sKILLS gAP: Fixing the Gap

Fixing the gap

There are multiple sources from various disciplines that identify how they feel it is best to address and "fix the gap" Listed below is various sources of information and links to specific articles focusing on "fixing the gap":

• Jobs and the Skills Gap suggests increasing entrepreneurial skills across the curriculum to strengthen our technological world. Specifically, students need to be taught how to access, evaluate, and synthesize information. Teachers need to start teaching students how to apply knowledge to solve real-world problems, by organizing for application or contextualized instruction, as this method has been proven to show that students retain knowledge better and perform better on tests than the old way. Additionally, this can be accomplished by appealing to a student's interests, learning style, and aptitudes.
• Creation of Sector partnerships, is presented in Closing the Skills Gap, Creating Opportunity. This concept involves bringing  "multiple firms within an industry together with education and training providers and other key partners like organized labor and community organizations to ensure that workers -- particularly those who have had limited opportunities -- have the support they need to succeed in their education and employment." 

• 8 Steps for Closing the Skills Gap provides advice for manufacturers and what can be done to prepare a new generation of workers for a smarter and stronger manufacturing future

• Can Innovative Partnerships Close America's Skills Gap? discusses how a variety of stakeholders coming together will allow for constantly moving on a path to innovation and improvement for the skills gap Collaboration between these multiple stakeholders include: educators, parents, students, legislators, community partnerships, and private sectors. 

• The article Program's New Approach to Bridge Skills Gap? Talk to Employers suggests just that...the need to talk to employers  Programs need to be developed to learn the exact needs of the local industry, based on surveys of local employers and then share the findings with the local colleges and universities, so that they can adjust their curriculum to the needs of the economy.  Higher educational institutions need to align their teaching curriculum with present-day needs of job placement rates and not on graduation rates by development of customized job-training programs tailored for the specific needs of individual economic areas.

For specifically identified skills that are needed in order to fix the gap, visit our resource Skills Needed to Fix The Skills Gap. This tool provided specific criteria for each necessary skill area, specific guides to develop each, and additional videos and links for more information.  

Click the Links Below for More Information

Skills Gap Homepage

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