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Economix

JANUARY 9, 2012, 12:24 PM

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Still don’t believe us when we say that college is worth it? Just look at the latest jobs numbers.

In December, workers with bachelor’s degrees or other postsecondary educations gained jobs. On the other hand, the number of workers with high school diplomas or less who were employed fell.

Here are the numbers:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Workers with at least some higher education have been doing better than high school grads for a while now, too.

Over the last year, an additional 1,068,000 bachelor’s degree recipients have found work, for example, while the number of employed workers with no more than a high school diploma fell by 551,000.

Interestingly, though, the least-skilled workers have also added jobs over the last year. The number of high school dropouts who had jobs rose by 126,000 from December 2010 to December 2011:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

It’s not clear why those with the very least education would be doing better than those with high school diplomas.

The numbers do support David Autor‘s argument that the work force is hollowing out, producing very low-skill service jobs that generally cannot be done by machines or workers abroad (like food services) and higher-skilled jobs that require greater schooling (like medical jobs).

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/college-educated-workers-gaining-jobs-high-school-grads-losing-them/

Contact: Keith Andrew Perry, 202-536-4907, keith@collegeandcareerconnections.org

MEDIA ALERT
Local Non-profit Hosts “Speed Networking” Career Exploration Events at DC Schools

WASHINGTON –To engage District of Columbia school students about education and career opportunities, College & Career Connections (CCC), a local non-profit organization, will host a series of “speed networking” events at area schools to help youth prepare for future success.

“This series of speed networking events is an innovative and proactive way for CCC to connect with students in Washington D.C. and get them excited about their academic and professional future,” said CCC Executive Director Keith Andrew Perry. “CCC is proud to lead this effort to motivate and inspire D.C. youth from low-income communities to graduate from high school, pursue higher education and meet their full potential.”

During the rapid career-exposure exercises, volunteers from a myriad of professional backgrounds will meet one-on-one with students, share their education and career experience and answer questions. The workshops are a way for CCC to promote early exposure to college and careers among eighth and ninth grade students in Wards 7 and 8. CCC’s award-winning “OnTrack!” program is an essential tool in the battle to eradicate an over 60% high school dropout rate in many D.C. neighborhoods.

The dates for the speed networking sessions are as follows:

Friday, January 6, 2012
8am – 9am
Cesar Chavez Public Charter School Parkside Campus (Middle School 6-8)
3701 Hayes Street, NE Washington, DC 20019

Tuesday, January 10, 2012
10:45am – 11:40am
Friendship Technical Preparatory Academy
620 Milwaukee Place, SE Washington, DC 20032

About College & Career Connections (www.collegeandcareerconnections.org):
College & Career Connections’ (CCC) was founded in 2006, in response to interest by two national nonprofits, USA Funds and Scholarship America, in establishing a program that would increase high school graduation and college-going rates among the community’s low-income youth. Over the past four years, CCC has provided early college and career exploration and planning programs to 1,600 eighth and ninth grade students from DC’s lowest-income communities.

By Tom Nida -The Washington Times

Recently, I returned to my alma mater, Anacostia High School in Southeast Washington. As a graduate of the class of 1966, who had not stepped inside the building since, I was invited back by the principal, Ian Roberts, who gave me a personal tour of the facility. As the former chairman of D.C.’s Public Charter School Board, which regulates the city’s public charter schools, I knew about Anacostia’s educational woes. I was familiar with the difficulties in getting the vast majority of Anacostia’s students to grade level in reading and math, or even to guarantee their safety on campus. Mere survival was a sign of success.

But things are changing. Old assumptions that have defined Anacostia’s reputation throughout the city no longer apply.

Located at the heart of a community blighted by poverty and violence, the school faces many challenges. About 95 percent of Anacostia’s students are eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches owing to their families’ low income. One in five girls are teen moms. Nearly one in 10 students are homeless. And almost one-third of students are classified as having special education needs…

(read more Tuesday, October 25, 2011) http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/25/college-and-careers-come-to-anacostia/

DC STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION OPENS STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE APPLICATION PROCESS

The District of Columbia State Board of Education is looking for two students to serve as representatives for the upcoming school year 2011-2012. All applicants must be currently enrolled as a junior or senior in a District of Columbia High School or a freshman, sophomore or junior in a local college or university. The student representative term begins in September 2011 and ends in July 2012. All applicants wishing to serve as a Student Representative must submit an application via email to sboe@dc.gov or by mail to: 441 4th Street, NW, Suite 723 North, Washington, DC 20001. Applications may be downloaded on the DC State Board of Education Website at www.sboe.dc.gov. For further information, contact the DC State Board of Education Office at 202-741-0888.

• What colleges have the highest and lowest tuitions, and net prices?
• How much to career and vocational programs cost?
• How fast are college costs going up?

Check it out online here: http://collegecost.ed.gov/catc/Default.aspx

Read more here.

KIPP, UNCF, CFED Launch $7.5 Million Partnership for College Completion

The Knowledge is Power Program, the United Negro College Fund, and the Corporation for Enterprise Development have announced a new partnership that that aims to boost college completion rates among students from low-income communities.

Anchored by $7.5 million in initial funding from Citi and the Citi Foundation, the Partnership for College Completion (PCC) seeks to provide students with incentivized savings accounts, financial and college-readiness education, and scholarship assistance through pilot programs at KIPP charter schools in Chicago, Houston, New York City, the San Francisco Bay area, and Washington, D.C. The partnership aims to serve more than six thousand students at twenty-eight KIPP schools by the end of 2012. According to UNCF, only 8 percent of U.S. students in low-income communities complete college by their mid-20s.

Underpinning PCC’s educational efforts will be a special savings program created by Citi Microfinance and Citibank that will provide program participants with $100 in savings account seed money and matching contributions of up to $250 per academic year. According to the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis, students with savings accounts in their name — regardless of the amount saved — are seven times more likely to attend and remain in college compared to their peers without savings.

“Our goal is to dramatically increase the number of first-generation students — and those from low-to moderate-income families — who obtain a college degree, while also bringing their families into the financial mainstream,” said Citi Foundation president and CEO Pam Flaherty. “This groundbreaking partnership is not only an investment in talented students, but an investment in our country’s ability to remain economically competitive and vibrant.”

“KIPP, UNCF and CFED Launch Partnership for College Completion.” Corporation for Enterprise Development Press Release 6/22/11.

Primary Subject: Education
Secondary Subject(s): Higher Education
Location(s): California, Chicago, Houston, Illinois, National, New York, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Texas, Washington, D.C.