Tag Archives: employers

Factory Model for Education No Longer Working

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Factory Model for Education No Longer Working

Here’s a quick summary of the article. This won’t be surprising if you’ve been reading on the subject, but it is a worthwhile reminder.

  • Industry has been implementing new technologies for 30-40 years
  • Education continues using systems created in the 1900s
  • Teaching the same subjects in the same way at the same pace to a roomful of children
  • In the 1900s, 17% knowledge workers were needed; today it’s 60%
  • Simply techno-cramming is not effective and not efficient without personalizing for individual learning,
  • Utah and Florida performance-based contracting examples are worth looking at:

Read the full article here.

2/3 of job openings thru 2020 will require HS degree – or less

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The findings of this study probably apply to Albuquerque and Bernalillo County as well.

University of Wisconsin Center for Economic Development

The Skills Gap and Unemployment in Wisconsin: Separating Fact From Fiction, February 2013, by Marc V. Levine

Executive Summary

The ‘skills mismatch,’ it is argued, is the central reason why unemployment remains high, even as job vacancies remain unfilled.

This widely held view, however, is incorrect.

  • The consensus among top economists is that the skills gap is a myth. High unemployment is mainly the result of a deficiency in aggregate demand and slow economic growth, not because workers lack the right education or skills
  • This conclusion, rejecting the skills gap/structural unemployment theory, has been confirmed in numerous recent studies
  • Even if every unemployed person were perfectly matched to existing jobs, over 2/3 of all jobless would still be out of work. And this calculation understates the jobs shortage, as it does not include discouraged workers or those involuntarily working part-time.
  • Beyond the anecdotes of local employers, the Wisconsin and Milwaukee labor markets show no statistical evidence of a skills shortage:
    • Wages:  Wisconsin wage “growth” lags the national rate, another sign that there is no labor shortage here.
    • Hours: Average weekly hours worked in Wisconsin are down 4.3 percent compared to 2000.
    • Occupational Projections: Occupational projections for the state reveal that 70 percent of projected openings through 2020 will be in jobs requiring a high school diploma or less.
    • Underemployment and Workforce Over-qualification is the inverse of the one commonly put forward: it is a mismatch of too many highly educated workers chasing too few “good jobs.”
  • The study concludes with a brief analysis of: 1) why the “fake” skills gap, as The New York Times‘ Adam Davidson has called it, holds so much sway over policymakers in Wisconsin; 2) how the skills gap meme deleteriously diverts attention from other, more salient factors explaining joblessness here; and 3) why new workforce development policies, responding to an imaginary skills gap, will do little to improve the jobs situation in Wisconsin and in Milwaukee.

Anthony Carnevale of Georgetown, whose research is often cited
by skills gap proponents, put it this way: “Training doesn’t create jobs. Jobs
create training. And people get that backwards all the time. In the real world,
down at the ground level, if there’s no demand for magic, there’s no demand
for magicians.”

The complete report (1.7mb) is available in Adobe’s Acrobat format. Acrobat Reader is required to view the file. Use Adobe’s web site to download a free copy of Acrobat Reader.

 

 

Employers increasingly emphasizing ‘soft skills’

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A recent Associated Press article by Paul Wiseman says that top employers want college graduates with skills that don’t show up on school transcripts. I am hearing the same thing from local small and medium businesses about high school and community college graduates. So it’s across the board national and local.

Good potential employees have acquired the necessary knowledge and/or technical skills; exceptional potential employees also have ‘soft skills.’

So, just what are these ‘soft skills?’

  • works well in a team environment – gets along with co-workers
  • can write and speak with clarity and be understood – articulates ideas
  • adapts quickly to changes in technology and business conditions – solves problems on the fly – thinks on their feet
  • can interact with colleagues from different cultures and countries

And that’s the disconnect between what can be taught in a classroom and tested for to show progress for students, teachers, principles, school systems to state agencies and legislators – and what can’t be easily classroom taught or tested that employers are looking and needing to hire.

Solution: above my pay grade, but I can see and appreciate the problem.

“Education” versus “Learning”

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“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between lightning and  lightning bug.” – Mark Twain

In the spirit of Mark Twain, let’s begin with dictionary definitions –

ed·u·ca·tion – noun

  1. the imparting and acquiring of knowledge through teaching and learning, especially at a school or similar institution
  2. the knowledge or abilities gained through being educated
  3. training and instruction in a particular subject, for example, health matters
  4. an informative experience
  5. the study of the theories and practices of teaching

learn·ing – noun

  1. knowledge acquired by systematic study in any field of scholarly application
  2.  the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill

Education sounds like something done to or for you; educators have something that you don’t have, and you need to go through them to get it.

Learning , on the other hand, sounds like an inside job – no one can do it for you and you can’t do it for someone else; it’s up to each individual to learn.

Seems to fit here: “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make her drink.” But if you happen to  find a horse that is thirsty – that is quite a different matter!

What if kids – students – are naturally learning thirsty?

Isn’t that where those clouds of early child questions come from? Why is the sky blue? What is that? Why do I have to do that? How does that work? What happens if I touch my little brother in the back seat of the car? Does touching with my elbow count? Or my toe? Are we there yet? …

Observe your little learning machine in full action!

And there’s yet another saying that applies here: “To appear masterful or powerful, ride the horse in the direction it is going.”

In Jiu-itsu and Tae Kwan Do martial arts, one learns to use the opponent’s momentum to their advantage. Don’t stop or block your opponent’s movements – embrace their momentum and allow them to sweep past you harmlessly, effortlessly in a direction you intend.

