case studies

By: Sara Meier, M.S.Ed, CAE As a former kid and a former teacher, I, like the rest of our country, connect September with “Back to School.” Magazine covers, store fronts and sitcoms all feature back to school themes in this month of new beginnings. This September boasts an especially poignant time in my life as my oldest son starts kindergarten (sniff, sniff). I’m not sure who is more excited, him or me. I have such great memories of laying out my newly purchased outfit for the first day of school (even if it was wool and too hot to wear in early September) and rushing to the store with the supply list my teacher had given out to buy notebooks, markers, glue and pencils. My son is just excited to be a kindergartner; he knows that this means he’s in the big league now. No more play groups, preschool or naps, he associates school with learning how to read, doing math and packing lunch! I asked my son recently what he wanted to be when he grew up. He quickly rattled off police officer, fireman, architect, doctor, nurse and veterinarian, I shudder at the thought of paying for college. I love that he has high aspirations and has no idea yet how long he will need to be in school to achieve some of these professions. And while I love this naïveté in my 5 year old, in my professional life as Executive Director of the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), I am keenly aware of the fact that our country has too many Americans without the necessary skills and educational levels that many professions need now and in the near future. Our country is built on the foundation that a good education will get you a good job. The attainment of a high school diploma used to be enough for most people to sustain a life in the middle class in our country. A recent study by Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce called Help Wanted: Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements through 2018 reveals there will be a 3 million degree shortfall in our country by 2018. The economy will need twenty two million more Associate’s, Bachelor’s and Graduate degrees and 4.7 million postsecondary certificates.  So if our country’s citizens will need more than just a high school education but our educational system does not currently finance postsecondary education for all, what does that mean for the millions of Americans who need additional education and training to hold a job? The authors of the Georgetown study believe that fed­eral and state governments will need to engage postsecondary institutions as partners and that together they must develop reforms that result in both cost-efficient and quality postsecondary education and training programs. The key word in their recommendation to me is quality. The other key word in this formula is access. By providing access to quality educational programs, professional associations like many our company manages, can be a huge asset to the predicament our country is facing. Professional associations can help by outlining clearer pathways to employment, offering affordable alternatives to the traditional brick and mortar institutions and ensuring that what they offer has value in the marketplace. In an effort to raise awareness around this initiative, it seemed fitting for IACET, an association that focuses on identifying high quality continuing education and training, to host its own back to school event. The IACET Symposium on Thursday, September 23rd will feature thought leaders from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), NAM’s Manufacturing Institute, the Department of Education and the authors of the Georgetown University study. I am hopeful that by bringing together researchers, practitioners and administrators of continuing education and training, we will walk away with some of the necessary tools to provide better quality and better access to education for those that need it most. As the first day of school approaches, I will be thinking about what I need to prepare my son for his first day of school, but I will also be thinking about what it means for the hundreds of thousands of American adults who need to head back to school and how our association community can help them do their homework.  ... Read more