Olympia Business Watch

On the Merits of Shop Class

What sort of notion gets a favorable nod from such seemingly distant corners of the universe as the Washington State Labor Council and the National Association of Manufacturers?  Mention of a new book by philosopher and motorcycle repair shop owner Matthew Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work. KPLU's Bellamy Pailthorp has an audio blurb on it this morning, described thusly:

Mastery of a blue collar craft can provide a livelihood that not only pays well, but also challenges the intellect. And it's work that can't be outsourced. Yet schools today still try to steer everyone toward college. A new book seeks to restore the honor of the manual trades as a life worth choosing. It's called "Shop Class as Soulcraft" and its author, Matthew B. Crawford, holds a PhD in Philosophy - but has chosen to work most of his days getting his hands dirty.

AWB's Don Brunell has written about this topic in Washington, most recently here and here.  It's very interesting. Your undersigned has a degree in philosophy, and a law degree -- but can barely change the oil or assemble pre-fabricated furniture. I didn't take any shop classes but the older I get the more I wish I had.

New ad campaign reminds viewers why workplace safety matters

The AWB is co-sponsoring a new advertising campaign aimed at raising awareness about workplace safety, an issue that takes on particular importance during an economic recession.

The centerpiece ad, called "Homecomings," shows several people coming from home from work to their families while one boy waits nervously for his dad to pull into the driveway.

It concludes with the reminder that on average two people die per week in Washington from on-the-job injuries and illnesses. Viewers are directed to the state Department of Labor and Industries Web site for resources for making workplaces safer.

"These ads are particularly effective at bringing home the importance of safety in the workplace and the effects it can have on so many people," said AWB President Don Brunell. "When an accident happens at work, it affects everyone - family, friends and co-workers."

Jobless rate nears 10 percent

More angst for the economic mill in Washington state this morning.

According to the Employment Security Department, Washington's jobless rate climbed to 9.2 percent in March, up from the revised 8.3 percent reported in February. By comparison, Oregon's rate jumped to 12.1 percent in March.

Among the ESD's findings:

• An estimated 344,069 people (not seasonally adjusted) in Washington were unemployed and looking for work in March.
• The state lost an estimated 20,000 non-agricultural jobs last month, seasonally adjusted. 
• The state lost 99,100 jobs from March 2008 to March 2009, a 3.3 percent decrease.
• Only the education and health-services sector (up 1.3 percent) and government services (up 0.8 percent) added jobs in the past 12 months.
• Nationally, employment declined by 3.5 percent over the past year.

Despite the sour news, some companies are finding ways to cut costs and keep the doors open without layoffs. The upcoming spring issue of Washington Business magazine will examine some of these companies and find out how they're making ends meet in this tough economy.

Good news, bad news for community/technical colleges

The headline in the Bellingham Herald, "Bad economy has been a boon for 2-year colleges," is a little misleading. Yes, the presidents of Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College report growth in enrollments of more than 8 percent. According to the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; 

Much of the growth has been attributed to the troubled economy.

Historically, during economic downturns, college enrollments go up as students turn to community and technical colleges for training and retraining to compete for limited job openings. The system is hoping the Legislature will find ways to fund CTCs so they can keep serving more students.

However, this growth is nearly unprecedented:

“We haven’t seen enrollment growth like this since the 1970s,” said Loretta Seppanen, director of research and analysis for the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC). “And the growth is in all areas—recent high school graduates, transfer students, worker retraining, basic skills, professional technical, working adults—it really speaks to the diversity of CTCs.”

Here is the part that the Herald's headline did not address: because of the state's $5.8 or $6.2 billion deficit, community colleges are having to find millions of dollars in their budgets to cut in order to fill the hole. I am sure that there are some soft spots in some colleges' budgets and at a time like this, everyone should have to put a little skin in the game. But it is important to remember a key function of community and technical colleges: worker retraining.

Unfortunately, the people who are enrolling in community and technical college classes now are doing so to learn new skills or upgrade their current skills. These are the people that will help make our companies more competitive and help lead us out of the current recession. Sadly, they are also the most at risk for not being able to find slots at these schools due to the budget cuts. Hopefully, lawmakers will make accommodations for this segment of the CTC population during budget discussions.

