Moving Beyond Degrees: Why competency is currency

Moving Beyond Degrees: Why Competency is Currency

Michael BettersworthTexas State Technical College

Follow on Twitter @[email protected]

www.forecasting.tstc.eduJune 2011

BRAZOS VALLEY WORKFORCE

Friday, June 17, 2011

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 Great Divide

The Higher Ed Imbalance

Engaging the Talent Pipeline

Moving Beyond Degrees:Why Competency is Currency


“...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.


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.

BUSTEDIf you earn a bachelor’s degree, you will earn

BUSTEDIf you earn a bachelor’s degree, you will earn

$1,000,000 more over the course of your life.

BUSTED$1,000,000 more over the course of your life.


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

in relation to marketdemand.


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

Yet, 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

The Great Divide





80%

20%Blue CollarWhite Collar

“Mental”

“Manual”

The Class of Work


This division has been applied to American

education.


Smith-Hughes Act 1917Education Dissected

AcademicVocationalVocationalAcademicVocationalVocationalAcademicVocationalAcademicVocationalEducationVocationalVocationalEducationVocationalAcademicVocationalAcademicEducationAcademicVocationalAcademic


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 • MechatronicsFriday, June 17, 2011

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 • SMAWFriday, June 17, 2011

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 ManufacturingFriday, June 17, 2011

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.Friday, June 17, 2011

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 welldoing none of them welldoing none of them well.”


The War on Work

The Great Divide





“Over the next ten years, 26 of the top 30 fastest growing jobs will require some post-secondary education or trainingtraining...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


The need for more skilled employees has driven a national

effort to increase college attendance and completion

numbers. In Texas we call this, “Closing the GapsClosing the Gaps.”

What Gaps Are We Closing?


0

27500

55000

82500

110000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

55000

82500

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

Technical awards are flat/declining.

25000

37500

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


Academic Awards



Source: Carnevale, A., Smith, N, & Strohl, J. Help Wanted: Projections of jobs and education requirements through 2018. A study prepared at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Washington D.C. June 2010.

2007 2018

Associate’s degree, certificate, or some college

27% 29%

Bachelor’s degree 21% 23%

Graduate degree 11% 10%

Level of education required by employers

What Level of College is Needed?


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






REALITYREALITY:State and federal budget cuts

will lead tofurther reductions in

technical training capacitytechnical training capacity...

...despite the need for employable college graduates with these technical skillstechnical skills.


When discussing education supply and workforce demand, it is not the levelof education that is most important but

the alignment of competencies in response to employer demand.

Simply increasing the number of college graduates will not solve our

state and nation’s competency shortages.


The War on Work

The Great Divide





“…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 employabilityemployability.”

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 eithereither.”



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



“At the post-secondary level, we need a concerted effort to link work and learning by providing far more opportunities for work-based learning.”

William C. SymondsDirector, Pathways to ProsperityHarvard Graduate School of Education



We must develop talent pipelines aligned with

market demand, not simply increase enrollment and

completion...

..and measure performance throughout.


What you Measure Counts.

Solution #1: Metrics


Activity Performance

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


Traditional higher education is a linear progression built on contact hours,

courses, semesters, and degree plans with a primary focus on enrollment

growth and, to a lesser degree, completion.

We can do better.


Modularized workforce curriculum with embedded

certificates in flexible schedules aligned with employer

competencies where student success is defined first as job

placementplacement, not simply completing a course or earning an award.

Solution #2: Packaging


TSMC




TSMC


Fast-Track Model


Value-based funding models where state appropriations are

based on the economic return generated by placement rather than

the amount of time in seats.

Solution #3: Funding



MoreSkilled Talent

Placed in High-

DemandCareers

EarningPremium

Wages

GeneratesMoreTax

Revenue

Funding output means basing state appropriations on Return on Investment.



Given reductions in capacity, employers will need to

engage and invest directly into talent pipelines critical to

their success.

Solution #4: Sourcing


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

College

Seco

ndar

yC

olle

ge

Career

Certs

Full TimeHireInterviewCo-OpSponsor

Position Scholar-ship

InternAdvisory

CompeteCampsToursCareer InterviewDual

CreditEnroll


Aerospace Capacity Pipeline


High School


Military


College


Career


Workforce education is not about keeping students in seats.

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

Competency is CurrencyCurrency.


Employability is more important than a degree alone.

Return on investment is more important than a contact hour.

Placement is more important than enrollment.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”


The War on Work

The Great Divide





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

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

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


“The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activityand tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is anexalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy.”



John W. Gardner

“Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”



Moving Beyond Degrees: Why Competency is Currency

Michael BettersworthTexas State Technical College

Follow on Twitter @[email protected]

www.forecasting.tstc.eduJune 2011

BRAZOS VALLEY WORKFORCE

Thank You
