moving beyond degrees: competency as currency

Moving Beyond Degrees: Why Competency is Currency

Michael BettersworthTexas State Technical College

michael.bettersworth@systems.tstc.edu

October 25, 2010PERSH

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Source: CollegeGrad.com. College graduates moving back home in larger number. 22 July 2009!

U.S. Credit Card Debt$826.5 billion

U.S. Student Loan Debt$829.785 billion

An estimated “$300 billion in federal student loan debts have been incurred in the last four years...”

Four times the rate of inflation.Almost twice the rate of healthcare costs.

Source: Cronin, Joseph & Horton, Howard. Will higher education be the next bubble to burst? The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 22, 2009.

“There is a growing sense among the public that higher education might be overpriced and under-delivering.”

-The Chronicle of Higher Education

Source: Business Roundtable, New survey reveals obstacles to training and education are threatening U.S. competitiveness and worker prosperity. October 8, 2009

And yet...

“American workers’ unmet need for further education and training is exacerbating today’s unemployment problem and portending long-term trouble for workers and businesses -- even after the economy recovers.”

-Business Roundtable

The War on Work

The Education Dichotomy

The Higher Ed Imbalance

Measuring What Counts

Moving Beyond Degrees

“...the collective effect [...] has been this marginalization of lots and lots of jobs. And I realized [...] to me the most important thing to know and to really come face to face with is the fact that I got it wrong about a lot of things.”

“We have declared War on Work”

Mike Rowe, Dirty JobsSource: TED Speech, December 2008.

There is much talk of “diversity” in education, but not much accommodation of the kind we have in mind when we speak about the quality of a man, or a woman: the diversity of disposition.!

Source: Dreher, Rod. The soft bigotry of high expectations. The Dallas Morning News. May 29, 2009.

Rod DreherDallas Morning News

“We have come to see labor as something we do in exchange for money and not as an expression of our intrinsic nature. Many a white-collar man works hard but lives in a world of soul-killing abstraction, where what he does, what he feels and who he is have little to do with one another.”

Source: The new competition for america’s jobs. Trends Magazine. June 2010.

Up to 3 million highly-skilled technical positions remain unfilled as of June 2010.

This “War on Work” has led to a perceived devaluation of certain career and educational pursuits.

How did we get here?

The War on Work

20%Blue CollarWhite Collar

The Class of Work

20%Blue CollarWhite Collar

“Mental”

“Manual”

The Class of Work

This division has been applied to American education.

Smith-Hughes Act 1917Education Dissected

AcademicVocationalEducation

Smith-Hughes Act 1917Education Dissected

Academic Vocational

20% 15%

Skilled “Labor”“Professional”Unskilled “Labor”

New Model - Still Off Target

20% 15%

Skilled “Labor”“Professional”Unskilled “Labor”

“Cubicles” “Fries with that?”

“Experts” “Craftsmen”“Developers”

“Skilled”

“Technicians”“Engineers”

“Paid”

“Hired”

New Model - Still Off Target

Laser Optics

Laser Electro Optic Devices • Continuous Wave Lasers • Pulsed lasers • Thin Films • Vacuum Technology • Geometrical and Wave Optics

Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics, and Engineering Research“CASPER”

Hypervelocity Impacts and Dusty Plasmas Lab & Space Science Lab (SSL) are supplied with full time technical support using TSTC faculty and students with CASPER's technical support staff. National laboratory model with Baylor/TSTC.Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Nanotechnology

Nanotech Characteristics • Image characterization • Nanotech Processes • Scanning Electron Microscopy • Atomic Force Microscopy • Transmission Electron Microscopy • Class 100 Clean Room • Continuous Wave • Pulsed Laser • Geometrical Optics • Wave Optics • Semiconductor ManufacturingWednesday, October 27, 2010

Instrumentation & Process Control

Proportional, Integral and Derivative Control • Loop Tuning Control Loop Systems • Computerized Control Systems (Allen Bradley & Siemens) • Wonderware Graphics Fronts • Delta V systems • Mechatronics

