What are the top skills employers demand? Communication skills, judgement and decision making, active listening to name a few. These skills are referred to as soft skills, or non-cognitive skills that are not measured by a cognitive or academic test, like IQ, for example.

In an age when our economy demands more college grads in order to fill the jobs of the future and to be globally competitive, the answer has been to make our classes harder and rank students, schools, and teachers by the scores students earn on their standardized test. Put more effort behind increasing IQ and get a better prepared workforce, right?

Wrong. Little to no research gives evidence that more rigorous classes or standardized tests will lead to more college graduates, according to the review, “Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners.” In fact, studies show the best indicator of success in college is not the difficulty level of classes a student took in high school or their standardized test scores, but rather their course grades, GPA, and class rank.

Researchers argue these standings are much more indicative of a student’s academic and economic potential because they measure, in part, the transferable and non-cognitive skills a student possesses:

“The prevailing interpretation is that, in addition to measuring students’ content knowledge and core academic skills, grades also reflect the degree to which students have demonstrated a range of academic behaviors, attitudes, and strategies that are critical for success in school and in later life, including study skills, attendance, work habits, time management, help-seeking behaviors, metacognitive strategies, and social and academic problem-solving skills that allow students to successfully manage new environments and meet new academic and social demands. To this list of critical success factors, others have added students’ attitudes about learning, their beliefs about their own intelligence, their self-control and persistence, and the quality of their relationships with peers and adults.”

This is one reason why parents put their kids on a soccer team, students are told to get involved in activities so they can highlight them on their college application,  and job seekers have a place to showcase their extracurricular achievements on their resumes. While there is no direct economic value to a child playing soccer, it is thought of as a social activity where people acquire the non-cognitive, or social and behavioral, skills that are necessary to get along with people at school and in the workplace, learn responsibility to a team, balance school and life, work under pressure, etc.

While classroom time is traditionally thought of as  a time to develop cognitive skills and after-school time is used for non-cognitive, the two skill sets are inextricably linked and don’t need to be exclusive. At LifeBound we train K-12 teachers, professors, advisors, tutors, and staff to use coaching skills to capitalize on the time they have with students and develop these non-cognitive skills for success in school, career, and life.

Through the coaching process, students answer questions and engage in self-reflective activities to mindfully create:

• Vision for what is possible
• Balance in their academic, social, and emotional lives
• Perspectives on the challenges they face and the choices they make
• Accountability to themselves and others
• Fulfillment from making choices that align with core values
• Habits of success to help address their personal strengths and weaknesses

What would your brightest students be capable of if they developed their non-cognitive skills alongside their cognitive? How would your struggling students benefit if they were asked powerful questions and learned to ask themselves powerful questions when they need help?

If you’re in the Denver area, join us on November 1 for a one-day Introduction to Academic Coaching. This training will give you a thorough introduction to the coaching process as well as leave you with coaching skills you can use Monday morning.  If you are interested in LifeBound coming to your area, email me at caroljcarter@lifebound.com for more information.

Since the 1980s, more women than men have been attending college. Since 1996, more women have been attending and graduating from college.¹ A study in 2008 found the male to female ratio for attending college was 43.6 and 56.4, respectively. The gender gap in education continues to widen in favor of women, but why?

The 2011 PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) found a consistent difference between girls’ and boys’ academic achievement in most countries.  Fourth grade girls have a much higher average reading achievement than boys, and their 2011 results continue to show this pattern. In the United States, recent research found that girls had an advantage in reading at all grades, from kindergarten through twelfth grade.  Another study conducted by PISA in 2009 showed that 15-year-old girls performed consistently better in reading than boys.³

In Richard Whitmire’s, “Why Boys Fail,”⁴ he shares the following stats to show the academic gap between boys and girls:

• The average high school grade point average is 3.09 for girls and 2.86 for boys. Boys are almost twice as likely as girls to repeat a grade.
• Boys are twice as likely to get suspended as girls, and three times as likely to be expelled. Estimates of dropouts vary, but it seems that about one-quarter more boys drop out than girls.
• Among whites, women earn 57 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 62 percent of master’s degrees. Among blacks, the figures are 66 percent and 72 percent.
• In federal writing tests, 32 percent of girls are considered “proficient” or better. For boys, the figure is 16 percent.

What is causing boys to fall behind? The most widely acknowledged theory is that the K-12 classroom is more favorable to girls. “The world has gotten more verbal. Boys haven’t,” says Whitmire. He argues that the root cause of boys falling behind at school is that the teaching methods aren’t designed to engage the minds of boys. Boredom is an all too familiar side effect of classroom teaching, which leads to frustration and causes boys to showcase behavioral problems and/or dislike going to school.

