A new Brookings brief documents how community colleges that generate high-value credentials tend to align programs with local high-demand jobs and embed extensive work-based learning. Using Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System data, researchers ranked community colleges by outcomes such as students earning certificates worth at least $45,000 and associate degrees tied to $50,000 annual salary. The brief, supported by American Institutes for Research publications, describes “excelling” colleges as intentionally matching program offerings to workforce needs and providing varied work-based learning such as apprenticeships, internships, clinical rotations, work-site visits, and service learning. It also points to robust advising, job-preparation course components, and wraparound supports as common practices. For policymakers, the recommendation set includes performance-based funding models, state support for technical assistance analyzing labor market data, and advising intensification. The brief also calls for additional federal funding to support work-based learning and data infrastructure requirements tied to Workforce Pell.