Attracting, Educating, and Empowering Workers

If American companies are to compete and win in a worldwide economy, they need well-educated and well-trained workers.

No one can outwork or out-think the American worker.  But if we are to remain competitive internationally, the best foundation for a competitive economy starts with an education and training system that gives American workers the skills they need for the jobs of the 21st Century.

• America needs to change the way that it trains, pays, and evaluates teachers. Pay for performance and incentive pay should be the rule.
• The bureaucratic culture that stifles learning in too many public schools should be replaced with a spirit of innovation through programs such as expanded learning time, early enrollment of high schoolers in college-level courses, online learning programs, and more charter schools.
• Education does not end upon graduation, and workers of all ages who receive ongoing training will be productive and successful
• We must support legislation that seeks to double the number of graduating  scientists and engineers within 10 years.

 

A guest on my radio show -- The Neal Asbury Show – had an interesting suggestion.  He suggested that it’s time to enact a new GI Bill to retrain workers and reestablish the importance of Intellectualism to help produce new ideas and inventions.  He sees the U.S. creating Google-ready jobs and training Google-ready workers. He contends that if we continue to follow a pattern where only 70 percent of high school students graduate, we will not be able to maintain our global leadership position in innovation and technology.

In addition America must have a comprehensive, rational, and balanced immigration policy that secures the borders, while welcoming legal immigrants who want to work towards the American dream and realistically addresses the undocumented workers already in the United States.

Immediate action is needed to address pressing visa shortages that are hurting businesses, especially in the H-1B high-skilled and the H-2B seasonal worker visa categories.  What is killing the skilled labor force is a trend of foreign workers receiving their education and training in the U.S. only to return to their own country, costing America precious intellectual capital.

Because no federal policy has been adopted, state and local governments are adopting hundreds of immigration rules and regulations that are often contradictory and impossible for businesses to comply with.

Sep 4, 2010 Educational Gaps Limit Brazil's Reach (New York Times) Brazil has already established itself as a global force, riding a commodity and domestic consumption boom to become one of the largest economies in the world. Haddad said.But those successes fall short of the urgent thrust for change that some education specialists were hoping to see from Mr. da...    more...  

Sep 4, 2010 Dudley, Kitzhaber maneuver on state employee pay issue (The Oregonian) The Salem-based union represents some 23,000 workers in state agencies and the higher education system. Both unions say they will make the governor's race a major priority, although it's still unclear how much they will spend.    more...  

Sep 3, 2010 Effects of state furlough vary from agency to agency (Lexington Herald-Leader) Also, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will have eight employees working Friday to allow racing to be held at Ellis Park in Henderson. Those include racing stewards, veterinarians and test barn staff, licensing staff and the supervisor of parimutuel wagering. Those employees will take...    more...  

Sep 3, 2010 Health insurance is taking a bigger bite from workers' wallets (The Kansas City Star) Total single coverage cost $5,049, up 5 percent. Since 2005, workers' contributions to premiums have jumped 47 percent -- about $1,300 -- while overall premiums rose 27 percent.    more...  

Sep 2, 2010 Portage adult education continuing to evolve (The Times) Earlier this month the Center for Workforce Innovations announced it would reopen 10 of the shuttered centers.    more...  

Sep 2, 2010 Report (The Times) ...-- VALPARAISO -- More than half the workers in Northwest Indiana need some type of work force development services, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center of Workforce Innovations. Speaking to more than 150 people at the Strongbow Inn, employees of the Center of Workforce...    more...  

Sep 2, 2010 A Celebratory Road Trip for Education Secretary (New York Times) Duncan’s tour, coinciding with back-to-school season, was billed as a way to honor teachers. Duncan, who played basketball professionally in Australia.Representative John Kline, Republican of Minnesota, the ranking minority member of the House Labor and Education Committee, said in an interview...    more...  

