Career Cluster Appendix — from gettingsmart.com
New technology, global challenges and initiatives point to new pathways and new opportunities in our economies career clusters. The following resources highlight exemplars, entrepreneurial opportunities and high schools who are leading the way in pathway development and implementation.
3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
California’s first graduate program in prison faces an uncertain future — from opencampusmedia.org by Charlotte West
Access to graduate programs inside is becoming increasingly important as the number of bachelor’s programs in prison grows with the return last year of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students. Since the first incarcerated bachelor’s graduates got their degrees from California State University Los Angeles at the state prison in Lancaster in 2021, California prisons now offer 11 bachelor’s programs, with two more starting next year.
Several of those Cal State LA grads continued on to the master’s program, which is open to students across California’s 34 prisons. It’s part of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation commitment to offering education “from grade school to grad school.” Research shows that the higher the level of education someone achieves in prison, the less likely they are to return to prison once they are released and the more likely they are to find a job.
Lawsuit claims disabled young people in Illinois prisons were denied special education for years — from opencampusmedia.org by Charlotte West; also here at WBEZ.org
A new lawsuit claims Illinois has been violating state and federal law for nearly two decades by failing to provide special education services to young people locked up in adult prisons.
The federal lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Corrections, the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice and the Illinois State Board of Education was filed at the end of last month. On Wednesday, plaintiffs filed a motion seeking to make the case a class action lawsuit. Attorneys estimate the suit could affect hundreds of individuals currently in custody.
Lawsuits claim Black students in Northwestern’s prison education program were unjustly disciplined — from wbez.org
The men claim their efforts to prevent educators from being harassed inside were labeled as gang activity by prison officials.
A pair of federal lawsuits claim the Illinois Department of Corrections unjustly disciplined two Black students in Northwestern University’s prison education program because the students worked together to prevent university staff from harassment during their visits to the prison. Corrections officials deemed the coordinated effort to “stop problems” gang-related activity, according to the federal complaints.
The lawsuits were filed Wednesday morning. The plaintiffs, LeShun Smith and Brian McClendon, allege they were denied due process and targeted because of their race, violating their constitutional rights and effectively ending their education, said their attorney, Alan Mills.
How Workers Rise — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
A look forward at skills-based hiring and AI’s impacts on education and work.
Impacts of AI: Fuller is optimistic about companies making serious progress on skills-based hiring over the next five to 10 years. AI will help drive that transformation, he says, by creating the data to better understand the skills associated with jobs.
The technology will allow for a more accurate matching of skills and experiences, says Fuller, and for companies to “not rely on proxies like degrees or grade point averages or even the proxy of what someone currently makes or how fast they’ve gotten promoted on their résumé.”
Change is coming soon, Fuller predicts, particularly as AI’s impacts accelerate. And the disruption will affect wealthier Americans who’ve been spared during previous shifts in the labor market.
The Kicker: “When people in bedroom suburbs are losing their six-figure jobs, that changes politics,” Fuller says. “That changes the way people are viewing things like equity and where that leads. It’s certainly going to put a lot of pressure on the way the system has worked.”
The Evolution of Collaboration: Unveiling the EDUCAUSE Corporate Engagement Program — from er.educause.edu
The program is designed to strengthen the collaboration between private industry and higher education institutions—and evolve the higher education technology market. The new program will do so by taking the following actions:
- Giving higher education professionals better access to corporate thought leaders who can help create change at their institutions
- Educating corporate partners on the nuances of higher education and the major challenges it faces so that they can help provide meaningful solutions
- Giving the EDUCAUSE staff and leadership better access to corporate change-makers in order to advocate for change on behalf of our institutional community
- Providing the institutional community with higher-quality content and services from companies that are deeply invested in the success of higher education
- Providing the corporate community with custom-built packages that allow more meaningful connections with the institutional community—not only at our in-person events but also through online opportunities year-round
By building better bridges between our corporate and institutional communities, we can help accelerate our shared mission of furthering the promise of higher education.
Speaking of collaborations, also see:
Could the U.S. become an “Apprentice Nation?” — from Michael B. Horn and Ryan Craig
Intermediaries do the heavy lifting for the employers.
Bottom line: As I discussed with Michael later in the show, we already have the varied system that Leonhardt imagines—it’s just that it’s often by chaos and neglect. Just like we didn’t say to 8th graders a century ago, “go find your own high school,” we need to design a post-high school system with clear and well-designed pathways that include:
- Apprenticeships outside of the building trades so students can learn a variety of jobs by doing the job.
- Short-term certificates that lead to jobs without necessarily having the college degree immediately, but having the option to return for a college degree later on.
- Transfer pathways where credits earned in high school really count in college and the move from two-year college to any four-year institution is seamless.
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