Skills2Compete Washington seeks support for middle-skill jobs

Aircraft machinists, carpenters, dental hygienists, computer support technicians.

What do all of these jobs have in common?

All are considered “middle-skill jobs” requiring more than a high-school diploma but less than a four-year degree. They make up the largest portion of Washington state’s labor market, yet are consistently overlooked when it comes to policy and funding for education and training.

According to Kris Stadelman, CEO of the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, there is a wide range of middle and technical skills that provide for family self-sufficiency. "If we want to meet the needs of our economy, we need to build these skills,” he said. 

 

A new campaign called Skills2Compete seeks to bring these jobs to the forefront. The Workforce Development Council is leading Skills2Compete Washington in partnership with The Workforce Alliance, a national group. This past summer, the two published a report called Washington's Forgotten Middle-Skills Jobs that demonstrate the cost of ignoring these crucial positions. More employers are having trouble filling jobs at the middle-skill level than at the high-skill level. Meanwhile, workers and youth are unaware of these jobs or unable to access training for the skills required. 

“The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County is leading this campaign here in Washington because we believe that skills, not just education, are the key to a strong economy and prosperity for every resident, in every part of the state,” said Stadelman.

Skills2Compete is a call to action for policymakers, employers, educators, unions and others to support pathways to middle-skill jobs and strengthen this crucial area of our economy.  To add your voice or your company's voice to the campaign, visit Skills2Compete online.

Mathematics and Girls: Solving for XX

When it comes to girls and mathematics, American attitudes are eroding any interest among young females in the subject. The notion that math is "uncool" is hurting the intellectual prospects for the country in an increasingly "flat" world.

That's the conclusion of a study released today by Janet Mertz, a University of Wisconsin-Madison oncology professor who examined data from international math competitions dating back to 1974. Her study also looked at surveys of U.S. students.

"We are wasting this valuable resource," Mertz said. "Girls can excel in math at the very highest level. There are some truly phenomenal women mathematicians out there."

The study looked at how many women faculty members there are in five top U.S. research university mathematics departments. Just 20 percent of them were born in the United States. The study also looked at test scores that show that in elementary school girls do as well or better in math than boys. These begin to lag in the middle school years and the gap widens greatly between girls and boys in high school.

Mertz' research comes at an interesting moment in time, when many of the faces on TV today talking about the financial crisis are, in fact, women. Maria Bartiromo and Jean Chatzky are just two names that come to mind. And Danica McKellar of "Wonder Years" and "West Wing" fame is doing her best to counter the stereotype with her own pro-math books and Web site for girls, www.mathdoesntsuck.com.

Additionally, the report suggests that the economic well-being of the U.S. is at risk, and that measures must be taken now to address the problem. Mertz and her colleagues suggest a good first step might include implementing the recommendations of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel and fully funding the America COMPETES, "10,000 Teachers, 10 Million Minds" and Sowing the Seeds through Science and Engineering Research Acts already passed by the U.S. Congress.

AWB's membership is also populated with many, many smart, professional women who are, indeed,  talented at mathematics. So is this a mass media issue? A cultural issue? All of the above?

What can business do to help dispel the myth among girls and young women about mathematics not being cool?

Meeting High Math Standards Has Real Consequences

Rosemary Bresler makes a strong case for high math standards in The News Tribune. Rosemary is the president of Hobart Machined Products, Inc. and co-chairwoman of AWB's Education and Training Committee. The state board of education has proposed higher math standards for high school graduates beginning in 2013, Bresler reports. And she says folks already want to weaken them. It doesn't work for firms like hers.

We provide design, precision machining and fabrication services to customers in the medical, defense, aerospace and space sectors. ...

These days our competitors are as likely to come from China or Korea as they are to be from California or Kentucky. It’s tough to compete with them on price. But we can be very competitive on the basis of quality, efficiency, innovation and service.

