Here’s how California plans to get millions of adults without college degrees into better jobs

By Adam Echelman | CALMatters Nearly 7 million adults in California lack a college degree — and they typically make less money as a result. Today, standing in a welding classroom at Shasta College, a community college in Redding, Gov. Gavin Newsom presented an outline of the state’s Master Plan for Career Education. He said the plan will overhaul the state’s convoluted job training programs and help get adults “the benefit of a life well-lived without some fancy degree.” One focus of the new plan is on translating students’ work experience into college credits. It’s already a priority for California’s 116 community colleges, which have a goal to provide at least 250,000 students with college credits for certain kinds of work experience. In a press release, Newsom said the state would put more money into this goal and that he would roll out a new kind of transcript, known as a “Career Passport,” to help workers showcase both their academic and professional know-how. The new “Career Passports” would also help increase the number of apprentices — a key goal of his administration — according to the press release. The jobs plan also continues a years-long effort to make state employment...