Aug 30, 2010 Christie fires education chief Schundler after U.S. aid mistake (The Philadelphia Inquirer) New Jersey was bumped out of contention by just three points. Schundler asks to return to the question later in the presentation, and his team members begin to look through large binders. In Washington, he said, Schundler "gave them the '08 and '09 numbers." After receiving the new information,...    more...  

Aug 30, 2010 Texas Education Commissioner leaves Washington without $830 million for education (Fort Worth Star-Telegram) Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, got a special Texas-only provision inserted into the bill that imposes stiffer requirements on how the state can spend the money. That means that distribution would be based on the percentage of poor students in districts. Under a Title I formula, Fort Worth would receive...    more...  

Aug 30, 2010 Wife of ex-Monroe County schools superintendent likely to plead guilty in theft (The Miami Herald) Randy Acevedo was convicted last year on three felony charges of official misconduct for covering up his wife's alleged theft. They did not stop until March 2, 2009, when then Finance Director Kathy Reichel went to Griffiths with concerns about Acevedo's expense reports. Reichel had already...    more...  

Aug 29, 2010 Keeping safe in the workplace (Albuquerque Journal) Rivkela Brodsky Aug. 29, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- For most of us, the workplace is a safe environment. He was speaking at a Family Violence in the Workplace training session for local businesses held this month at United Way for Central New Mexico. Paul Szych...    more...  

Aug 29, 2010 Companies seek to unshackle employee thinking to create solutions (Richmond Times-Dispatch) Changing your surroundings can spark new insights. Take a break: Abandoning the creative-thinking process for a short break can help when you return to considering a challenge or problem. For example, if you're confronting challenges in customer service, imagine what the ideal customer...    more...  

Aug 29, 2010 Military reservists in the workplace (The Virginian-Pilot) Moore has been in the reserves for 26 years. Moore said he informed the superintendent of the school system beforehand that he would be on military duty for an extended period, starting in late 2008. He said he was told an interim principal would be named until Moore returned. Moore was away for...    more...  

Aug 28, 2010 Longtime Ky. education expert Robert Sexton dies (Lexington Herald-Leader) This is a loss for the children, but it's also a loss for the kind of civility Bob projected. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University, and at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. He was founder and president of the Kentucky Center for Public Issues, and he...    more...  

Aug 28, 2010 Longtime Kentucky education expert Robert Sexton dies (Lexington Herald-Leader) This is a loss for the children, but it's also a loss for the kind of civility Bob projected. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University, and at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. He was founder and president of the Kentucky Center for Public Issues, and chaired...    more...  

Aug 27, 2010 N.J. governor sacks education chief over funding-application mistake (The Philadelphia Inquirer) New Jersey was bumped out of contention by just three points. Schundler asks to return to the question later in the presentation, and his team members begin to look through large binders. In Washington, he said, Schundler "gave them the '08 and '09 numbers."After receiving the new information,...    more...  

Aug 27, 2010 Candidates debate how to tame state pension plan (Star Tribune) Those figures do not include public workers in education or health care. The department did not have figures comparing wages for all public workers to their private sector counterparts. Horner said government should not "pull the rug out from under" older workers. The suit by some retirees...    more...  

Aug 26, 2010 Once called vo-tech schools, today's tech centers stress that they're not for underachievers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) Parkway West expects 562 students this year, compared with 605 in 2005. About 900 students attended. Mr. Herko said the robotics program at A.W. Beattie has sent three students to Carnegie Mellon University in recent years. Mr.    more...  

Aug 23, 2010 Where did the jobs go? Where will they come from? (Asbury Park Press) The manufacturing sector shed 152,463 workers, more than one-third of its labor force. Trilogy would like to hire, but it can't right now. The firm started in 2006 and quickly found success, growing to 18 employees. Sasso said if he had a credit line, he could order a new one to replace it and...    more...  

Aug 22, 2010 Obama's truce with teachers (Politico) The secretary will also drive through Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia. Teachers have long been among the foot soldiers of the Democratic Party. And how can we help?” “The best ideas in education are never going to...    more...