Thursday, February 26, 2009

Battening down the Education Hatches

Educational Testing Service has released its report "America's Perfect Storm," on the grim state of education in the U.S. Today I went to a conference at ETS , sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and other chambers, that explored survival tactics.

A couple of excerpted stats:

Elizabeth Maher Muoio of the Mercer County Office of Economic Development and Sustainability, quoted stats saying that a 10 percent increase in capital brings a 3.4 percent increase in productivity, a 10 percent increase in hours brings a 6.3 increase in productivity, but a 10 percent increase in education results in an 11 percent increase in productivity.

Edward Kurocka of Mercer County Workforce Investment Board and OnSight Advisors, quoted the equation "Ability plus motivation equals performance," and noted that if students don't have motivation, the results are zero.

Mark Schweiker, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia chamber, plumped for more emphasis on vocational training, not trying to shunt all the students into an academic track.

Kurocka said, afterward, that the real problem is guidance counselors who devote all their attention to the college bound. For more, see http://princetoncomment.blogspot.com

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Barbara, Thank You for attending the session and for making your comments and excerpts public--especially my favorite equation about performance! There is a slight error with it, however, because what I actually said was "Ability times (not plus) motivation equals performance." The point is, even if one's abilities are greater than zero, if they lack or have no motivation, then the result will be zero, also (any value times zero = zero).
Also, I'm not certain that I am the person who guidance counselors are focused mainly on students preparing for college, but that's okay, since it's what I would have said, anyway. Good luck, and best wishes.
Ed Kurocka

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