Transcript Learning Outcomes for Work, Life and Citizenship: What All Students Need for Meaningful Opportunity and Success H.

Learning Outcomes for Work, Life and Citizenship:
What All Students Need for Meaningful Opportunity
and Success
H. Kent Weldon Annual Conference for Higher
Education
Debra Humphreys
Association of American Colleges & Universities
[email protected]
www.aacu.org
“A COLLABORATION AMONG EDUCATORS, STUDENTS,
POLICYMAKERS, AND EMPLOYERS”
It is my wish that this
be the most educated
country in the world,
and toward that end I
hereby ordain that each
and every one of my
people be given a
diploma.
The World is Demanding More
There is a demand for more numbers
of college educated workers.
There is also a demand that those
educated workers and citizens have
higher levels of learning and
knowledge, and some new and
different skills and abilities.
Increasing Demand for Educated Workforce
Note: Brown indicates jobs requiring high school or less and Blue indicates jobs requiring some college or
more. Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
The Growing Demand for Higher Order Skills
Source: Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index
Employer Perspective
“my company lives and dies on our ability to
innovate and to create the new products and
processes that give us an edge in this very
competitive global economy. ESCO needs people
who have both a command of certain specific skills
and robust problem-solving and communication
skills.”
Steven Pratt, CEO, ESCO Corp. and
Chair of the Oregon Business
Council
7
Narrow Learning is Not Enough
The LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes
 Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Focused on engagement with big questions, enduring and contemporary
 Intellectual and Practical Skills
Practiced extensively across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more
challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance
 Personal and Social Responsibility
Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world
challenges
 Integrative Learning
Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to
new settings and complex problems
National Surveys of Employers on College
Learning and Graduates’ Work Readiness
AAC&U commissioned Hart Research Associates (in 2006, 2007, and in late 2009) to
interview employers (C-level suite executives and, in 2009 additional human
resource professionals) whose companies report that hiring relatively large numbers
of college graduates
Findings are summarized in the following reports:
How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global
Economy? (AAC&U, 2007)
How Should Colleges Assess and Improve Student Learning? Employers’
Views on the Accountability Challenge (AAC&U, 2008)
Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the
Economic Downturn (AAC&U, 2010)
See: www.aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research
Peter D
HART
RESEARCH
A S SOC I A T ES
Raising The Bar
Employers’ Views On College Learning
In The Wake Of The Economic Downturn
Key findings from survey among 302 employers
Conducted October 27 – November 17, 2009
for
2009 AAC&U Survey Methodology
Survey
among 302 executives at private sector
and non-profit organizations that have 25 or more
employees
Each
reports that 25% or more of their new hires
hold an associate’s degree from a two-year college
or a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college.
Overall
margin of error = +5.7 percentage points
Source: Raising the Bar (AAC&U, 2010)
Employers’ Expectations of
Employees Have Increased
% who agree with each statement
Our company is asking employees to take on more responsibilities
and to use a broader set of skills than in the past
91%
Employees are expected to work harder to coordinate with other
departments than in the past
90%
The challenges employees face within our company are more
complex today than they were in the past
88%
To succeed in our company, employees need higher levels of learning
and knowledge today than they did in the past
88%
How good a job are our
colleges/universities doing in preparing
students effectively for the challenges of
today’s global economy?
Doing good job
Two-year
colleges and
universities
Four-year
colleges and
universities
Some improvement needed
Significant improvement needed
26%
20%
40%
60%
28%
19%
49%
68%
Employers’ Top Priorities For Student
Learning Outcomes In College
% saying two- and four-year colleges should place MORE emphasis on
helping students develop these skills, qualities, capabilities, knowledge
Effective oral/written
communication
89%
Critical thinking/
analytical reasoning
Knowledge/skills applied
to real world settings
Analyze/solve complex
problems
Connect choices and
actions to ethical
decisions
Teamwork skills/ ability
to collaborate
Ability to innovate and
be creative
Concepts/developments in
science/technology
81%
79%
75%
75%
71%
70%
70%
Key Capabilities Open the Door for
Career Success and Earnings
“Irrespective of college major or
institutional selectivity, what matters
to career success is students’
development of a broad set of
cross-cutting capacities…”
Anthony Carnevale, Georgetown University
Center on Education and the Workforce
Emerging Consensus on Outcomes—
Getting Serious About Defining and
Delivering on the Outcomes
• LEAP—Essential Learning Outcomes and National
Report
• The Lumina Degree Profile—defines areas of learning
and key reference points for achievement at different
levels
• LEAP States—WI Growth Agenda Shared Learning
Goals, Utah 2020
• Individual LEAP Schools—IUPUI Principles of
Undergraduate Learning, IPFW Framework for BA
Degree, Miami-Dade Learning Outcomes Covenant,
Wagner Plan for Practical Liberal Arts
Across all These Outcome Frameworks—in
LEAP States and Institutions
• Focus on both disciplinary and cross-cutting outcomes
• Focus on integration and coherence of curricular design
and delivery (incl. faculty development, gen ed/majors,
advising, support)
• Focus on high-impact educational practices that
increase engagement, application, integration—and
result in learning and higher rates of completion
• Focus on assessments that develop competence and
are based on signature milestone performances that
demonstrate ability to apply learning
“In a world of relentless
change, all students need the
kind of education that leads
them to ask not just ‘how do we
get this done?’ but also ‘what is
most worth doing?’”
www.aacu.org/leap
[email protected]