Moving Beyond Degrees: Competency as Currency

Moving Beyond Degrees:Why
Competency is Currency
Michael Bettersworth
Texas State Technical College
michael.bettersworth@systems.tstc.edu
October 25, 2010
PERSH
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 Jobs
Source: 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
Dallas 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?

80%
20%
Blue Collar
White Collar
The Class of Work

80%
20%
Blue Collar
White Collar
“Mental”
“Manual”
The Class of Work

This division has been applied to
American education.

Smith-Hughes Act 1917
Education Dissected
AcademicVocationalEducation

Smith-Hughes Act 1917
Education Dissected
Academic Vocational

65%
20% 15%
Skilled “Labor”
“Professional”
Unskilled “Labor”
New Model - Still Off Target

65%
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.

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 Manufacturing

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 • SMAW

Engineering schools realized this in 2001
Source:About CDIO, http://www.cdio.org/about_cdio/about_1_cdio.html, Retrieved July 7, 2009.

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.”

“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 DeRocco
President,The Manufacturing Institute, National Center for the American Workforce
Former 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?

0
27500
55000
82500
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.
0
12500
25000
37500
50000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Texas Technical Public TwoYear Awards Texas Academic Public Two-Year Awards

Academic Transfer

Launchpad Fund Job Building Fund
Career 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.

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

"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, President
Centennial 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 Emeritus
Seneca 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:

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 Pauken
Commissioner
Texas Workforce Commission

The colleges that most students attend "need to
streamline their programs, so they
emphasize employability.”
Anthony P. Carnevale
Director, Georgetown Center
Georgetown University

Common Measurements Fuzzy Measurements
Enrollments
Demographics
Contact Hours
Course Completion
Graduates
Numbers of Awards
Award Levels
National Benchmarks
Placement Rate
Earnings
Student Satisfaction
Employer Satisfaction
New Companies
Return on Investment
Value to Taxpayer
Efﬁciency
What We Measure Counts.

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

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.

Start
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

Start
Assessment
Automotive Applications Diesel Applications Industrial Applications HVAC Applications
Path
Technology Core
Basic Hydraulics
Basic Electrical
Basic Controls
Mechanical Principles
Thermodynamic Principles
Basic Computing
Core Curriculum Model

TSMC

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
Hire
Enroll

Improved Talent Pipeline
College Career
Full Time
Hire
InterviewEarly LookAdvisory
Cmt.
Position
Enroll
-
-
-
-
-

Extended Talent Pipeline
College Career
InternEarly Look Full Time
Hire
Interview
Scholar-
ship
Enroll
Advisory
Cmt.
-
-
-
-
-
Position

Advanced Talent Pipeline
College Career
Full Time
Hire
InterviewCo-OpPositionInternEarly Look
Scholar-
ship
Enroll
Advisory
Cmt.
-
-
-
-
-

Sponsorship Elements
College Career
Part Time Employment
Candidate Pays Tuition
Employment
Beneﬁts, etc.
Reimbursed Tuition
Pay Remaining Tuition
2Year Contract
Performance
Visits
Intern
Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpSponsorPosition
Scholar-
ship
Advisory
Cmt.
Enroll
-
-

Capacity Building Talent Pipeline
College
Middle School High School
SecondaryCollege
Career
Certs
Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpSponsor
Position Scholar-
ship
Intern
Advisory
Cmt.
CompeteCampsTours
Career
Explore Interview
Dual
CreditEnroll

Aerospace Capacity Pipeline

Jr. ROTC High School

College

Career

Technical Education is not about
keeping students in seats.
It’s is about getting people
out to of seats and on their feet.

The Next Phase:
SkillsValidation
(stay tuned)

The War on Work
The Education Dichotomy
The Higher Ed Imbalance
Deﬁning Student Success
Moving Beyond Degrees

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: Competency as Currency

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Similaire à Moving Beyond Degrees: Competency as Currency

Similaire à Moving Beyond Degrees: Competency as Currency (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Moving Beyond Degrees: Competency as Currency