This blog is part three in a four part mini-blog series designed to increase awareness around four issue areas that attendees will work on at the Innovate: Education Summit on February 25, 2015. Join us as we bring together key leaders in the business and education communities to work on:
- Exploring Alternative School Models
- Bridging the Communications Gap between Business and Education
- Incorporating Soft Skills into "College and Career Ready": What Do Our Students Need to Know?
- Preparing Our Students for Jobs of the Future: How Can We Prepare Them If We Don't Even Know What Those Jobs Will Be?
Today's mini-blog highlights Incorporating Soft Skills into College and Career Readiness.
As mentioned yesterday, in our mini-blog focused on the Communications Gap between Business and Education, a lot of work has been done to increase the College and Career Readiness of High School graduates in Kentucky. We know though, that the Business Community still says the graduates are lacking certain skills. The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky would like to ensure that high school graduates are ready to enter the workforce but in order to make this the norm, a lot of work needs to be done. Many strategies could be employed to ensure that our students know what they need to be college and career ready. This blog highlights both a recent task force report from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and an informative resource about College and Career Readiness.
Recently, a task force was created by CCSSO, comprised of state school chiefs, postsecondary and Career and Technical Education (CTE) leaders, business leaders and national education experts. The task force analyzed career preparation in the United States and internationally to arrive at three main recommendations:
As mentioned yesterday, in our mini-blog focused on the Communications Gap between Business and Education, a lot of work has been done to increase the College and Career Readiness of High School graduates in Kentucky. We know though, that the Business Community still says the graduates are lacking certain skills. The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky would like to ensure that high school graduates are ready to enter the workforce but in order to make this the norm, a lot of work needs to be done. Many strategies could be employed to ensure that our students know what they need to be college and career ready. This blog highlights both a recent task force report from the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and an informative resource about College and Career Readiness.
Recently, a task force was created by CCSSO, comprised of state school chiefs, postsecondary and Career and Technical Education (CTE) leaders, business leaders and national education experts. The task force analyzed career preparation in the United States and internationally to arrive at three main recommendations:
- Enlist employers as partners to define essential pathways and skills.
- Set higher expectations for career program quality so students are prepared for postsecondary education.
- Create incentives for schools to provide career opportunities and link programs to accountability measures.
Our own commissioner Holliday was quoted in the article cited above as stating "in too many states K-12, community college, universities, and the business community are not working together to solve the skills gap." It is difficult to know exactly what students need to know to graduate high school college and career ready, but including the business community in the conversation is definitely one way to improve the possibilities.
The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) produced a useful resource to help their meeting attendees understand the differences between College and Career Readiness. While this group is "dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21" the resource linked here is valuable to understand the qualities employers might be looking for in graduates that meet the College and Career Readiness guidelines.
Both of these resources might lead to valuable insight for our conversation at #InnovateEd2015. After all, it hard to discuss Soft Skills and how they affect College and Career Readiness (CCR) for all of our high school graduates, without fully understanding what CCR means. What are some other ideas and strategies around CCR you could bring to the table at #InnovateEd2015?
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