Browsing Category
Opinion
32 posts
College career services are ailing—networks are the cure
To be engines of economic mobility, colleges need to focus less on providing basic job information and more on helping students build professional networks, writes Julia Freeland Fisher of the Clayton Christensen Institute.
May 31, 2023
We must remove unnecessary barriers to cybersecurity careers—our nation’s welfare depends on it
The cybersecurity field can—and should—be a first mover toward skills-based hiring, write Tom Monahan, president of DeVry University, and Lydia Smyers, vice president of U.S. Education at Microsoft.
May 10, 2023
The key to better education and career decisions? Work experience—in high school
Fewer and fewer teens hold jobs—but having early work experience is crucial for making good decisions about education and career. State and regional leaders need to step up with work-based learning programs that fill the gap, writes Julie Lammers of ASA.
May 3, 2023
Our old way of training Americans for ‘good jobs’ is past its sell-by date
We’re at a pivot point in education and workforce development. Employers in the U.S. and its allies have an opportunity to accelerate their economies by collaborating to scale new pathways to prosperity. They need to seize that opportunity, writes JB Holston, former CEO of the Greater Washington Partnership.
March 28, 2023
There’s an ethical way to handle layoffs. Hint: It emphasizes learning and career mobility
Both the economy and uncertainty about it are running hot. Companies shouldn't wait until a crisis to start thinking about layoffs and how they might help employees land on their feet, writes Cat Ward of JFF.
March 22, 2023
Seizing the moment to address equity gaps in apprenticeships
Apprenticeships can help more Americans get on a path to economic security, write Cameron Johnson and Emily Andrews of CLASP. But to do so, the programs have to be designed for equity.
November 16, 2022
When it comes to young adults in apprenticeships, new federal data don’t tell the full story
Youth apprenticeships are growing, but federal data are too limited to tell us anything conclusive about the success of the model, writes Taylor White of New America. That's a problem.
September 21, 2022
Can campus connections drive economic mobility? Yes, but not with the ‘same old’ approach
Going to college isn't an automatic ticket to a stronger network, writes Julia Freeland Fisher, author of "Who You Know." Institutions have to design for it.
September 14, 2022
In debate over short-term Pell, we can’t ignore the labor market’s role
Labeling education programs that lead to low-wage jobs as “low-quality” obscures the true problem—a labor market failure, writes Michelle Van Noy, director of the Education and Employment Research Center at Rutgers.
July 21, 2022
Why a “college and” approach is necessary to rebuild the middle class
College can't be the only path to the middle class, writes Kate Naranjo of Opportunity@Work. And we've neglected to invest in other routes for far too long.
May 4, 2022