James May June 2024 web - Flipbook - Page 67
E D U CAT I O N
BY M AT T H E W S M I T H
mployers in several economic sectors, including
manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and
healthcare, struggle to find
enough skilled workers. Business
leaders have responded to acute labor shortages by accelerating investments in automation and artificial
intelligence. State policymakers and
education and community leaders
have invested in career pathway
strategies that attract individuals to
high-wage, high-demand opportunities. For Georgia to retain its advantaged position in the global economy,
it is critical that we increase enrollments in high-demand career pathways— and quickly.
School districts, post-secondary
institutions, businesses, and private
and nonprofit providers operate career-themed programs. Although state
agency leaders have prioritized greater alignment between various pathways initiatives, access, quality, and
transferability challenges are barriers
to scaling innovative programming.
In this context, let’s examine the
state’s current assets and how adopting a demand-focused mindset could
help Georgia meet employer needs in
the next decade.
Georgia’s Career, Technical,
and Agricultural Education (CTAE)
program prepares K-12 students for
specific careers. Operated by the
Georgia Department of Education
(GaDOE), students can enroll in over
150 three-course pathway sequences spread across 17 career clusters.
The goal is simple: each CTAE
graduate will complete a course sequence, participate in a work-based
learning opportunity, and earn an
industry credential and/or post-secondary credit.
While 130,055 Georgia high
school students completed a threecourse CTAE sequence during the
2021-2022 school year, more than all
states except Texas, unmet workforce demand remains. Only 40.2
percent participated in a work-based
learning opportunity and just 32.3
percent earned credentials of value—
post-secondary degrees, diplomas,
and certificates and certifications that
produce a significant wage premium
versus residents with only high school
diplomas. Further, some of the state’s
fastest growing industries— manufacturing, transportation and logistics,
and energy represented less than 2
percent of total CTAE enrollments.
THREE STEPS FOR A
MORE ALIGNED APPROACH
Step 1 Let evidence of need drive
what career pathways to offer.
Currently, state policymakers
lack specific data on whether current
school district and post-secondary
CTAE offerings align with local,
regional, and state workforce needs.
While federal law requires regional
workforce development boards to
produce annual reports on high-demand occupations, these data are not
widely available. The Georgia General Assembly responded by enacting
House Bill 982, which would require
the State Workforce Development
Board to publish a High-Demand Career List. The report would describe
the skills, certificates, licenses, diplomas, degrees, or other credentials of
value required by employers for the
listed careers.
Step 2 Seek out partnerships with
local employers.
K-12 and post-secondary leaders
face four challenges that discourage them from offering new career
pathways programs— the high cost
of specialized equipment; difficulty
recruiting qualified instructors; deciding how to assess student content
mastery; and lack of awareness and
interest from students about high-demand career opportunities. State
policymakers and business sector
leaders can help address many of
these barriers.
Education and community leaders, for instance, can partner with
local employers to create durable
career pathways. Employers can provide work-based learning opportunities that both help CTAE pathway
completers earn industry-recognized
credentials and provide the industry
with much-needed workforce talent.
K-12 and post-secondary leaders, on the other hand, can provide
greater assurances that graduates
are ready for their next steps, while
simultaneously supporting the workforce needs of their region by examining data on employer needs and
working with industry partners.
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