NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Relase
Contact: Nick Lorenzen, 781-348-4239
New Report Reveals Need to Transform Education in New England
Research points to significant
changes necessary to improve
education and increase the number
of skilled workers across the region
Quincy, MA - At a time of historic economic uncertainty, a new Nellie Mae Education Foundation report finds that in order for New Englanders to prosper in a rapidly changing economy and society, there will need to be a change in the way all of the region’s citizens are educated.
The report, What It Takes to Succeed in the 21st Century—and How New Englanders Are Faring, reveals that the region’s economy is becoming increasingly knowledge-based. For New Englanders, 21st Century success will depend on more people developing skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication, teamwork, and the use of modern technologies.
This need for more people with new skills comes at a time, however, when the region’s population growth is slow and concentrated in populations that have not been well served historically by educational and economic institutions. The report emphasizes the importance of overcoming the gaps in educational opportunity that exist for many of these fast-growing segments of the population, and it concludes that in order to do so, we will need to see dramatic changes that challenge fundamental assumptions around education.
What It Takes to Succeed in the 21st Century recommends:
· Creating a more varied range of new schools, learning approaches, programs, and supports, both inside and outside traditional school buildings and time constraints; and
· Creating and nurturing transparent, high-quality pathways to postsecondary readiness and success, especially in urban areas where many adolescents are disengaging early from their educational experiences.
To achieve its recommendations, the report calls on New England’s educational, civic, and political leaders to forge a multidimensional strategy to drive dramatic improvement in student preparedness for 21st Century success. That strategy would include a combination of messaging about the challenges we face; improvements and innovation in practice that can help more underprepared youth and adults advance and succeed; and policy changes that can accelerate and sustain the spread of more effective and diverse learning opportunities and outcomes.
“As this research shows, in order to ensure our region’s economic and civic health, we need to revisit some fundamental assumptions regarding what people learn, and how, when, and where they learn it,” said Nicholas C. Donohue, President and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. “Everyone - especially populations that have traditionally not been served well by public education - needs access to a variety of high-quality learning opportunities beginning at a very young age and continuing throughout their entire life.”
“Our region’s educational institutions must be both supported and prodded to do a better job of reaching and teaching all learners,” added Richard Kazis of Jobs for the Future, one of the report’s co-authors. “Philanthropy, too, can play an important role in helping to build and sustain practice, policy, and the public will for dramatic improvement in 21st Century readiness for many more low-income New England residents.”
What It Takes to Succeed in the 21st Century provides an array of data supporting its claim that what is expected of learners needs to change. Among the report’s compelling points:
· Over the next decade, jobs requiring some sort of postsecondary training will comprise the largest part of New England’s job base.
· The economy in New England, especially southern New England, and is becoming increasingly knowledge-based. Nationwide, five of the ten fastest-growing jobs require a Bachelor’s degree; in Massachusetts, eight of those jobs do.
· Success increasingly depends on some postsecondary education. The two-year degree is both an important threshold to the learner and a signal of job readiness to employers.
· Appearing on the educational landscape are the necessary multiple pathways to a variety of postsecondary options, along with more fluid and flexible expectations regarding educational completion.
The report also points out the need to improve educational opportunity for all students across the region:
· A significant number of New England’s young people start out at risk: 18 percent of Maine children live in poverty. In Rhode Island, 26 percent of black and Hispanic children are in poverty, compared to 7.8 percent of white children.
· With the exception of Vermont, New England’s young children have limited access to early childhood education and care. Nationally 22 percent of children are enrolled in a state-funded pre-K program compared to 16 percent in Maine and Connecticut and 10 percent in Massachusetts; neither New Hampshire nor Rhode Island offer any such programs.
· Nearly a quarter of New England children are unsupervised after school.
· The vast majority of New England adults who lack the basic skills to advance in careers and education are not connected with adult education.
· While ranking high in Bachelor’s degree attainment, the region’s Associate’s degree attainment is weak and college participation is low among low-income and minority students.
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation is the largest charitable organization in New England that focuses exclusively on education. The Foundation supports the promotion and integration of student-centered approaches to learning at the middle and high school levels across New England. To elevate student-centered approaches, the Foundation utilizes a three-part strategy that focuses on: developing and enhancing models of practice; reshaping education policies; and increasing public understanding and demand for high quality educational experiences. The Foundation’s new initiative areas are: District Level Systems Change; State Level Systems Change; Research and Development; and Public Understanding. Since 1998, the Foundation has distributed over $110 million in grants.
Through research, analysis, action, and advocacy, Jobs for the Future develops promising education and labor market models, expands successful models in communities across the country, and shapes the policy environment that enables American families and companies to compete in a global economy. For more information, visit www.jff.org
