“The last study of on the job training in the United States I could find was done in 1999, so we need to really get our act together.” That blunt assessment from WorkforceRx guest Dr. Michael Kirst applies to many areas of post-secondary education -- even fast growing ones such as workplace learning -- that he examined as part of a new study co-authored with his Stanford University colleague Victor Chan called Broadening Our Perspective Concerning America's Education Attainment: Growth, Progress, and Data Gaps.

On a more positive note, the data that is available tells a story about American education that counters the prevailing view that there’s been a ‘learning recession’ in the U.S. over the past several decades. "When you put the whole system together and look at all of its components, you see not a picture of decline, but a picture of growing years of schooling and education," says Dr. Kirst, a professor emeritus of education and business administration at Stanford.

This enlightening conversation with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan also explores why years of schooling may predict productivity better than test scores, how AI could help students navigate the higher ed landscape and the case for building a K-14 public education system.

Mentioned in this episode:

Broadening Our Perspective Concerning America's Education Attainment

One in four young people in the U.S. experience a mental health condition or illness, but partly due to a shortage of trained child and adolescent mental health professionals, the majority will not receive the help they need. This leaves the door open for the unregulated offerings of AI platforms, an option that, according to a new study, 60% of middle school and high school students turn to when they feel sad, stressed, or lonely.

“The important takeaway is not that every use of AI is harmful, but that for someone who feels isolated or cannot access care, it may become a substitute for professional support,” says Dr. Zainab Okolo, senior vice president of Policy Advocacy and Government Relations at the JED Foundation, which conducted the research.

That’s why Dr. Okolo and her colleagues at JED are working with hundreds of schools and other organizations to build a coordinated system of supports for teens and young adults in an effort to protect their emotional health and prevent suicide. These “JED campuses” are trained to not only look for distress or crisis, but to create an environment in which mental health is considered a key marker in student success.

As we mark Suicide Prevention Month, join WorkforceRx host and Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan for an exploration of ways to grow and supplement the mental health care workforce and the other resources our young people need.

For More Information:

JED Foundation

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, registered healthcare apprenticeships are up 43% in the last five years as employers turn to “earn while you learn” models to fill staffing gaps that traditional degree pipelines aren't filling fast enough. On this episode of WorkforceRx, we're going to highlight an institution that's a great example of this trend by speaking with Michael Jones, Director of Workforce Development at University of California San Francisco Health, the second largest employer in the Bay Area. In that role, he’s led initiatives to prepare historically underrepresented communities for healthcare careers in partnership with employers, educators, and other stakeholders. "Business strategy does not have to be separate from community benefit and altruism. I think they're one and the same," he tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. Tune in to learn about Jones’ newest effort, a compressed radiology technologist program built with City College of San Francisco and GE Healthcare aimed at meeting growing demand for imaging as the state’s population ages. You’ll also hear why he thinks career pathways beat salary in recruitment, the different ways USCF Health supports incumbent employees and external community members joining the team, and how to make pathway programs sustainable at scale.

UCSF Health

"With red beans, you have to tend the pot. It's not an instant meal. It takes time and creativity to get it right, and then a great meal is something to be shared." That's how Louisiana's Commissioner of Higher Education Dr. Kim Hunter Reed describes the state’s approach to workforce development which includes inviting people to the table, listening carefully to identify needs, and working together on solutions. These efforts have taken on some urgency in the wake of recent multi-billion dollar investments in Louisiana by companies like Meta and Hyundai, and in trying to reach an ambitious goal of doubling the number of higher ed credentials awarded annually in the state by 2030. As Dr. Hunter Reed explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, increasing work-based learning opportunities, tapping the justice-impacted talent pool and a new financial aid program are all parts of the current strategy, but so is making the case for higher education in the first place. "As leaders and believers in this work, we have got to do a better job of sharpening our narrative, and defining and demonstrating value.” Tune in to hear how Louisiana is executing on a multi-pronged talent strategy to make sure its residents are prepared to meet the state’s skilled workforce needs now and in the future.

Mentioned in this episode: Louisiana Board of Regents

It would take a single primary care physician 26.7 hours per day to deliver all the recommended care for the patients that he or she is responsible for. That impossible math is the starting point for a major California Healthcare Foundation report examining why access to primary care keeps falling short, even in a state where nearly everyone has insurance. “In our culture we tend to look at the new and the shiny and the technological, so we're at this crossroads where primary care has been under-resourced,” says the report’s lead author, Dr. Diane Rittenhouse, a senior fellow at Mathematica and professor of Family Medicine and Health Policy at the University of California San Francisco.

While recruitment, retention, and training were identified as key issues to address, the role of payment to shape what’s possible in each of those categories stood out to researchers. "Practices hire the teams they can afford, not necessarily the teams that patients need, and training programs train for jobs that exist in the marketplace,” she tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan.