Mechanical Engineering

Materials Classification • Non-Destructive Testing • Alloying • Plastics • Polymers • Composites • Advanced CNC • Tools & Fixtures • Electrical Theory • Materials Strength • Fluid Mechanics & Applications • Machine Design • • 3D Solid Modeling • CAD/CAM • Physics • Statistics • Welding Processes • GTAW • GMAW • SMAWWednesday, October 27, 2010

Engineering schools realized this in 2001

Source: About CDIO, http://www.cdio.org/about_cdio/about_1_cdio.html, Retrieved July 7, 2009.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Source: Hacker, A & Dreifus, C. Are colleges worth the price of admission. The Chronicle of Higher Education. July 11, 2010.

Higher education must serve all of these segments; however, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “colleges are taking on too many roles and doing none of them well.”

The War on Work

“Over the next ten years, 26 of the top 30 fastest growing jobs will require some post-secondary education or training...The demand for skilled workers is outpacing supply, resulting in attractive, high-paying jobs going unfilled.”

Emily Stover DeRoccoPresident, The Manufacturing Institute, National Center for the American WorkforceFormer Assistant Secretary of Labor for Education and Training

“Essentially, postsecondary education or training has become the threshold requirement for access to middle-class status and earnings in good times and in bad.”

“It is no longer the preferred pathway to middle-class jobs—it is, increasingly, the only pathway.”

Therefore, it is reasoned, we must increase college graduation rates. In Texas

we call this, “Closing the Gaps.”

What Gaps Are We Closing?

110000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Texas Public Two-Year Colleges Awards Texas Public Four-Year Universities Awards

College graduation is increasing in Texas.That’s a good thing.

Technical awards are flat/declining.Academic awards are now the most common.

This is incongruent with job demand.

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Texas Technical Public Two Year Awards Texas Academic Public Two-Year Awards

Academic Transfer

Launchpad Fund Job Building FundCareer and Technical

Scholarship Fund$10,000,000 $10,000,000$5,000,000

Equipment for high-demand technical programs at two-

year colleges.

Support nonprofit programs preparing low-income

students for high-demand occupations.

Scholarships for two-year college students enrolled in programs for high-demand

occupations.

The Texas JET Fund

Source: McNichol, Oliff, and Johnson. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. States continue to feel recession’s impact. October 7, 2010

State budget cuts will likely lead to a further reduction in technical training capacity.

The War on Work

Source: House Education & Labor Committee (May 12, 2009). “High school dropout crisis threatens U.S. economic growth and competitiveness, witnesses tell house panel”. Press release. Retrieved September 23, 2009.

Nationwide, 7,000 students drop out of high school every day.

- U.S. House Education & Labor Committee

Source: Bridgeland, Dilulio and Burke Morison, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, A report by Civic Enterprises in association with the Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Washington, DC, March 2006.

I dropped out of school because…

Source: Bridgeland, Dilulio and Burke Morison, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, A report by Civic Enterprises in association with the Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Washington, DC, March 2006.

I could have graduated...

One in every four students leaves college before completing sophomore year.

Source: American College Testing

Only about 60% of Americans who enter a four-year college graduate with a degree within six years.

Source: American College Testing

Source: CollegeGrad.com. College graduates moving back home in larger number. 22 July 2009!

"A university degree used to be an entree to a job.”

“Their university degree means they have a good, solid education but not necessarily something that translates easily into a job.”

Ann Buller, PresidentCentennial College

Source: Birchard, K. (2010) Canadian university graduates are going back to the classroom for vocational training. The Chronicle. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Canadian-University-Graduates/66078/?sid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en.

"The colleges have become kind of a finishing school for university graduates.”

Enrollment of "postgraduate students" at Seneca College has increased at a steady rate, making up 15 percent of the full-time student body and 50 percent of the part-time population in 2009.

Rick Miner, President EmeritusSeneca College

Source: Birchard, K. (2010) Canadian university graduates are going back to the classroom for vocational training. The Chronicle. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Canadian-University-Graduates/66078/?sid=cc&utm_source=cc&utm_medium=en.

Source: Kelley, P., The dreaded “P” word: an examination of productivity in public postsecondary education, July 2009.