These things matter when you’re talking about the safety of an airplane or functionality of a satellite. They matter when you’re talking about tooling tolerances of less than 0.0005 of an inch, or successfully melding metal and composite materials.

The only way we can deliver that type of quality is through the skills of our employees.

She urges the public to support the board's call for higher standards.

Not because companies like ours need educated and highly skilled workers. But because it is our obligation to prepare students to compete for family-wage jobs and be functioning, contributing members of society.

Read the whole thing. It's an excellent demonstration of the practical consequences of setting and meeting realistic standards in a globally competitive marketplace.

WEA Responds, Poorly, to NMSI

By now, everyone here knows that Washington was the only state to miss out on $13.2 million dollars in grant money from the National Math and Science Institute. (We posted on it here and here.) The teachers' union, appropriately, took some tough hits in the media, with my favorite shot being the Columbian's suggestion that they take the E out of WEA.

WEA president, Mary Lindquist wrote a response letter to the NMSI. It calls to mind the old literary line, "'Shut up,' he explained.

 

WASL Results Get Editorial Praise

As we noted last week, this year's senior class erased a lot of concern about whether the reading and writing WASL standards posed a prohibitive hurdle to graduation. And the editorial pages reflect the relief.

The Spokesman-Review:

Terry Bergeson is rightly proud because the Class of 2008, which is the first to have to meet WASL standards, has shown that students are capable of succeeding when faced with higher goals. That, in turn, means their diplomas are more meaningful to them and potential employers.

The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin:

The high expectations put on the Class of 2008 when education reform was enacted have essentially been met. As the bar is raised higher in the coming years, we expect future classes will meet those expectations.

Our children should never be underestimated. When we expect great things of them, when we hold them to high standards, they usually deliver.

The News Tribune:

So yes, let’s call the first for-real WASL results pretty good. They could be better, and they don’t include math. But 90 percent in reading and writing – a number that will improve before it becomes final – isn’t bad at all.

And give John Laird of the Columbian the last word (h/t Mark Funk):

As founder of Fathers Against Mothers Against WASL, I hereby announce the following FAMAWASL resolution:

“Be it known, that if my kid cannot pass (with multiple retakes, multiple alternative assessments and multiple remediation programs) a test that 91 percent of his classmates passed, I don’t think I’ll be blaming the test.”

90 Percent Meet Reading and Writing Standards ...

Yesterday the Superintendent of Public Instruction announced that 90 percent of this year's high school seniors passed the state's reading and writing standards. That clearly good news, properly celebrated by Terry Bergeson, parents and teachers. Here's Bergeson from the OSPI press release.

"This is a moment we’ve been waiting to celebrate for more than a decade," she said. "Washington’s educators have spent so much time making sure every student is well prepared for college, careers and citizenship, and these results show that hard work has paid off.

And she underscores the key point.

"For the first time ever, we know that the students leaving our high schools have the reading and writing skills they need to succeed in their lives, no matter what paths they choose."

Nothing up yet on the WEA website, but the Seattle PI suggests union critics of the WASL aren't happy.

"There are a huge number of kids who are missing," said Shannon Rasmussen, president of the Federal Way Education Association and the head of a task force that studies education reform. "The presentation today hasn't eased our concerns."

Her gripe is with the exclusion of students who dropped out or were reclassified in other grades. Well, the test is designed to assure that those who graduate have the appropriate skill set. Students who've dropped out (I guess that makes them former students) or are still in school because they've fallen behind would seem to be appropriately excluded.

The Spokesman-Review quotes Bergeson-challenger Randy Dorn, who makes a different point.

"When you have one out of 10 kids not passing, I don't see that as something to celebrate," said Randy Dorn, a former principal and state legislator and current director of the Public School Employees of Washington, who is running against Bergeson.

Sure, you'd like to see everyone met the standards. I'm guessing that unless there are consequences for failure, the motivation to succeed just won't be there for everyone. The students who didn't pass have options (scroll down).

Other stories in the Seattle Times, along with a good editorial, and The News Tribune carries the AP story.

Update Bruce Ramsey provides the graduation rate details in his Seattle Times blog.