Beyond fixing the payment system, this revealing conversation also explores why practices of all types describe the same hiring struggle, what educators can do to build trust on care teams, and where AI fits into primary care's future.

Report On Strengthening California’s Primary Care Team Workforce

Many of the U.S. labor market challenges we discuss on WorkforceRx are shared by Canada, including the need for more skilled workers that are available, particularly in healthcare, skilled trades, and technology. We're going to take a look today at how the higher education sector in Canada is responding to these realities with the help of Carolyn Campbell, president and CEO of NorQuest College in Edmonton, Alberta which has developed a reputation for accessibility, innovation, and student success with enrollment growing and revenues up over fifty percent.

For Campbell, the key to success has been making inclusiveness a priority. And while she notes there has been a large increase in enrollments of indigenous people at the school in recent years, she takes a broad view of that term. “The way we think about inclusiveness is this is about everybody. Like, are high school students feeling more included at NorQuest? Are our students who have been in the workforce feeling like they would be included?”

In this revealing conversation with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, Campbell also explains the importance of staying aligned with labor market needs, providing wraparound student supports, and the surprising result of removing a $90 application fee.

NorQuest College

What if the daily commute in your car became one of the most productive parts of your day? Today’s WorkforceRx guest, Dr. Linda Ng Boyle of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, is going to help us understand how close we may be to that level of human-machine interaction and what it means for the future of work and mobility. “It's going to be a really dramatic shift for a lot of workers. As more driving responsibilities are handed over to autonomous vehicles, there will be more people using their car as a mobile extension of the office." That coming reality is prompting interior design changes that involve lighting, acoustics, larger displays and even using windows as digital whiteboards.

In this fascinating conversation, Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan explores the implications of these changes for safety, productivity, well-being, and which sectors, including healthcare, will be impacted most. You’ll also learn about the complex relationship dynamics between humans and technology; the positive aspects of autonomous vehicles for seniors and people with mobility challenges; and the career path into human factors engineering.

Mentioned in this episode:

NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Tech occupations are projected to grow at roughly twice the rate of the overall U.S. workforce over the next decade, yet 87% of technology leaders say they face challenges finding skilled talent. On this episode of WorkforceRx, we're going to take a look at a model for supplying that talent developed by Per Scholas, which provides no-cost, employer-aligned technology training to adults at more than 25 locations across the U.S.

“What makes our model work is we train people for real jobs that employers are actually hiring for, which means our curriculums are co-created with industry partners and updated continuously so that our learners are graduating with skills that are immediately relevant,” says Per Scholas President Caitlyn Brazil. As she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, the non-profit has helped more than 30,000 people launch tech careers, generating a collective $2.1 billion in income gains.

In addition to sharing real stories of learners who have changed their economic trajectories working in tech, Caitlyn also offers insights on why the tech skills gap is structural, not cyclical; why millions of tech roles are projected to go unfilled by 2030; and why technology can be a tool for equity instead of a barrier to it.

"In many ways, they're worse off than people who had never gone to school at all." That's how Terah Crews describes the 43 million Americans who hold some college credit but no degree because they’re often saddled with debt and lacking economic opportunity.

The company she leads, ReUp Education, is focused on reconnecting these “stop outs” to their education journey by working with institutions to reduce the friction points to re-entry and by using personalized, long-term outreach that meets people where they are. “Everybody has their unique journey back. Some are going to come back relatively quickly. Others will need time to reorganize their life to get ready to take that step back to school,” she explains.

ReUp’s results in states like New Jersey and Michigan suggest the approach is working, but Crews realizes more needs to be done to change the institutional policies that drove people away in the first place. “It's a journey we're on to make our higher education system more aligned to the adult learner.”

In this hopeful conversation with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, you’ll also hear about the policies Crews singles out as surprisingly stubborn barriers to adult re-enrollment and why AI’s ascendance may accelerate interest in continuous learning.

Surveys of college faculty about the challenges posed by AI show their concerns, understandably, center on academic integrity, but today’s guest suggests the larger challenge to higher ed is happening outside the classroom: AI disruption in the workplace. "If entry-level jobs are being abruptly taken apart by AI, how do we think about what higher ed should be doing to integrate experiential learning into the curriculum so students get some knowledge base before graduating,” says Dr. Zakiya Ellis, whose experience in the field ranges from the White House to state government to K-12 schools.

But, as she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, expanding experiential learning in higher ed will require incentives for employer participation and clarifying the sector’s mission as preparing students for success in work and in life, not just helping them earn credentials, both of which are tough assignments.

This thoughtful discussion also covers what Ellis means by needing both "firefighters” and “architects" in higher education; her student-centered vision for what post-secondary access could look like; and the main public policy challenges facing college leaders.

Mentioned in this episode:

“A Girl Is No One” Substack