Most people agree we need to improve economic mobility in this country. How to do that is another question entirely. Join Strada Education Network’s Ruth Watkins as she talks to educators, employers, and innovators about their best ideas for the future of education and work.
Strada’s “Lessons Earned” podcast, featuring conversations with innovative thinkers and doers seeking to improve the education-workforce system, returns soon as host Ben Wildavsky welcomes a new co-host for Season 3, Braven founder and CEO Aimée Eubanks Davis.
How can we better equip learners with the skills they need for today’s jobs? What roles should educators, employers, and policymakers play in transforming education after high school? And how do we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with new insights about what’s working and what’s not? In Lessons Earned, Strada Education Network’s Ben Wildavsky and co-host Aimée Eubanks Davis of Braven sit down with bold thinkers who are challenging the status quo and exploring ideas to help all Americans navigate between learning and earning. Learn more.
Western Governors University began as a bold experiment to create a completely online university—a place where learning is self-paced and the institution’s value is measured not by the profiles of its incoming freshmen, but the career success of its graduates. As the COVID-19 pandemic forces colleges and universities across the country into a virtual learning environment, we talk to Scott Pulsipher, president of the nation’s largest online competency-based university.
Long before COVID-19, America’s most vulnerable students were struggling to access not only education and skills training, but the social connections that open doors to great careers. Aimée Eubanks Davis, founder and CEO of Braven, says the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on low-income and minority communities has also laid bare inequities in the education-to-workforce ecosystem. It’s time, she says, to level the playing field so all college graduates can secure strong first jobs that lead to long-term career success.
Rhode Island has improved the lives and livelihoods of its residents by combining classroom education with hands-on, work-based learning. But what happens when businesses are shuttered and students must learn at a distance? Meghan Hughes, president of the Community College of Rhode Island, says the COVID-19 pandemic is actually a great opportunity for her school and its students to demonstrate how they can adapt in trying times.
Strada podcast explores economic, educational impacts of COVID-19
How do we make sense of higher education and its relationship to the economy in the midst of a pandemic that changed the world overnight? Normally, when the economy is down, you go back to school, says Tony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. But what’s your strategy if that’s not a great option right now? Carnevale explains why this economic crisis is different, who’s most at risk, and what it means for post-high school education and training.
In challenging times, the need to forge pathways to opportunity is greater than ever. We’ve created the Strada Resource Center to inform and empower educators, employers, policymakers, and others seeking to respond to COVID-19.
Interviews spotlight efforts to improve the education-workforce ecosystem
How can we find better ways to measure and value the job skills possessed by Americans who don’t have a traditional college degree? Byron Auguste, a former White House economic adviser and current CEO at Opportunity@Work, says screening out job applicants who can’t check the degree box eliminates opportunity for millions of people who already have what it takes to do a great job.
What can employers do to prepare today’s workers for the jobs of tomorrow? Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health and a former leader in the California Community College system, talks about how employers, labor unions, and educators can work together to help workers learn what they need to get better jobs. Education is not a one-time inoculation to prepare people for a lifetime of work, she says. Frequent booster shots are needed throughout our careers.