Moving Beyond Degrees; Why competency is currency

Moving Beyond Degrees: Why Competency is

Currency

Michael BettersworthTexas State Technical College

[email protected]

November 17, 2010TWC

Wednesday, November 17, 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...”

2007 Sub-Prime MortgageBalance: $1.3 Trillion


Four times the rate of inflation.

Almost twice the rate of healthcare.


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.”


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 Dreher

“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 the devaluation of certain career and educational

pursuits.

How did we get here?


The War on Work






80%

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


65%

20% 15%Skilled “Labor”“Professional”Unskilled “Labor”

“Cubicles” “Fries with that?”

“Experts”“Craftsmen”

“Developers”

“Skilled”

“Technicians”“Engineers”

“Paid”“Hired”

New Model - Still Off


Laser Optics

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


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 • MechatronicsWednesday, November 17, 2010

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, November 17, 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, November 17, 2010

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, November 17, 2010

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


Therefore, it is reasoned, we must increase college

graduation rates. In Texas we call this, “Closing the Gaps.”

What Gaps Are We Closing?


0

27500

55000

82500

110000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Texas Public Two-Year Colleges AwardsTexas 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.0

12500

25000

37500

50000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

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


Academic Transfer



Launchpad Fund Job Building FundCareer and TechnicalScholarship 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 tofurther reductions 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!


“Before making any decision, prospective students should contemplate the debt levels they are willing to assume, along with realistic salary expectations after graduating.” Tom Pauken

CommissionerTexas Workforce Commission


“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 Pauken

CommissionerTexas Workforce Commission


In order to affect change in these established institutions we must measure the right things and

respond accordingly.


Activity Measurements

Performance Measurements

EnrollmentsDemographicsContact Hours

Course CompletionGraduates

Numbers of AwardsAward Levels

National Benchmarks

Placement RateEarnings

Student SatisfactionEmployer Satisfaction

New CompaniesReturn on Investment

Value to TaxpayerEfficiency

What’s Measured What Counts


Example: Earnings Data


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:


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.


If you earn a bachelor’s degree, you will earn $1,000,000 more over the course of your life.

BUSTED


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

in relation to market demand.


“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”


“Imagination is more important than” a TEK.

Employability is more important than a degree.

Return on investment is more important than a contract hour.

Placement is more important than enrollment.


The War on Work






"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: Zernike, K. “Making college relevant.” The New Yokr Times. January 3, 2010.!


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

Anthony P. CarnevaleDirector, Georgetown CenterGeorgetown University


“If educators don't provide people with employability all the other missions, the more grand missions that are talked about at colleges and universities, they are not going to achieve those either.”



“If you can't make people employable, they are not going to participate fully in the life of their times in this system.”



We must develop talent pipelines aligned with

market demand, not simply increase college completion...

..and measure performance throughout.


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 competitiveness and national security priority.


Start

Enroll in Program

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

Source: Ron Sanders, Texas State Technical Collge


Start

Assessment

Automotive Applications Diesel Applications Industrial Applications HVAC Applications

Path

Technology CoreBasic HydraulicsBasic ElectricalBasic Controls

Mechanical PrinciplesThermodynamic Principles

Basic Computing

Core Curriculum Model

Source: Ron Sanders, Texas State Technical Collge



TSMC




Fast-Track 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 competency-based 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

Hire

Enroll


Improved Talent Pipeline

College Career

InterviewEarly LookAdvisory Position


-

-

-

-

-

Enroll

Full TimeHire


Extended Talent Pipeline

College Career

InternEarly Look InterviewScholar-

shipPosition


-

-

-

-

-

Enroll

Full TimeHireAdvisory


Advanced Talent Pipeline

College Career


-

-

-

-

-

Enroll

InternEarly Look Full Time

Hire

Interview

Scholar-ship

Position Co-OpAdvisory


Sponsorship Elements

College Career

Part Time Employment

Candidate Pays Tuition

EmploymentBenefits, etc.

Reimbursed TuitionPay Remaining Tuition

2 Year Contract

Performance

Visits

Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpAdvisory

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

-

-

Enroll Intern

Scholar-ship

Position Sponsor


Capacity Building Talent Pipeline

College

Middle School High School

Seco

ndar

yC

olle

ge

Career

Certs

Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpSponsor

Position Scholar-ship

InternAdvisory

CompeteCampsToursCareer InterviewDual

CreditEnroll


Aerospace Capacity Pipeline


Jr. ROTC High School


College


Career


Workforce education is not aboutkeeping students in seats.

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


Funding Value instead of Time.




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.

John W. GardnerPresident, Carnegie Corporation

Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.


Moving Beyond Degrees: Why Competency is

Currency

Michael BettersworthTexas State Technical College

[email protected]

November 17, 2010TWC


Moving Beyond Degrees; Why competency is currency

Education

education dichotomy

american education

chronicle of higher

dirty jobs source

class of work

higher ed imbalance

skilled technical positions

new model