“Girls use more words. They are heavy on reading and early literacy and more social cooperation,” says author and behavioral psychologist Anthony Rao in the article, “New UGA Study: Their Classroom Demeanors Give Girls a Boost in Grades Over Boys in Classroom.”^5 The same article also lists that boys commonly display worse behavior than girls, which can cause teachers to assign higher grades to girls over boys.

Is there a remedy for this problem? Is the problem academic, social, emotional, or all of the above?

LifeBound’s books are written with the complex world of students in mind. People Smarts for Teenagers asks students to examine boundaries with their peers, strengthen their emotional intelligence, and prepare them with tools they need to be academically successful. Gifts & Talents for Teenagers helps teens start aligning their interests, passions, and strengths into higher education or career choices. Students need a framework that shows what they do in the classroom has applications in the real world.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:
¹Why Are Women More Interested in Going to College Than Men?” http://www.good.is/posts/why-are-women-more-interested-in-going-to-college-than-men
²PIRLS 2011 International Results in Reading,” <ahref=”http://timss.bc.edu/pirls2011/downloads/P11_IR_FullBook.pdf”>http://timss.bc.edu/pirls2011/downloads/P11_IR_FullBook.pdf
³ New Reading Standards Aim to Prep Kids for College But at What Cost, “http://www.npr.org/2013/01/19/169798643/new-reading-standards-aim-to-prep-kids-for-college-but-at-what-cost”
⁴“The Boys Have Fallen Behind,”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28kristof.html?_r=0

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ccap/2012/02/16/the-male-female-ratio-in-college/

⁵ New UGA Study: Their Classroom Demeanors Give Girls a Boost in Grades Over Boys in Classroom

This year, student debt climbed higher than credit card debt in the U.S. Though the recession has encouraged more people to pursue higher education, it doesn’t mean that we have more graduates. The Obama administration, along with the Gates and the Lumina Foundation, reacted to the low college graduation rates by vowing to make America the number one country for college graduates, according to Jeff Selingo in his article “On Students’ Paths to College, Some Detours Are Desirable.”

However, the primary method the country is using to see more grads is to encourage more students to jump on a college pathway in high school. The problem: we’ve set a quantitative goal for our students when we need to set a qualitative goal. Look at the students who are already leaving high school, getting a college degree, and walking into the workforce without the skills they need to land a job. It’s not about improving the number of students who are pushed through college; it’s about preparing them with valuable experiences that will mobilize them and the economy.

In his article, Jeff Selingo writes:

One of the best ways to improve completion rates and fill jobs is to make sure that students who go to college after high school are truly ready for it, or else channel them into alternatives that motivate them to go eventually, or give them needed skills for the workplace.

 

We often have the conversation about higher education not being for everyone, but we should also consider that the timing of higher education is not right for everyone. Many students who enter college right after high school don’t know why they are there. Entering college without any direction is an expensive way to discover the demands of higher education. Many undecided students will drop out after a semester when they see their financial aid dribbling away; change majors and increase their college debt; or stay in college for as long as they can so they can put off facing their undetermined future outside of school.

We need to change the stigma of “nontraditional” students (who make up 40% of all students and are quickly becoming the majority) by unlearning that the decision to go to college is black and white. Instead of asking students for a ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ let’s give students the option to say ‘maybe later.’ If we want more students to enter college and graduate from college, they need to be introduced to the real-world and experience what the real world demands of them. Selingo suggests giving students this structured work experience their senior year in high school. Why wait? High school freshmen can get an internship, volunteer, or work a part-time job. A tech-savvy student can get community service hours by helping a nonprofit modernize their website.

There are endless experiences and connections students can make that will transform their perceptions of college and give them a career-oriented drive to graduate. Encourage the unsure student to take a year (or ten) off to get practical experience, gain transferable skills, and explore their independence in the real world. Whether students are in college or not, the most important step they can take is asking and answering how what they are learning is informing them about themselves, their options, and what they feel called to do in the world. No college or class alone can provide this information. It is the hard work of self – exploration and faith in the midst of the unknown that will allow the insights, connections, and answers to come.

The week before Thanksgiving, I attended the annual National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) conference for teachers of gifted and talented students along with 4,000 others. One of the opening sessions featured Dr. Howard Gardner, Dr. Joseph Renzulli, and Dr. Robert Sternberg, all intelligence experts from varying points of view. Sternberg, in particular, addressed the disconnect between what we are teaching in school and the needs of the world of work, where graduates are falling short.

