.
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midst the economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 crisis, all eyes in the education world are trained on K-12 school districts and flagship colleges. How are Fairfax County, Virginia, or Arizona State, preparing for the possibility—if not the inevitability—that most learning will need to take place online?

These are, to be sure, important stories to tell, and they can act as a bellwether for other education institutions around the country. But to focus on this story is to ignore a bigger, and arguably more important one.

A majority of the jobs in the U.S. require some education beyond high school, but not a four-year degree. Often referred to as “middle-skill” jobs, these positions range from nurses and medical technologists to plumbers and electricians. They are among the 71 million workers without college degrees who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes.  The majority of them are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color and they are, in many ways, keeping our country running—keeping the lights on, the streets clean, and the shelves stocked. However, they are also among the most at-risk workers in the country, subject to a pervasive “first out, last in” problem that leaves them in a tenuous position during the pandemic.

If the United States is to recover equitably from this historic crisis, these workers must be at the center of policymaking and investing. Ensuring the economic security, not to mention prosperity, of the American workforce will depend on training, supporting, and preparing displaced workers to navigate a dynamic labor market.

But right now, the U.S. workforce system is not set up to achieve that goal. Workforce funding is highly fragmented, with billions of dollars flowing through 47 different federal programs, each of which is distributed at the state and local level. Much of the investment in training focuses on traditional programs, which are not only out of step with today’s demands, but also not nimble enough to keep up with the pace of change in the workforce. What would the ideal system look like? And can imagining that system help us work backwards to design an approach that meets the urgent needs of the moment?

Let’s look through the eyes of someone like Leanna, who started out as a cashier at Walmart. Last year, Leanna wanted to pursue a long-standing passion for healthcare. Thanks to Walmart’s Live Better U program, which provides skills-focused training for a dollar a day, she enrolled in a training program to become certified as a medical administration assistant. The curriculum was laid out in “playlist” format, with short, engaging videos and other content, accessible via mobile device.  Over two months, Leanna was able to learn all the skills she needed and earned a certification approved by the leading accreditor of healthcare training all while continuing to work. With the support of career coaching provided by her employer, Leanna found a job at Cleveland Clinic. Next, she’s planning to stack a new set of courses on top of her existing certification to complete a bachelor’s degree in Health Science.

Stories like this are happening across the country, the result of renewed employer investment in training and the emergence of educational programs that are designed to be responsive to a new generation of learners. But they are happening in spite of, not because of, the traditional approach taken by most policymakers and employers. They remain the exception rather than the norm.

As we chart a path to economic recovery, it will not be enough for the country to revert to the calcified approaches and practices that have typified our approach to education and training thus far. This means designing programs that are accessible, so learners do not have to sacrifice an income in order to learn a new skill. It means prioritizing affordability by encouraging investment, both public and private, in programs that are aligned to the needs of the workforce. It means rethinking the way we recognize skills, so that instead of the binary degree-or-no-degree approach, we recognize the full spectrum of experiences and competencies that define how an individual performs at work.

Stories like Leanna’s prove that it is not an impossible task. And a challenge as unprecedented as the recovery from COVID-19 will demand a response of equal magnitude. We have even seen the U.S. federal government take baby steps toward change, like the recent executive order to prioritize skills over degrees in federal hiring. The question now is: will we seize the opportunity to build a better system? Or will we fall prey to our old habits?

About
Frank Britt
:
Frank Britt is the Chief Executive Officer of the Penn Foster Education Group, a leading talent development provider focused on creating economic mobility by upskilling adult learners.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.

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Supporting Middle-Skill Workers for an Equitable Economic Recovery

August 6, 2020

The majority of jobs in the U.S. are "middle-skill" jobs, requiring post-high school education but not a degree. Focusing on helping middle-skill workers displaced by COVID-19 is key to an equitable recovery.

A

midst the economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 crisis, all eyes in the education world are trained on K-12 school districts and flagship colleges. How are Fairfax County, Virginia, or Arizona State, preparing for the possibility—if not the inevitability—that most learning will need to take place online?

These are, to be sure, important stories to tell, and they can act as a bellwether for other education institutions around the country. But to focus on this story is to ignore a bigger, and arguably more important one.

A majority of the jobs in the U.S. require some education beyond high school, but not a four-year degree. Often referred to as “middle-skill” jobs, these positions range from nurses and medical technologists to plumbers and electricians. They are among the 71 million workers without college degrees who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes.  The majority of them are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color and they are, in many ways, keeping our country running—keeping the lights on, the streets clean, and the shelves stocked. However, they are also among the most at-risk workers in the country, subject to a pervasive “first out, last in” problem that leaves them in a tenuous position during the pandemic.

If the United States is to recover equitably from this historic crisis, these workers must be at the center of policymaking and investing. Ensuring the economic security, not to mention prosperity, of the American workforce will depend on training, supporting, and preparing displaced workers to navigate a dynamic labor market.

But right now, the U.S. workforce system is not set up to achieve that goal. Workforce funding is highly fragmented, with billions of dollars flowing through 47 different federal programs, each of which is distributed at the state and local level. Much of the investment in training focuses on traditional programs, which are not only out of step with today’s demands, but also not nimble enough to keep up with the pace of change in the workforce. What would the ideal system look like? And can imagining that system help us work backwards to design an approach that meets the urgent needs of the moment?

Let’s look through the eyes of someone like Leanna, who started out as a cashier at Walmart. Last year, Leanna wanted to pursue a long-standing passion for healthcare. Thanks to Walmart’s Live Better U program, which provides skills-focused training for a dollar a day, she enrolled in a training program to become certified as a medical administration assistant. The curriculum was laid out in “playlist” format, with short, engaging videos and other content, accessible via mobile device.  Over two months, Leanna was able to learn all the skills she needed and earned a certification approved by the leading accreditor of healthcare training all while continuing to work. With the support of career coaching provided by her employer, Leanna found a job at Cleveland Clinic. Next, she’s planning to stack a new set of courses on top of her existing certification to complete a bachelor’s degree in Health Science.

Stories like this are happening across the country, the result of renewed employer investment in training and the emergence of educational programs that are designed to be responsive to a new generation of learners. But they are happening in spite of, not because of, the traditional approach taken by most policymakers and employers. They remain the exception rather than the norm.

As we chart a path to economic recovery, it will not be enough for the country to revert to the calcified approaches and practices that have typified our approach to education and training thus far. This means designing programs that are accessible, so learners do not have to sacrifice an income in order to learn a new skill. It means prioritizing affordability by encouraging investment, both public and private, in programs that are aligned to the needs of the workforce. It means rethinking the way we recognize skills, so that instead of the binary degree-or-no-degree approach, we recognize the full spectrum of experiences and competencies that define how an individual performs at work.

Stories like Leanna’s prove that it is not an impossible task. And a challenge as unprecedented as the recovery from COVID-19 will demand a response of equal magnitude. We have even seen the U.S. federal government take baby steps toward change, like the recent executive order to prioritize skills over degrees in federal hiring. The question now is: will we seize the opportunity to build a better system? Or will we fall prey to our old habits?

About
Frank Britt
:
Frank Britt is the Chief Executive Officer of the Penn Foster Education Group, a leading talent development provider focused on creating economic mobility by upskilling adult learners.
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.