American Graduate

Climbing The Career Ladder

There is a lot of talk in workforce development circles about “middle skills” jobs, career opportunities that fall between minimum-wage positions and others that require at least a four-year degree. But Ryan Meador has a different phrase for that wide swath of workers in the center of those two occupational poles. He calls them the…

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Zeroing In On Jobs

Tennessee has terrific country music, incredible scenery, and world-class whiskey. But that is not why Missouri Gov. Mike Parson envies our neighbor to the south and east. He’s interested in emulating more prosaic things like improved academic achievement, rising high school graduation rates — and the nearly half a million private-sector jobs created in Tennessee…

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Schools Tackling the Soft Skills Deficit

Educators around the region are implementing project- and career-oriented learning to engage kids. But in the Center School District, at least, another key constituency is excited too. Neal Weitzel is the director of college and career readiness in the district, which is located in Kansas City, Missouri, and he recounted parents’ reaction at a recent…

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Benchmarking Success

Creating an Austin, Texas-type buzz in the Kansas City area means establishing the 21st century workforce that can succeed in the 21st century workplace, said Sheri Gonzales Warren, an economic development official with the Mid-America Regional Council. “If we do a good job of this,” Gonzales Warren said, “ this would be one of those…

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Meg Reinhardt in the plant

Don’t Count Out Human Workers Just Yet

“Robots may be taking over the world, but there’s got to be someone who builds them,” Meg Reinhardt says. And, thanks to on-the-job training she began in high school, Reinhardt plans to be one of the people who keep those robots going. Think you need a four-year college degree for that? Well, think again. Reinhardt,…

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Making The Case For ‘Workforce Development’

Is it possible to establish a link between the U.S. civil rights movement and the fall of the Berlin Wall? You can, as it turns out, when it comes to job training and career readiness. The video above traces that history, and brings into focus the nebulous term “workforce development.” This introductory piece kicks off…

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Shelby Fordham at All Things Independence

A Pathway is to a Major …

As a newly minted graduate of Truman High School, Shelby Fordham already has her career path set: earn a doctorate in economics, and then help guide the nation’s economy by working at the Federal Reserve. She attributed that clarity to her experience with the Independence School District’s high school academies, which the district implemented in…

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group shot of the facebook live participants

How Do Schools Prepare Students For The Digital Economy?

Jeremy Bonneson, vice principal of Summit Technology Academy in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, asked curiousKC: “How do schools adapt to the ever-changing and disruptive nature of the workforce landscape for today’s digital economy?” The question was right in our wheelhouse because Kansas City PBS is examining local workforce development efforts through its participation in the national…

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Student at work during tour of Holland 1916

Career Education in Fourth Grade?

Holland 1916 is a North Kansas City, Missouri, manufacturing company with a history that dates back to the earliest years of the 20th century. But it has not shied away from a new approach to recruiting employees and preparing the workforce of tomorrow. The company regularly hosts fourth-graders at its Burlington Street headquarters to illustrate…

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Man showing book to child.

Migrant education program reaches families on the move

Video by Lindsey Foat, story by Caitlin Cress The national high school dropout rate is around 6 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. When it comes to the children of migrant agricultural workers, that number is closer to 43 percent, according to a study published on the Education Resources Information Center website….

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