The Office of Community College Research and Leadership is one of five partnering organizations that has helped launch the CTE CoLab, in response to addressing equity gaps related to low completion rates in career and technical education, particularly among students of color who face systemic inequalities and challenges accessing and completing high-quality CTE programs.

The CTE CoLab aims to reduce equity gaps for students of color—especially students who are Black, Latinx, or Indigenous—enrolled in credit-bearing online postsecondary CTE programs. Funded by ECMC Foundation, the CTE CoLab is a collaboration led by the Urban Institute in partnership with five national organizations: World Education, Inc., the National Council for Workforce Education, the Office of Community College Research and Leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Instructional Technology Council, and the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers. This coalition supports the College Community of Practice—a group of community and technical colleges—to build knowledge, center equity in program goals and delivery, and develop and share resources to improve education and career outcomes in online CTE programming.

The CTE CoLab coalition will select up to 15 community and technical colleges to join the College Community of Practice. CCP will advance the work of these institutions in scaling or enhancing equity-centered approaches to online teaching and learning through a focus on a selected credit-bearing CTE program.

Each CCP college team will be awarded a $30,000 grant to support participation in this two-year engagement.

Visit the Urban Institute website for the RFP, CCP Application, and FAQ.