Median earnings in Alabama employment market, and certificates/degrees weighted by value to the state and individuals:

Source: Kelley, P., The dreaded “P” word: an examination of productivity in public postsecondary education, July 2009.

Median earnings in Alabama employment market, and certificates/degrees weighted by value to the state and individuals:

It’s not that you study,but what you study

in relation to market demand.

“Unless we can align career and technology education with what is needed in the workforce, we will simply not be able to realize the vast potential of the Texas Energy Cluster or other high-growth sectors.”

“…I believe that our education system should make a shift to one that is market-driven and takes into account the skills needed by employers.”

Tom PaukenCommissionerTexas Workforce Commission

The colleges that most students attend "need to streamline their programs, so they emphasize employability.”

Anthony P. CarnevaleDirector, Georgetown CenterGeorgetown University

Common Measurements Fuzzy Measurements

EnrollmentsDemographicsContact Hours

Course CompletionGraduates

Numbers of AwardsAward Levels

National Benchmarks

Placement RateEarnings

Student SatisfactionEmployer Satisfaction

New CompaniesReturn on Investment

Value to TaxpayerEfficiency

What We Measure Counts.

We must develop talent pipelines aligned with market demand, not simply increase

college completion.

The War on Work

Traditional higher education is a linear progression built on courses, semesters, degree plans and graduation.

In order to respond to the nation’s workforce needs, we must do better.

This is a national security and competitiveness priority.

Enroll

Intro to Auto

Automotive Electrical

Automotive Hydraulics

Intro to Diesel

Diesel Electrical

Diesel Hydraulics

Intro to Industrial Systems

Industrial Electrical

Industrial Hydraulics

Traditional Curriculum Model

Assessment

Automotive Applications Diesel Applications Industrial Applications HVAC Applications

Technology CoreBasic HydraulicsBasic ElectricalBasic Controls

Mechanical PrinciplesThermodynamic Principles

Basic Computing

Core Curriculum Model

Modularized curriculum with embedded certificates in flexible schedules aligned with employer demand where student success is

defined as job placement, not simply completing a course.

MODEL:

Employers must develop more sophisticated talent pipeline integrations to increase

capacity.

Standard Talent Pipeline

College Career

Quality assurance of new hire is limited. Retention can suffer if bad fit. Time to full productivity delayed. Stronger candidates have been cherry picked. Insufficient volume of candidates.

Interview

Position Full Time

Enroll

Improved Talent Pipeline

College Career

Full Time

InterviewEarly LookAdvisory Cmt.

Position

Enroll

Extended Talent Pipeline

College Career

InternEarly Look Full Time

InterviewScholar-ship

Enroll

Advisory Cmt.

Position

Advanced Talent Pipeline

College Career

Full Time

InterviewCo-OpPositionInternEarly Look

Scholar-ship

Enroll

Advisory Cmt.

Sponsorship Elements

College Career

Part Time Employment

Candidate Pays Tuition

EmploymentBenefits, etc.

Reimbursed TuitionPay Remaining Tuition

2 Year Contract

Performance

Visits

Intern

Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpSponsorPosition

Scholar-ship

Advisory Cmt.

Enroll

Stronger candidates have been cherry picked. Insufficient volume of candidates.

Capacity Building Talent Pipeline

College

Middle School High School

Career

Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpSponsor

Position Scholar-ship

InternAdvisory Cmt.

CompeteCampsToursCareer Explore Interview

Dual CreditEnroll

Aerospace Capacity Pipeline

Jr. ROTC High School

College

Career

Technical Education is not aboutkeeping students in seats.

It’s is about getting peopleout to of seats and on their feet.

The Next Phase:

Skills Validation

(stay tuned)

The War on Work

Defining Student Success

Source: Gardner, J. "Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too?", p. 86 (1961)

An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher.

The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy.

Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.

John W. Gardner

Moving Beyond Degrees: Why Competency is Currency

Michael BettersworthTexas State Technical College

michael.bettersworth@systems.tstc.edu

October 25, 2010PERSH

moving beyond degrees: competency as currency

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