Traditional degrees may not be as appealing to some students as they previously were. Many colleges and universities are trying to incorporate non-credit learning into their courses, create micro-credentials, and leverage the growing educational technology market to offer alternatives that match the evolving job market.
The Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) vision is that every young person is prepared for future success. Its mission: To empower young people with the skills and support to succeed in education, employment, and life.
JAG graduates are 230 percent more likely to be employed full-time compared to their peers, and twice as likely to go to college, according to Kenneth M. Smith, President and CEO of Jobs for America’s Graduates Inc. (JAG), who recently spoke at Fierce Education’s virtual event Higher Education: Business and Leadership - Summer Edition. The sessions are now available on-demand here.
Serving almost 80,000 young people annually, in close to 1,550 high schools, middle schools, and out-of-school programs in 39 states, JAG is the United States’ largest, most consistently applied model of high school retention and school-to-career transition for high-risk young people. “If you think it’s challenging to prepare students for the workforce, it’s going to get more challenging,” said Smith at the start of his keynote address which was about how to be well prepared, as an institution, for the next generation.
Challenges and opportunities ahead for higher education
The next generation seems to be broken. According to CDC reports, in the United States, fully 45 percent of all teenagers are so sad or despondent that they are unable to do daily tasks such as getting out of bed in the morning, getting dressed, going to school, or doing homework. “There is a dramatic decline in K-12 student engagement, motivation, and basic hope for the future,” says Smith. The latest national test scores show the lowest scores in math and language since the early 1970s.
As per statistics, teenagers in general, and girls in particular, say they feel a great sense of “not belonging” to their families, schools, friends, or anyone else, with an alarming high percentage of teenage girls who have either considered or have a plan to commit suicide. “Probably the most concerning statistic is that 57 percent of teenage girls say they are sometimes or always depressed, and/or feeling a great sense of depression. Half of those, 37 percent, say they contemplated or are contemplating committing suicide,” says Smith.
To make matters worse, addiction to opioids and the use of fentanyl and other narcotics are creating conditions of a future generation that lacks normal mental capacity and other capabilities coming to post-secondary education. In a nutshell, “the post-secondary system is about to be confronted with more youth and young adults than ever who have huge issues that we need to respond to if we have any chance of success,” says Smith.
In order to tackle these problems, JAG will further test a Post-secondary Intervention Model as a new source of assistance; this is to be offered to the most challenged post-secondary populations. JAG plans on helping students secure a credential that matters in their community to provide confidence in their ability to achieve and see the reward of better jobs.
In addition, JAG’s response includes expanding dual enrollment in order to give confidence and comfort that students can, indeed, succeed in post-secondary education and get ahead in their credential goals. “The core element of the program we offer mostly in high schools but also in middle schools is to help young people master 37 employability confidences, confidences that those 19,000 employers tell us are the ones that they most want and need to assure a successful employee,” Smith said.
Furthermore, JAG is expanding student engagement activities with communities, employers, and other youth and young adults through enhanced JAG Career Association youth engagement and leadership opportunities. “Student engagement is really important,” said Smith.
As the next generation of students enroll in higher education, there are some paramount considerations that institutions will have to consider, including the following:
- Technology enhances education, it doesn’t replace personal, sustained human attention to motivate and engage the most challenged youth to complete their credentials.
- Engagement is utterly important. Ensuring they join a student organization of some sort is critical as well as one-on-one contact with their peers and/or career guidance staff. They need a sense of belonging, hope, and purpose for the future.
- Online classes are great. Yet, they don’t totally work for many. Offering some at least some hybrid form of on-campus or in-person learning experiences becomes crucial to engage and motivate these youth.
- Offering a sense of real hope and opportunity cannot be stressed enough. This will enable students to overcome the many issues in their lives and successfully participate in post-secondary education.
- There is a need for a pool of resources to solve day-to-day problems preventing students from completing their education including transportation, food, housing, clothes as well as help completing applications and other requirements for government benefits.
- Some may need help to be connected to some kind of work while enrolled as an important source of income.
- Last but not least, for those affected by substance abuse and/or addiction, it is important to provide extra support and services.
A rather important message Kenneth Smith tried to get across during the entire session was: “Find a way to make them feel that they belong to something in your institution. If they don’t feel they belong to your institution, they are not going to stay.”
For other articles on Fierce Education’s virtual event, see: