A Forum — May 10, 2007

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• One-third of U.S. public high school students dropout and many of them cite an irrelevant education as a factor in their dropping out.
• There are currently 1.3 million engineering/engineering technology jobs available in the U.S. without trained people to fill them; by year 2020, there will be a shortage of 13 to 15 million skilled workers.

In the context of the high school dropout rate and the demand for skilled labor, career and technical education can provide opportunities for students to gain a relevant education and hands-on experience. Creating career pathways and increasing the rigor of CTE courses will allow high school students to engage in project-based learning and develop practical labor market skills. This forum examines the role of high schools in engaging and preparing students for current and future labor market demands.

Phyllis Eisen, Vice President of the Manufacturing Institute for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and Executive Director of the Center for Workforce Success (CWS), discussed the conditions of the manufacturing industry and pointed out that the need for skilled workers within the industry have grown exponentially in recent years. Manufacturing represents 11% of jobs in the United States and boasts wages that are 23% higher than the average of other sectors’ wages. Eisen explained that “even though, the sector is smaller than ever before, manufacturing still has some of the highest salaries.” The competition for manufacturing jobs is growing as global markets demand workers that are trained and ready to meet industry needs. With 77 million people retiring within the next 20 years, Eisen described a skills and talent race between workers competing for the highly skilled positions that will become available in the U.S. Workers from outside of the U.S. are receiving the educational training needed to compete for skilled jobs in the U.S. while U.S students are receiving an inadequate education that does not serve the labor market pipeline, according to Eisen. Furthermore, if the U.S. is unable to meet these industry demands for workers, manufacturing could move overseas to countries where the amount of skilled labor available can accommodate the demand.      

Eisen believes that it is imperative to focus on high school dropout rates and better understand how high schools are or are not preparing students for the global economy.  Despite the growing need for more skilled labor, there is an existing skills gap that stems from inadequate educational preparation. Eisen stated, “The majority of students that drop out in 9th grade in California have the grades to finish, but they are disconnected [from their classes] because there is a lack of relevance. They see no labor market payoff.” Another reason some students avoid CTE, Eisen explained, is the idea that, “If you don’t go to college, you’re a second-class citizen.” Eisen believes that pushing industries and government to form alliances as well as changing the culture and the way people think about CTE is a necessary step to promote the value of CTE and to ensure the U.S. has the needed skilled workforce.  

Duane Crum, Ph.D., California State Leader, Project Lead the Way (PLTW) focused on the perception of CTE in schools. Crum explained, “Most people don’t know what CTE is.” Their understanding is that “CTE is an elective and [students] know they don’t need it to graduate.” With growing needs of the engineering and technology industry, Crum believes that the current educational system, particularly high schools, should help creating a pipeline of highly skilled students to meet industry needs. To address this issue, PLTW provides project-based curriculum and career pathways for high school students to engage in rigorous and relevant courses as well as providing high-quality, continuing, and course-specific teacher training to ensure that students are being taught by qualified teachers. 

PLTW seeks to strengthen core academic curricula at the middle and high school levels.  The high school Pathway to Engineering program compliments core curricula by integrating a sequence of courses with traditional mathematics and science courses in high school by introducing students to the scope, rigor, and discipline of engineering as well as the logical thought processes that result from the curriculum. By engaging in hands-on, real-world projects, students are able to make connections between skills learned in the classroom and everyday life. PLTW seeks to makes changes in American high schools by adding a rigorous, relevant, standards-based engineering and technology program, leading to jobs or postsecondary education.

Crum explained that while colleges and universities are aligned with the full spectrum of science and technology in our society, high schools typically expose students to an extremely small portion of that spectrum. Crum believes that addressing the full engineering and technology spectrum has been forgotten in schools because of the narrow focus on improving math and science in response to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. Addressing the full range of careers within science and technology allows students to understand the multiple career pathways that exist beyond what is currently being emphasized in most high school curricula. Crum describes PLTW as giving students exposure to the range of jobs in a given field of science and technology. For example, for students who are interested in civil engineering and architecture, the course might expose them to different facets of the field such as researching soils, obtaining permits along with coursework in design, and structural analysis. Exposing students to foundation courses and specialization courses assists thems in developing practical labor market skills. Crum also explained that students in their senior year have the opportunity to create a culminating project where program mentors work with students on their own projects, allowing students to design their own final product.            

Project Lead the Way programs have grown to 2,100 schools in 2007 and enrolled over 250,000 students nationwide. Crum attributes the success of PLTW to personnel and time support as well as financial support from local businesses, regional businesses, trade organizations, and charities. While financial support is necessary, Crum emphasized the critical role that these organizations play in helping develop curriculum, assisting instruction, and serving in the mentor capacity. Large companies such as Intel, Northrop Grumman, and Sprint have not only provided financial support but have also provided valuable human resources to create a stronger and more valuable experiences for PLTW participants.       

Mike Ogilvy, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for intelitek, Inc. described, similar to Eisen, a climate within the manufacturing industry where industry demands for skilled workers are high. Ogilvy added, as an example, that the cost of CNC (computer numerical control) machines are much lower than in the past and thus, the industry has the ability to output more goods if there are enough skilled workers to use these machines. Intelitek programs include custom training solutions for corporate and educational customers which can be tailored to align with state and national standards. Ogilvy explained that with intelitek programs, virtual tools allow trained teachers to educate students on technology that is normally too expensive for schools to deploy.  Intelitek’s software programs provide relevant education and hands-on experience to develop labor market skills. “When you can hire someone who has been trained on the real McCoy, that’s where the rubber hits the road,” Ogilvy explained. Students could also reap huge benefits by not only learning how to operate one machine, but by learning how to operate a cell of machines. Ogilvy stated, “If you innovate, you can keep manufacturing here. People need to understand how to automate. The one who can operate a cell of machines can hold highly skilled jobs.”

