#InnovateEd2015: Preparing Our Students for Jobs of the Future

By: Amanda Riley

This blog is part four 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 Preparing Our Students for Jobs of the Future. 

As mentioned yesterday, it is difficult enough to know how to prepare high school graduates for College and Career Readiness, but if we do not know what the jobs of the future will look like it becomes even more of a challenge. The Innovate: Education Summit on February 25 is designed to bring the Business and Education communities together so that both constituents can discuss these hard questions we have been discussing in this mini-blog series. By engaging the Business Community, we can understand what College and Career Readiness looks like, maybe even by utilizing Alternative School Models - but how can we prepare high school graduates for jobs of the future when we do not even know what those jobs will be? This blog showcases two different models of engaging the business community to ensure students are prepared.

In Indiana, a recent strategy has been developed to understand what the jobs of the future may look like. Steve Braun thinks that Indiana could use its education system to cut the unemployment rate. His strategy includes using "data techniques from the business world to solve the impossible mystery" of knowing what the jobs of the future will look like for future high school and college graduates. By utilizing the expertise they found in Business Community veteran Steve Braun, the state of Indiana could revamp their entire workforce education pipeline to ensure that students graduate college and career ready.

American communities are beginning to look at foreign examples of how education systems are preparing students for the workforce. "According to the Financial Times, nearly half of Germany's high-schoolers are tracked away from higher education into vocational studies by the time they turn sixteen. Nearly 40% of Germans enter the business world early as apprentices." This article even goes on to say that "the apprenticeship system solves a dual problem for Germany" and could solve the same problem(s) in America - "our under- and over- qualified workforce." Germany has sought out its Business Community to fill out this apprenticeship program and it is working to provide experience and education upon high school graduation.

During this mini-blog series, we have highlighted multiple ways that the Business and Education communities can work together to ensure better student outcomes over time. These are just two great examples of the Business and Education communities have come together to increase College and Career Readiness for future graduates. What are some other examples or strategies you could bring to the table at #InnovateEd2015?

#InnovateEd2015: Incorporating Soft Skills into College and Career Readiness

By: Amanda Riley

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:

1. Enlist employers as partners to define essential pathways and skills. 
2. Set higher expectations for career program quality so students are prepared for postsecondary education.
3. 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?

#InnovateEd2015: Bridging the Communication Gap Between Business and Education

By: Amanda Riley

This blog is part two 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 Bridging the Communications Gap between Business and Education.

Many times, when discussing high school graduation rates and success rates of post secondary students, those in the business and education community are looking at different factors. It is well known that many students graduate high school unprepared for careers or technical fields. There has been a large push in recent history for Career and Technical Education, which is a huge win for the Education Community. However, the Business community is still saying the skills learned are not fully preparing students for the available jobs. Often times it seems, these two important communities are not communicating with each other at all. The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky would like to ensure the Business Community and the Education Community are communicating and understanding each other, going forward. This blog will showcase two examples of how Kentuckians are attempting to Bridge the Communications Gap between Business and Education: Eminence Independent Schools partnership with Apple Business and the Kentucky Rising initiative.

Eminence Independent Schools is a small school district located in Henry County, Kentucky that serves 600 students from Preschool through 12th grade. As the first Kentucky school to partner with Apple Business to offer a variety of benefits to students and staff, Eminence has become a prime example of how the Business Community can partner with the Education Community to ensure better student outcomes. The One to One program paired with the Next Generation skills curriculum ensure that all high school students receive a MacBook Pro, students master key Next Generation Web 2.0 tools, all classes utilize a flipped classroom model through  digital, cloud-based learning management system and both students and staff receive extensive training. Eminence partnered with Apple to understand and develop the needs of their students, offering them a world class education including the 21st century skills needed for their future careers.

The Kentucky Rising initiative is a new and exciting venture out of the Kentucky Department of Education. This initiative has multiple parts with the most important being an increased place at the table for the Business Community in Kentucky. Focusing on a global education to put Kentucky on the map with foreign education systems, Kentucky Rising will ensure that high school graduates are not only college and career ready, but are ready to be citizens of the global community. One part of the initiative is an enhanced diploma that students would earn, designed "to create a stronger work force that meets the requirements of foreign industries that are directly investing in Kentucky, and industries that are creating trade with other countries," Commissioner Terry Holliday said. This initiative comes from the Education Community, but began from a need that arose from the Business Community, another great example of communication between the two.

These are just two great examples of the Business and Education communities coming together to ensure better outcomes for students. What are other examples or new ways of communication you could bring to the table at #InnovateEd2015?

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/12/03/3573135_state-board-of-education-places.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

#InnovateEd2015: Alternative School Models

By: Amanda Riley

This blog is part one 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 Alternative School Models. 

When the public hears about alternative school models, so often what comes to mind is a negative picture of the nearest neighborhood school designed for habitually misbehaving students or a dismissive opinion on the possibility of charter schools. The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky (The Fund) recognizes the need for such 'alternative' schools but would like to move forward in championing the concept of Alternative School Models as a positive concept centered around such ideas as teacher-led schools, internship-focused schools and community schools.

By offering #InnovateEd2015 attendees the opportunity to explore what Alternative School Models might mean in the future, The Fund is leading the conversation in a positive direction. One of the most promising concepts in this field is the idea of Teacher Led Schools. This article from US News in September 2014 showcases a school in Maryland without principals. What a concept! 

Teacher-led schools offer a variety of opportunities for teachers to lead. The Avalon School in Maryland "is a democratically-run, teacher-operated school without a principal, leaving the faculty and staff to vote on all aspects of school operations." Other schools showcased in the same article offer teacher leadership opportunities in other avenues, but the most important thing here is that teachers have taken ownership of the education system in these schools, offering better student outcomes.

The article goes on to state that "Studies have shown that school leadership is second only to teaching among factors that can affect student learning, particularly in disadvantaged schools that need it most. Having a solid leader or group of leaders at the helm of a school, therefore, can be a crucial part of the students’ experience." 

Teacher-led schools are only one positive example of the Alternative School Model concept. What others are you aware of or would you like to bring to the table at #InnovateEd2015?