You might think that the eight percent unemployment rate is a blatant indicator that there aren’t enough jobs in America, however, fixing today’s unemployment rate is not simply a matter of creating more jobs. In fact, there are three million available jobs today but not enough skilled workers to fill the positions.  One could argue that we are, in many ways, over-emphasizing tests and analytical intelligence in school and through the super-programmed structure of many students’ out-of-school life.  These “structures” and emphases come at the expense of balancing the soft skills—or emotional intelligence—students and graduates need to succeed.   The time others spent in previous generations exploring and observing in unstructured time is now taken up by club activities and for those who aren’t involved, endless hours on the internet or games. While these out of school pursuits have their place, is there a way to strike some balance between the doing and the being?  Between the structured and the unstructured that can build transferable skills in our students?

Robert Sternberg, long the pioneer and advocate for more inclusive ways of seeing intelligence, ability, and talent, developed the theory of “successful intelligence.”  To do well in the world, Sternberg argues, you need analytical, creative, and practical intelligence. School fosters analytical intelligence, but the world is demanding that our students aquire more than just knowledge.  The global world and our new economy requires students who can apply that knowledge to accomplish things in the world, in their professional and in their personal lives.  Without the problem-solving  skills and creativity to imagine the need for a new company, discover a different path for fighting a disease,  invent the new direction for a forty-year-old company to grow and prosper, positively dispute an unanswered insurance claim, and negotiate common and divergent life goals with a partner, graduates may not only lose out on a job commensurate with their skills, they may also suffer unnecessary depression, regret and hopelessness.

Experience not only teaches students; it makes them strong enough to take on increasingly complex life challenges. In addition to fostering analytical skills, let’s encourage students in high school and college to risk, to experience, to do something unique,  to have discussions with those who differ from them, to live in a different city from where they grew up, to expand, and to explore.  These qualities will teach them who they are, teach them wherewithal that cannot be learned in class, and show them the capacity that they have to contribute in the world in all areas of their lives.

When employees don’t feel like their abilities are being used to their full potential, work is “frustrating” and “exhausting,” according to a study that asked subordinates to rate the percentage of their intelligence they felt their higher-ups were tapping into. These questions lead to researchers defining two types of leaders in the workplace:

1. “Diminishers”: A leader who is set on their own ideas and doesn’t use the intelligence from their staff to expand on ideas.
2. “Multipliers”: A leader who uses and amplifies the intelligence around them.

In her article, “Smart Leaders Get More Out of the Employees They Have,” Liz Wiseman explains leaders identified as “diminishers” were rated as only using 48% of an employee’s intellectual capability. “Multipliers” were reported as using 95% of their intellectual capability. Data from this study, along with additional research after publication, found employers are only using 66% of their employees’ capability.

“[Companies] spend their time and money ‘grocery shopping’ for talent,” says Wiseman, “when they can simply look inside the already well-stocked refrigerator.”

Leader is a verb not a noun. An effective leader is one who can stand at the helm, while also taking full advantage of the crew’s individual talents. However, employees also have the responsibility to show their strengths to their employers and vocalize that they have unused talents.

Recently, in his article “Youth Unemployment: Is It the Bad Economy or Inability to Overcome Adversity,” Don McNay poses a relationship between today’s high youth unemployment rate and the lack of ambition and tenacity he’s seen firsthand from youth. He tells the story of one young person he knows who looked for a job for several months, then without any offers, gave up and started working in fast food. Another young person he knows seems to be waiting at his mom’s house for someone to come by with a job offer.

McNay reminisces about  leaving grad school and working for a candidate in Congress directly out of school. However, the candidate lost and McNay was on the street. His next job was on the cleanup crew at the Kentucky Horse Park. The experience showed him he needed more stability and to be his own boss, and illuminated his ample supply of tenacity and ambition. “If young people have been sheltered from overcoming failure, they may not understand that adversity ultimately leads to opportunity,” he says.

Yes, the unemployment rates are real and they are tragic. But progress takes action. Employers can work with the employees they have and employees can show their employers they are underused. If employees or employers feel stuck with what they have, they need to take action. Become the verb and not the noun.

 ___________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

“Smart Leaders Get More Out of the Employees They Have,” by Liz Wiseman. 20 August 2012. Harvard Business Review. Accessed on 22 August 2012. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/smart_leaders_get_more_out_of.html

“Youth Unemployment: Is It the Bad Economy or Inability to Overcome Adversity?” by Don McNay. 18 August 2012. The Huffington Post. Accessed on 22 August 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mcnay/youth-unemployment_b_1803153.html

There are many reasons college can be stressful for students. Entering freshmen might suffer a culture shock or fear their heightened level of independence. College sophomores have the stress of picking their academic path that should set the pace for the rest of college and their career after school. With their general classes behind them, college juniors go on to higher-level classes and get heftier workloads. Seniors start getting a taste of the real world as interns and student aids, while having the most difficult classes yet. And this is for the traditional student who has remained on-track to graduation. Due to any number of circumstances, many students’ college career will continue over five or six years.

