Alexandria — To the Editor:
Recently, I went to the Joint School Board/City Council Budget Work-session and I learned about a new adult education program called Plugged-In (www.pluggedinva.com). It cites a recent report saying a General Education Degree (GED) is not enough and does not prepare students for the skills needed in today’s workforce.
Students need critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity, according to the report. I have learned a lot about the need of students to develop skills for where the jobs are from my sister, Donna Walker James, who has worked for many years on school-to-work issues. Preparing students to go into the workforce, matching students with careers, and getting them excited about learning skills where there are job opportunities is definitely a good thing.
Plugged In is a statewide program so it tracks jobs across the state, and already has pilot programs in place. It is a route to additional certifications besides the GED and possible scholarships at community colleges or other secondary institutions. In a recent article in the New York Times (“Schools Try to Match the Jobless with 3.4 Million Jobs,” 2-29-12) Bob Templin, president of Northern Virginia Community college says: “We’ve become much more focused, much more agile and much more driven by what the data is telling us on where the jobs are,” and he goes on to say “We’re very market-oriented now, whereas before we would offer the courses that people were interested in teaching and we’d see who would show up. In the last 24 months, we’ve thoroughly reorganized our continuing-education unit, and we now refer to it as ‘Work Force Development in Continuing Education.’” Matching students to the jobs of the future sounds like something Plugged In will do.
It is great to see the our school system looking to new solutions to help all people, including adult learners achieve. This is a program that hopefully will be funded through a state grant, so it is not included in the budget. It would start with 64 students, and partner with Northern Virginia Community College, and the city’s Job Link.
When I was at T.C. Williams I participated in a program called Executive Internships of America, and so I spent my last semester of high school working four days a week at the headquarters of the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C. This work experience, plus the two summers I had already spent working for the Student Conservation Corps in Mesa Verde, Colo., and the Youth Conservation Corps at Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge on the Potomac, taught me about hard work and gave me leadership and team building skills in the process. I also spent two years taking classes at Northern Virginia Community College, so I can appreciate the need to connect the learning experience to the real world of work and local educational opportunities.
I also learned that there are 94 pre-schoolers waiting for placement in our head start programs, so we need to work on both ends of the learning spectrum so children not only start in the right in the right place, but end up as adults in a place they can find work and success.
Perhaps another organization or foundation will raise the funds needed to help these 3 year olds start school, like the Alexandria Scholarship Fund helps students at T.C. Williams. I learned it would take a million dollars to provide a place for these children, so as it may not be something we can afford in the school budget, but it is a great opportunity for a public private partnership to form to ensure the success of our youngest citizens. Doing both Plugged In and making sure every three year old has the opportunity to go to school are good investments and will make sure we are providing the best education for everyone.
Boyd Walker
Candidate for City Council