Data tracking and management is an integral part of any good community college registered apprenticeship program. Good data provide a wealth of information to the college and stakeholders on the efficacy and value of the program to the community, as well as ensures the college maintains compliance with U.S. Department of Labor policies and reporting requirements.
Quality data is key to sustaining, marketing, and improving a registered apprenticeship program at your college. The data elements, outcomes, and metrics that should be tracked for your program include:
Employer and Program Sponsor Data
- Employer name and contact information
- Registered apprenticeship program sponsor(s)
- Registered apprenticeship occupation(s)
- Number of registered apprentices in each program, occupation, and at each employer
- Financial information (cost to employer, total revenue, etc.)
Registered Apprentice Data
- Name and contact information
- Registered apprenticeship program
- Occupation
- Demographic data (gender, age, ethnicity, etc.…)
- Wage and employee information
- Student information, including course schedule, attendance, grades, degrees and/or certificates achieved, graduation date, and/or reason student did not complete (if applicable).
While critical for program monitoring and improvement, these data also should be readily available at your college for use in marketing campaigns, grant applications, accreditation reviews, and other instances to demonstrate success. Data also will be useful in assessing and projecting employer needs going forward as well as designing and implementing new, similar registered apprenticeship programming.
Data tracking is necessary to maintain compliance with Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship Standards. If your college is only providing related technical instruction (RTI) for an employer partner, your data tracking and management should include the internal data elements in the previous section, as well as any additional information your employer partner requires for the administration of their registered apprenticeship program. This typically includes apprentice grades, attendance, GPA, and other academic information.
For colleges serving as a registered apprenticeship program intermediary or program sponsor, the college is responsible for collecting and maintaining all documentation for the administration of the registered apprenticeship program and ensuring compliance with DOL.
For DOL Office of Apprenticeship (OA) states, data must be collected in two standard forms:
- Appendix D – Employer Acceptance Agreement
- Appendix B – Form 671.
For State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) states, similar data need to be collected, but is dictated by each state individually.
All OA states, and many SAA states utilize the Registered Apprenticeship Partners Information Data System (RAPIDS) for registration, oversight, and tracking of apprentice progress and apprenticeship compliance. SAA states that do not utilize RAPIDS have their own, similarly functioning system that is used.
If your college is a registered apprenticeship program intermediary or program sponsor, the OA or SAA staff that assist you in registering your program will also give you access to the proper data system and can provide training to college staff on using the system. If your college is providing RTI services to employer partners, you should work directly with those employers to determine their exact data collection and management needs.
AACC is ready to assist in your RA expansion success and offers examples from successful Expanding Community College Apprenticeship (ECCA) sites that conducted the activities above and were successful as a result.
ECCA Success Stories and Promising Practices
- Anne Arundel Community College (Maryland)
- Community College System of New Hampshire
- Cuyahoga Community College Consortium (Ohio)