College students are confronted with many social, emotional, and academic stressors, but according to a new study, the number one stress causing area in a college student’s life is financial. The Inceptia survey recently concluded the top five reasons college students feel stress are:

• Need to repay loans
• Cost of education
• Borrowing money for college
• Need to find a job after school
• Academic challenge of course work

It’s no surprise that college students aren’t exempt from the pressures of a bad economy. In fact, nearly half of young adults between 18 and 24 are unemployed, making finances tight and a worry at a young age. For college students, financial worries are about more than the balance on their bank account. The Inceptia study also found one in three students say money is poorly effecting their grades and one in four say their finances have required them to cut classes from their courseload.

Until there are more jobs, there is only so much students can do to save money for college and make money while they’re students. However, the stressors, like Need to repay loans, Cost of education, and Borrowing money for college, are all things that students can prepare for and have control over.

LifeBound’s book Dollars & Sense: How to Be Smart About Money addresses the common financial questions, pitfalls, and successes that every teen needs to know about before heading to college or into the world of work. Dollars & Sense answers questions like:

• What’s the difference between a want and a need?
• How can I save now to be prepared for tomorrow?
• What student loan is right for me?
• Can I afford my dream college?
• How long will it take me to pay back my student loans?

Many students go to college, sign up for loans, and are shocked when they get the bill. Preparing and taking preventative financial measures can help students avoid many of the top financial worries they have for college and the future. Read the NACADA review of Dollars & Sense to find out how you can use this book for both high school and college students.

____________________________________________________________________________________

“Back to School: Top Five Things That Stress College Students,” by Dan Kadlec. 31 July 2012. http://moneyland.time.com/2012/07/31/back-to-school-top-five-things-that-stress-college-students/

____________________________________________________________________________________

College students notoriously have overwhelming schedules. Many balance going to school full time, having part-or full-time employment, living on their own, and maintaining relationships. In the whirlwind of the college lifestyle, students can lose sight of how college should support and propel their career, and instead become only focused on grades and graduation day.

In a competitive global market the soon-to-be college graduate and new professional needs to know their unique talents and abilities in order to stand out from the crowd. Our economy is recovering slowly; a shift in our schools  and colleges can set new expectations to better prepare graduates for workforce realities. Many K-12 schools, whether out of choice or necessity, still teach to standardized tests and curriculums. However, the new professional is anything but standardized. The new professional is self-aware, stands out because of their ability to develop unique strengths, can connect their education to their career, is fully integrated into traditional and digital communication, and understands how to use personal discipline for professional advantage. If there isn’t enough time to emphasize this model in class, teachers can emphasize the importance of this exposure out of class.

If the institutions don’t have the money, time, perspective, or know-how to teach to students unique strengths, students often miss learning the skills they need to thrive in the real-world.  When teachers and parents don’t make specific opportunities available for students to apply their academic skills to real-life job prospects, young minds struggle to make those connections which employers deem imperative. Small change can make a big impact, whether it’s one teacher making a difference in his class, one initiative helping kids work on their skills after school, or parents creating a supportive culture at home. Below are some small ways educators, professionals, and parents can help find and develop students’ gifts and talents to prepare them for success in school and their career.

Robinson believes the waste of talent we see in our schools is not “deliberate”, but rather “systematic”. There will be an education revolution, as Robinson calls it, but how long can you wait for change? If your school curriculum doesn’t offer enough creative outlets, how can you make one change in your lesson that uses students’ critical thinking skills instead of memorization? If you’re a parent, what is one activity, whether a physical one, a video game, board game, etc. that develops critical and creative thinking skills you could encourage kids to play at home?

Create opportunities for students to practice professional skills and find professional role models. For many students, there can be a disconnect between what they’re learning in school and how that knowledge applies to the real world. Many students ask, “Why are we learning this?” and parents and educators don’t always have a better response than “because I said so” – or some variation. Share the true purpose of the learning and connect the value of each idea to career and personal life.