So, what’s the point? What is a take-away for kids, parents, teachers?

  • “Education” may or may not always promote “learning.”
  • “Education” may not always be optimal for, or supportive of “learning.”
  • “Learning” occurs in a different domain.
  • Recognizing this can have a desirable outcome for the child, the parent, the teacher, the system, business, society at large.
  • Shifting the conversation and focus could empower the miracle and gift that each individual is, be she parent, teacher, or child.

Compare this with what we complain about now:

  • Missed opportunities for both children and for society
  • Increased and increasing costs of incarceration and recidivism
  • Family, personal, and institutional heart-burn and head-ache
  • Having to pay for the same thing over and over: didn’t get it by 3rd grade; didn’t get it in high school; still trying to get it via UNM/CNM remedial whatever
  • Employers having to “fix” new hires before they can get meaningful work done
  • Burnt out superintendents, principles, teachers, kids, parents

Maybe purposeful shifting orientation from “a little more school education”  to  “a little more kid learning” might be worth more than a few little trials. My guess is, the best teachers already know and are doing this. What do you think? How do we support making such a shift happen?

 

Skills gap in America – Bill Clinton’s answer

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Bloomberg Businessweek June 23, 2013

Jorge Ramirez, President, Chicago Federation of Labor asked: “The skills gap in America has nearly reached a crisis point. There are hundreds of thousands of unfilled high-skilled jobs, particularly in areas such as manufacturing, while millions of people are out of work. How do we reconcile this discrepancy so that businesses can maximize productivity and, more important, working men and women can secure meaningful, family-sustaining employment that builds a strong middle class?

Former President Bill Clinton’s answer: “It’s been reported that over 3 million jobs remain unfilled in the U.S., even though 7.6 percent of Americans are unemployed. Employers say they can’t find qualified applicants, despite booming enrollment at community colleges and a plethora of other training programs. Many low wage workers and others who lack post-secondary credentials already posses valuable skills that aren’t reflected on a resume. Getting people into courses or credentialing programs recognized by employers will allow job seekers both to better develop skills and to demonstrate them to employers.

“At last year’s Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI) meeting, a group of participants started a conversation about setting competency standards for educational institutions and employers to place qualified workers in open jobs. As a result, the  Business Roundtable, with support from the Joyce, ACS, and Lumina Foundations and Siemens, committed to evaluating how industry-recognized certifications can address the mismatch between what an employer needs and what a worker is trained to do. We need this kind of increased private-sector commitment to skills training, particularly when pubic resources continue to be a challenge.

“Two years ago at CGI America, we received a commitment from the AFL-CIO that is a model of private- and public-sector involvement in job creation, energy efficiency, and skills training. Organized labor committed $10 billion of public and private pension assets to energy-efficiency projects and related infrastructure investments over the next five years. it pledged to train incumbent and entry-level workers for the skills to meet industry demands.

“The Building Trades unions, in partnership with employers, dedicate considerable resources to meeting the skills gap through their jointly managed registered apprenticeship programs. These respond to the needs of industry, equip workers with skills for not only a job but also a career, and don’t cost the government any money. We should promote more of these types of partnerships to develop successful models across industries.”

Common Core State Standards kerfuffle?

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In the last few weeks and days, I’ve come across a number of articles expressing pro’s and con’s  about Common Core State Standards (CCSS), with critics mounting a flurry of attacks and proponents working hard to shore up support. One pretty good overview article is Common Core Under Fire: How Strong Is Support for New State Standards? You can get as many details as you want by clicking on various links.

My Prezi presentation on New Mexico’s use of CCSS gives a pretty good overview of what they are, what their intent is, and how they are planned to be used in New Mexico.

The Common Core evolved from a 2009-2010 drive by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to delineate world-class skills students should possess. The standards, created with funding from, among others, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, set detailed goals, such as first graders should understand place values in math and eighth graders should know the Pythagorean Theorem.

“We brought the best minds in the country together to create international benchmarks that, once mastered, would make our students more competitive, globally,” said Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. He said his group has no plans to create national science standards.

Here is a brief summary of some of the pro and con positions:

Pro

  • A Kentucky fifth grade teacher said, “These standards take students much deeper into the subjects and force them to do more critical thinking,”
  • No Child Left Behind allowed states to create their own unique standards; which could give them the appearance of higher “scores”
  • A 2010 Fordham Institute study found CCSS Common Core to be “a great improvement with regard to rigor and cohesiveness”
  • CCSS do not dictate curriculum (e.g., textbooks and reading lists) or prescribe methods of instruction  
  • Education technology providers have already been designing products based on CCSS

Con

  • This is a federal intrusion into states rights via Race-To-The-Top via financial incentive
  • 5 states worry  CCSS establishes a de facto “national curriculum” (Utah, South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Alabama)
  • Implementation may require more time than planned or allowed
  • Republican National Committee decided at their March 2013 approved a resolution condemning CCSS
  • Can standards-based education also be individualized?
  • Seeing children as education industry profit centers may be problematic

So, what do YOU say?

ABQ Running Start for Careers, a new high school retention and workforce development program.

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The goal of Running Start for Careers is to give students direct entry into industry-developed and industry-taught programs in career development areas during their 11th and 12th grade years.

Running Start will allow electives to be utilized so that students who participate in approved programs will be able to graduate with the rest of their classmates.      Continue reading →