The United States Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) has significant expertise in policy and program development, technical assistance provision, and development of educational and training resources for students, staff, and leadership, including those in community colleges.

Despite passage of various statues including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which requires men and women in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work, the “gender gap” in pay persists. Closing the pay gap will require several strategies, including removing structural barriers and empowering women and others who can benefit from assistance to negotiate. This project seeks to offer community college students and graduates strategic negotiation advice that will 1) familiarize them with the structural and cultural barriers similarly situated women and others who can benefit from assistance face in salary and benefits negotiations and, 2) equip them with the skills and strategies to negotiate more effectively in the face of these barriers and other challenges.

 

Activities & Deliverables

• Conduct research on existing equal pay negotiation materials and assess barriers to pay equity for recent community college graduates;
• Identify and interview key experts on women’s salary negotiation;
• Conduct interviews and/or listening sessions with relevant stakeholders, including community college graduates and alumnae and career services staff, to better understand the challenges graduates and alumnae face in salary negotiations; and
• Develop a toolkit for community college students and graduates offering strategic negotiation advice, including concepts and skills to improve salary negotiations.