher education with workforce development. Across the region, states are prioritizing strategies that support these efforts, including expanding access to work-based learning and short-term credentials and investing in workforce alignment (see this edition of  WICHE Insights, which highlights state efforts in these areas) .1 Collectively, states identified these workforce-centered strategies as supporting career-connected learning and improving alignment with state industry and workforce needs. This research summary provides an overview of the research and evidence on the key workforce-centered strategies states are prioritizing. While there is some research on specific strategies, there is a gap in understanding how states develop and implement statewide workforce alignment strategies to support student success. As these strategies are gaining prevalence and scale across the region, it is important that states identify gaps in evidence and research and enhance data capabilities and collaborations at the state level to ensure that these strategies are not only  \n 1  RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE: WORKFORCE-CENTERED STRATEGIES  \nincreasing in number but also improving student success and supporting higher education’s ability to adapt to workforce and industry needs.  \nWorkforce Alignment  \nThere has been a pronounced shift toward workforce alignment investments as a strategic priority, with federal and state governments and institutions increasingly emphasizing direct connections between educational programming and labor market demands. This shift has led some states to conduct systematic reviews of academic offerings, including analyses on calculated return on investment, graduate earnings, and integrated career services and degree planning, to ensure that programs deliver measurable labor-market value.2 These efforts align with WICHE’s landscape analysis of completion strategies in the West, as states across the region are pursuing initiatives to align higher education and workforce development, both through direct state financial investments and state-level coordination. The Wyoming Innovation Partnership and Future Ready Oregon are two examples of state investments in developing new programs and training that directly align with high-need workforce areas and encourage stronger partnerships between the workforce and higher education.3 In other states, efforts to align higher education and the workforce are more systematic; for example, in December 2025, Governor Polis proposed merging workforce and higher education into a new state","cbCairAnWvTQhNnd","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairAnWvTQhNnd","pdf",493646,"English","# About the Project\n# Workforce Alignment\n## Examples and Evidence Findings\n# Work-Based Learning","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of this research summary?\",\"answer\":\"It provides research context for accompanying policy briefs on postsecondary completion strategies across the WICHE region, summarizing evidence from a landscape analysis of state strategic plans.\"},{\"question\":\"What major theme emerges from the landscape analysis?\",\"answer\":\"States increasingly prioritize aligning higher education with workforce development, using strategies such as work-based learning, short-term credentials, and workforce alignment investments.\"},{\"question\":\"What evidence gap does the document highlight about workforce alignment strategies?\",\"answer\":\"It notes limited understanding of how states develop and implement statewide workforce alignment strategies to support student success, especially as these strategies expand in scale.\"}]","RESEARCH AND EVIDENCE: WORKFORCE-CENTERED STRATEGIES | PDF",1792064496]