Lessons Earned

When Zaldwaynaka (“Z”) Scott became president of Chicago State University in 2018, things were in pretty dire straits: the state budget had been slashed, operations rolled back, and they had gone years without permanent leadership. A mere four years later, things look very different and CSU is now in the top 4% of universities nationally for supporting students’ economic mobility. She explains how she turned things around and why, as she likes to say, “a strong Chicago State … is a strong United States.”

Millie Garcia understands the needs of first-generation college students because she was one. Now, as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, Millie advocates for students just like herself – a group she calls "the new majority" (low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color). She shares what she’s learned about the importance of diversifying higher ed, from students and faculty to the highest leadership positions on campus.

Americans are quitting their jobs at unprecedented rates, leaving millions of job openings and no one to fill them. The Great Resignation is likely motivated, at least in part, by the pandemic. But this trend speaks to a broader disconnect between employer needs and employee wants — a trend that’s been worsening for years now. Michele Chang, from the U.S. Department of Commerce, explains what the federal government is doing to help workers and employers address this.

Is the so-called “student debt crisis” really a crisis? Author Beth Akers brings an economist’s view of the ROI on education and says, on average, college is still worth the price — if you do it right.

A college or university can be deemed a "Hispanic Serving Institution" if at least a quarter of its students are Latino. But Deborah Santiago, co-founder and CEO of Excelencia in Education, says serving Latino students is about more than just enrolling them. It’s about supporting their journey through college graduation and into the workforce. We talk to Deborah about the Seal of Excelencia, and along the way, we learn about her own journey as a military brat and first-generation college student.

Most people agree we need to improve economic mobility in this country. How to do that is another question entirely. Join Strada Education Network’s Ruth Watkins as she talks to educators, employers, and innovators about their best ideas for the future of education and work.

Growing up in San Francisco, Ebony Beckwith attended an academically selective high school where most of her classmates were university-bound. She opted for a different path, heading directly into the workforce while winding through several community colleges before realizing she needed that four-year degree to reach her career goals. Today, Beckwith is chief philanthropy officer and CEO of the Salesforce Foundation where she leads a global team and directs hundreds of millions of dollars in grants focused on education and workforce development. It’s time, she says, to reimagine education so it serves the lifelong learner and embraces multiple pathways between learning and working.

Gerald Chertavian believes every young adult has potential and deserves a clear pathway to a great career, whether through college or directly into the workforce. And as founder and CEO of Year Up, he’s proving that with the appropriate training and employer support, it can take as little as one year for “opportunity youth” — 16- to 24-year-olds who are neither working nor in school — to move from poverty to a well-paid, in-demand career, often with a Fortune 500 company.

There’s no shortage of big, ambitious ideas for creating an education-workforce system that improves upward mobility for more people. Harvard education economist David Deming uses hard data to stress test those ideas and see what might work, and what probably won’t. We talk to him about what he’s learning and what he recommends we do right now to improve the value of education for an increasingly diverse workforce.