How The 'Great Rethink' In The Business Of Education Is Creating A More Competitive Workforce

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The pandemic caused leaders across industries to reevaluate standard processes, procedures, and expectations—and many of them were found to be ineffective in our “new normal”. After all, work, education, and even our personal lives look different now than they did before. The business community is better understanding the role that education and training, at all levels, play in the bottom line for companies when it comes to retaining talent and the associated costs of having to continually attract, acquire and train new talent.

This starts with education. The conversation around high-stakes testing has recently been reignited as leaders evaluate whether it is still effective. High-stakes testing is any test used to make important decisions about students, educators, schools, or districts. It is most commonly used for accountability purposes (i.e., ensuring that students are enrolled in effective schools and taught by effective teachers). However, new research from Instructure, the makers of Canvas, shows how the COVID-19 crisis has pushed schools to a critical point.

High-stakes testing is one of the most controversial issues in education today, and the technicalities of the debates are both highly complex and constantly evolving. Many education experts say it’s essential to shift our perspectives on the role of the assessment itself—separate from grades and test scores—to understand where students are excelling or need support.

This thought process is also being seen on the corporate side as Google’s new certificate programs designed to disrupt the college degree are aiming to help the financial equation and large companies are partnering directly with institutions to create tailored training that makes adding talent a better financial bet both for the company and the job-seeker.

How COVID-19 impacted K-12 testing

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, schools have seen a significant increase in the need to understand where learning gaps have emerged. Experts have long said that stress caused by high-stakes testing hurts students' performances, with economically disadvantaged students impacted even more.
Educational experts are not the only ones who see the red flags in this kind of testing. Instructure’s new “State of Assessment in K-12 Education” indicates that 81% of educators are concerned that summative assessments make students anxious. While districts are still using tests for accountability, many teachers and administrators want to move to a more balanced assessment approach. They have turned to interim and formative assessments to analyze and improve learning throughout the school year. These shorter, more frequent tests give teachers data they can act on in real-time for each student. 95% percent of educators are now using formative assessments, and 81% use interim assessments.

Reassessing how companies attract and retain talent

Reassessing aptitude is the core building block required to create better and more equitable opportunities for the students of the future. And we are seeing the importance of education come full circle in corporate environments as well.

Continuing education is a growing business. When properly carried out, organizations can help drive success for everyone involved. Carrus, an online training and professional development provider, creates specialized training programs and certificates that are tailored to the actual skillsets companies are looking for. By giving companies a way to train for the exact skills that they want, Carrus helps companies get a better return on investment by enabling them to invest in upskilling their current talent rather than constantly finding and training new employees.

The process of vetting, interviewing, hiring and onboarding new employees is costly, so thinking strategically about how you can upskill existing staff can translate into huge cost savings. But, perhaps, more importantly, giving your staff a path forward in their career will significantly increase the odds that they will stay with your company.

Beyond flexible workspace and hours, the greatest reason for employees leaving organizations en masse has been a lack of upward mobility. This problem plagues all industries, but perhaps most critically, it has added to the immense staffing shortage in the healthcare industry. MedTrainer, recognizing a need in the market, became an all-in-one learning, credentialing, and compliance solution through a series of strategic acquisitions, including both QuickCred and Accredibility. Their SaaS platform allows companies to tackle retention goals by upskilling and credentialing existing staff—helping them grow in their careers, while also helping them streamline their administrative processes.

While the companies of the 2000s were built around making a physical office space fun, the companies of the 2020s will be built around maximizing the goals, needs, inclusion, and opportunities for all of their employees. Companies like Instructure, MedTrainer, and Carrus ensure that the way we assess achievement is done with fairness, equity, and inclusion in mind.

Image sourced from Unsplash

This post contains sponsored advertising content. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.