Eisen, Crum, and Ogilvy all agree that the demand for skilled labor is high and that high schools should provide a relevant and hands-on education utilizing innovative curricula and technologies integrated with core curricula and local, state, and national standards.     

Highlights from Question and Answer Session

When asked what the federal government can do to support CTE, Eisen responded that we need to look at where the funds are being allocated. She pointed out that a majority of the funds go to traditional students that follow a traditional educational pathway. Furthermore, Eisen explained that engineering and informational technology are not included in NCLB for funding purposes, but the skills learned in those subjects are critical for youth to be successful. Ogilvy added that CTE should be seen as an investment.

A question was raised about dealing with parental attitudes about going to college. Eisen explained that parents need to be convinced that an education focused on CTE does not mean a student will not go to college. Along similar lines, Crum stated that the paradigm of going to a four-year college must be broken. Ogilvy added that school counselors have an enormous impact on the courses and pathways students select, and they need to be better informed about the excellent labor market opportunities for students interested in technical fields of study.

 

Presenters Bios

Phyllis Eisen is vice president of the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers and executive director of the Center for Workforce Success, the education, training and research arm of the NAM.  The Manufacturing Institute’s mission is to tell the story of today’s manufacturing to the press and policy makers.  The Center's purpose is to find innovative workforce solutions for U.S. manufacturers enabling them to compete in a competitive global economy.  Currently, the Center’s work is focused on helping the NAM members recruit, train, advance, and retain skilled employees and provide policy makers with up to date information on current workforce trends in the manufacturing sector.  Initiatives include building a comprehensive “workforce intermediary” system with the NAM affiliates across the country at the state and local levels. The Center along with the NAM is spearheading a national careers campaign called Dream !t. Do!t. designed to change an outdated negative image of manufacturing and encourage young adults to consider modern manufacturing as a career option.  The Center also sponsors GetTech, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce, a campaign to prepare young people in middle school for a technology-driven future by encouraging them to take more math and science and to engage in career exploration at an early age.

Before establishing the CWS, Eisen lobbied for the NAM on a variety of business concerns as senior policy director.  Before coming to the NAM, Ms. Eisen was a consultant to the American Motor Vehicles Association and Mack Trucks.  Prior to that position, she was vice president of the National Immigration Forum in Washington, D.C., an organization that pulled together diverse ethnic, business and labor groups around immigration and refugee concerns.  She also taught in the public school system as a high school social studies and special education teacher for over a decade.

Ms. Eisen earned her undergraduate degree in political science and education at the University of Maryland in 1964 and pursued additional graduate work in public policy, political science and education at both George Washington University and the University of Maryland.

Ms. Eisen serves on the Board of Directors for the National Center for Education and the Economy, the Precision Manufacturing Association Foundation, and on the executive committee of the Washington, DC chapter of the Industrial Relations Research Association.  She currently serves on the Department of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship.  She recently received the Harry S Truman award for distinguished service from the American Association of Community Colleges.  Ms. Eisen speaks across the country and in international forums on education and training policy and is regularly quoted in both the print and electronic media.  She is a life-long resident of D.C. 

 

Since receiving his PhD in physics, Dr. Duane Crum has since worked in a San Diego’s high-tech community.  He has held positions as President, CEO, General Manager, VP Development, and VP Marketing in various companies where he garnered experience raising venture capital, selling his company, going public and going out of business.  He has been responsible for the design, sale or support of products that include MRI magnets, cardiac ablation instrumentation, neuromagnetometers, systems for non-invasive liver biopsies, systems for physics research at ultra-low temperatures, magnetic susceptometers for chemical analysis, classified DOD projects, and systems for remote monitoring of civil structures including the Washington Monument and an oil platform off the coast of Nigeria.

Three years ago, Dr. Crum accepted the role of California State Leader for Project Lead the Way (PLTW).   In this capacity, he is responsible for helping schools adopt the PLTW program and supporting them after they do.

Mike Ogilvy received his undergraduate degree in Business from Ithaca College in Ithaca,  NY.  He went on to receive his MBA in Finance from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.  

Mike worked for three years in the Corporate Marketing Research Group at the Xerox World Corporate Headquarters prior to joining The Bigelow Company, a Strategic Planning and Corporate Finance Group based in Portsmouth NH, where he worked with over 75 companies dealing with strategic issues of growth and financing that growth.  Mr. Ogilvy then joined Light Machines Corporation (now intelitek, Inc. ) for ten years, where he held several positions including VP of Finance and Administration and VP of Operations.  After spending an additional 7 years in the telecommunications industry, he joined intelitek, Inc. as VP of Sales and Marketing where he has been for the past four years.  

Mr. Ogilvy has over 25 years of experience in working with large and small companies in dozens of industries.  He has served on committees which include, The Allocations Committee at the local United Way of Greater Manchester, on the Board of Directors of NH Public Radio, and is currently on The Youth Development  Foundation of SkillsUSA, as well as,  Chairs the Automated Manufacturing Technology Competition for SkillsUSA.

 

To learn more about AYPF's forum series on The Role of Career and Technical Education in High School Reform, please visit http://www.aypf.org/projects/CTEinHighSchoolReform.htm

 

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