How are you helping students draw the connection between school and life? Would you be willing to coordinate positive role models to come speak to your students? Consider the impact of bringing in a real-life role model to a class that is tapped into the unreal behaviors of many of today’s celebrities. It’s the responsibility of parents, educators, students, and the community to create a stable tomorrow.  Our energy and our imagination can transform current difficulties and frustrations into  a new, vibrant and energizing learning environment.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Sources:

¹Â “How Schools Stifle Creativity,” By Sir Ken Robinson. _{http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/03/robinson.schools.stifle.creativity/index.html}

²“How One Principal Recruited Role Models to Motivate His Black Male Students,” by Baruti Kafele. 14 April 2012. Good. Accessed on 20 April 2012. http://www.good.is/post/how-one-principal-recruited-role-models-to-motivate-his-black-male-students/

You’re graduating this semester. Your resume is clean, you have your reference letters in order, your suit is pressed, and you feel confident your school trained you in the skills you need to land an entry-level job and climb up the career ladder. But are you sure you’re not missing anything?

Much of the hiring process and job skills people are familiar with are surface formalities, that definitely play a role in your landing the job, but don’t hold as much weight in retaining your position and advancing in your career. Over the years, I’ve had a number of employees and interns come in and out of LifeBound and observed firsthand where entry-level employees lack professional skills — most of the time in behaviors that aren’t evident on a cover letter or resume.

As you get ready to enter the world of work or think it’s time to advance in your career, consider how you can improve on some of the following qualities:

Uniqueness: During the hiring process, what makes you different than another candidate? Do you have unique experiences that showcase your ability to think outside of the box? If you’re employed, think of one thing you can do this week to show that you have a unique edge that sets you apart from your peers.  If you don’t know yourself well enough to answer these questions, take the time to reflect on who you are. Know what matters to you and what you have to offer before someone asks you these questions during an interview.

Reliability: To retain your position and to advance, you need to show you’re reliable. Emergencies happen, but calling in weekly with new emergencies and misunderstandings tells your employer you aren’t someone who wants to stay-the-course and that you and your schedule aren’t ready for more responsibility. Be sterling with your word and your actions.

Ability to Assess: It’s not only the apathetic employee who can make the wrong impression. Enthusiastic employees can also go overboard, unwittingly. Do you talk over people? Do you interrupt when people are busy? Some people need to fine-tune their radar for assessing a situation. Pause before you dive into your next conversation with your boss or coworker. Read their body language.  Consider if the information you have can wait if the other person is busy. Enthusiasm is great, but check to make sure you are being considerate of other people’s work space so that you can be credible.

A formal education and paperwork are only part of the employment process. Many things you will discover about yourself and about your field will only come to light through real-world experience. Show that you are someone who is willing to grow, learn, risk, and adapt in your job by working on the above qualities. Also, every once in a while, take a step back and self-assess. Are you happy in your job? Is there something you could do to make it better?  How can your unique skills make a real contribution in your job, the community, the world?  LifeBound’s career blog features insights from a young professional as well as someone who is a career success in mid life. Reading their insights will help open your eyes as you cross the next career threshold.

America’s unemployed youth each take $40,000 a year from the economy and cost the government $14,000 in taxes, according to the article “What Does One Jobless Youth Cost Taxpayers? $14,000 a Year.” The “lost generation” is projected to cost taxpayers $437 billion over the next five years, and possibly $1.15 trillion in their lifetime.

However hard is to look into the future and still see unemployment hurting the economy and the American dream, there are even deeper concerns than dollar amounts. In a few years, America’s youth will be America’s adults. When high school students, college students, and college grads are out of work, some aren’t learning the skills they need to have a future career, create stable finances, and build back our economy.

The employment gap between young and old is the largest it has ever been, with only 56 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 currently holding jobs. As this gap widens, many young adults will go another year without employment and new ones will fall victim. Does calling this generation “lost” require them to stay in school, follow their passions, and dream about careers? How can a young adult who is told they are part of the “lost generation” have drive, motivation, stamina, or the self-confidence to defy the label they’ve been given?

The longer youth are out of work the more likely they are to earn less in life, miss out on real-world chances to build skills, commit crimes, and need government support, according to the article. But each member of the “lost generation” can take control of their lives and set a healthy path for their futures.

Jeremy Estrada grew up in LA. He was in a gang, he was assaulted, he assaulted others and he was institutionalized and put on probation a number of times as a juvenile. After running from the police for two weeks from his last offense, he turned himself in and was sent to Rite of Passage. There, Estrada was encouraged to learn and redirect his anger. He became a straight A student who was accepted to Pepperdine University. Today, he is a graduate from Georgetown University School of Medicine. (https://www.ncjrs.gov/html/ojjdp/2000_5_1/pag3.html)

We might not have the jobs to employ all of America’s youth, but how can they be directed to keep learning, experiencing, and dreaming? How can the “lost generation” take back power?  How can each person, challenged by our current economy, still make a difference, remain hopeful and contribute to the best of their abilities?  How can our personal and professional lives be a model for these young people?