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A Workforce Crisis Strikes Again
Adult Education and Literacy
High School, Postsecondary, and Career Education
Trend Watch
A Workforce Crisis Strikes Again
Since man walked on the moon in 1969, the aerospace industry has faced a multitude of problems threatening its existence, e.g. shrinking budgets, rising costs, consolidation, etc. However, the current workforce crisis facing the aerospace industry threatens graver consequences. The human mind is fundamental to the vigor of the U.S. aerospace program, necessary to keeping our space program on the leading edge and the best in the world. The recently released final report to Congress of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry describes the challenges facing the industry and the decline of math and science abilities and its impact on the workforce. For instance, the U.S has dropped from third in 1975 to 13th in the proportion of 24-year-olds who hold engineering degrees.
The aerospace industry is not alone in this crisis. More often than not, businesses complain of the lack of prepared workers. An estimated $60 billion is spent each year by business on remediation for employees; Remediation in subjects such as trigonometry that should have been mastered in high school. Academic rigor throughout K-12 is a necessary step in ensuring a well-prepared workforce. Students must graduate from high school prepared in reading, mathematics, and science to pursue postsecondary training, education, and/or jobs. The newly announced State Scholars Initiative
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MS WORD (528K)
was designed to combat lethargy in high school curricula by encouraging students to enroll in a
rigorous course load. However, rigorous curricula require a qualified teacher. Research
indicates that a consistent predictor of student math and science achievement and college
success is directly related to a teacher's full certification in the subject taught. This
is a problem at the secondary level, but a greater one in middle school where up to 50% of
teachers are not certified in the subject they teach.The Department of Education is sponsoring initiatives to research both rigor and teacher quality in education. It is our concern that without academic rigor at the secondary level, our nation will see more industries fall victim to an unprepared workforce.
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Adult Education and Literacy
New Adult Ed Quality Controls Affect Year-End Reports
OVAE announced new quality standards for adult education data beginning with this year's data submission due December 31. Data quality standards for Adult Education's National Reporting System are organized into four content areas that define high-quality data collection systems. State agencies responsible for administering funds under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) will now sign a certification of data quality to accompany their annual report submissions. The certification process includes three quality levels—acceptable, superior, and exemplary. At the end of the three-year phase-in all states will be expected to meet the standards for superior data quality. States not meeting acceptable levels in the first year will receive technical assistance and must develop a plan to meet acceptable data quality levels the subsequent year. Starting with the 2003-04 program year, states' ability to meet the data quality certification standards will be considered when qualifying them for performance incentive awards under the Workforce Investment Act. The new standards reflect ED's new Information Quality Guidelines that ensure the quality of data before dissemination to the public.
Distance Education Users Profiled
Nontraditional students such as older learners working full-time and seeking an associate's degrees are more likely than traditional students to use distance education, according to a National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study. About one tenth of students with children enrolled in distance education classes, says A Profile of Participation in Distance Education 1999-2000. Nine percent of students working full-time and seven percent working part-time also took distance education courses. Community college learners seeking associate's degrees were more likely to take distance education classes than those at four-year schools, the study says.
Workforce Training for Welfare Recipients Studied
Transitional jobs for hard-to-employ welfare recipients, along with services that address their lack of work experience and training, may be key in helping move recipients into the workforce, says a recent report from Mathematical Policy Research. The transitional programs give participants time, usually limited to nine months, to gain marketable experience and skills, without losing the incentive to find permanent employment. More than 80 percent of people who completed a transitional jobs program were placed in a permanent, unsubsidized job.
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High School, Postsecondary, and Career Education
US Spends More, Graduates Fewer
The United States spends more per pupil than most other industrialized nations, but fails to graduate as many students from high school, a new report concludes. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) annual report compared K-12 system outcomes among more than 30 industrialized nations. The report, Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2002 showed that only about three fourths of students at the age of high school graduation in the United States actually finished high school in 2000, while 97 percent graduated in Hungary and 94 percent graduated in Japan. Meanwhile, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Sweden all graduated higher proportions of their high-school-age students than did the United States, although the U.S. is about average in overall academic achievement.
Director Named of New Research Institute
President Bush has appointed Grover "Russ" Whitehurst of New York to a six-year term as Director of the Institute of Education Sciences at ED. Whitehurst served as Assistant Secretary for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement since July 2001. The new Institute of Education Sciences was established formally when the president signed the Education Sciences Reform Act 2002 on November 5 and will replace the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The Institute will include national education centers focused on research, statistics, and evaluation, and will allow the Department to move forward aggressively to support the high-quality research, evaluation, and statistical activities needed to improve education policy and practice.
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Trend Watch
Skilled vs. Unskilled Jobs
In the 1950's, 80% of jobs were classified as unskilled while 20% were classified as skilled. Today, the opposite is true with 20% of jobs are classified as unskilled and 80% are classified as skilled placing greater importance on technical training, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's 21st Century Skills for 21st Century Jobs.
To ask questions, provide comments, or receive email notification of the next issue, please email the Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
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Last Modified: 10/02/2006
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