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##  The 70% Solution: Meeting the Need for High Skills. ERIC/CASS Digest.        

While approximately 70% of high school graduates enter college each             Fall, only 30% of them are predicted to eventually obtain a                     four-year college degree. Even this reduced number will create an               annual over supply of about 300,000 college graduates who, if they              want employment, will find it necessary to enter occupations that do            not demand a four-year college degree (Shelley, 1996). 
In terms of            educational requirements, the kinds of jobs growing at the fastest              rate are those demanding career skills that are acquired through one            to two years of postsecondary career-oriented sub-baccalaureate                 education (OOQ Spring, 1994). DISCUSSIONIn 1992 the DeWitt                Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund made a $3.3 million grant to establish             and operate the "Counseling For High Skills" (CHS) project at Kansas            State University. Headed by Dr. K. B. Hoyt, this project sought to              increase the knowledge, expertise, and commitment of school                     counselors in helping almost all high school students consider                  enrollment in some kind of postsecondary career-oriented                        education. 
CHS began by electing to use a "customer satisfaction"             approach to data collection. That approach asked currently enrolled             and former postsecondary students to answer the kinds of questions              most often asked by high school students contemplating enrollment at            these institutions. It was reasoned that, if current and former                 students respond to these questions in a positive manner, chances               increase that prospective students who later enroll there would also            be likely to react favorably to the institution. 
In constructing              customer satisfaction items for use in this project, questions were             worded in such a way that currently enrolled and former                         postsecondary students would be considered the "experts" in                     answering each question. In addition to this kind of item, each                 institution was encouraged to provide prospective students with                 information where it -- the institution -- is properly considered to            be the expert in answering the question. For example, the                       institution might be asked to answer the question "How many books               are in the institution's library?" while current students would be              asked to answer the question, "How easy do students find it to check            books out of the library?" 
Second, CHS developed a standardized               approach to collecting data that calls for personnel from each                  participating institution to collect its own information. In an                 attempt to reduce the "halo effect", the key point made in                      collecting data was to make sure present and former students                    supplying the data understand its primary purpose is to help                    prospective students decide whether or not this would be a good                 program for them. It was strongly emphasized that the primary                   purpose is neither to "help" nor to "hurt" the institutions. Rather,            the primary purpose was to collect data that would help prospective             students make better decisions. This makes the CHS methods quite                different from many other assessment approaches. 
Third, data                  collected from currently enrolled postsecondary students have been              reported by program--by-- institution and distributed to each                   participating institution and to school counselors statewide on                 computer disks. These data are useful in individual counseling- as              well as in group counseling procedures and institutional self study.            Several major categories of data have been devised and used. 
A                wide variety of good jobs exist that do not require a four-year                 college degree (Cosca, OOQ, 1994-1995). Other literature                        demonstrates that, when occupations are organized by educational                level required for performance, almost two in five job openings                 expected to exist during the 1996-2006 period will require no more              than two to three weeks of on-the-job training and no specified kind            or amount of formal education.  Further, it shows that, while one in            three job openings will require some form of postsecondary                      education, only about one in four will require a four-year college              degree or more (OOQ, Winter, 1997-98). Clear implications of need               for school counselor change in role and function are apparent when              these kinds of data are studied (Feller, R., and Walz, G, 1996). 
A            few illustrative examples of findings from this study are presented             below: 
* What kinds of persons enroll in postsecondary                        sub-baccalaureate career-oriented educational institutions and                  programs? 
   1.  Of students under age 25, a majority (53%) are               males. Of those age 25 and/or older, a majority (58%) are                       females. 
   2.  More than one in five reported they had "some                 college but no degree." 
   3.  High school courses recommended by             these students bear a remarkable similarity to some currently                   popular educational reform proposals. 
* How do persons make                   decisions to enroll in postsecondary career institutions? 
   1.               Friends (1 in 3), not counselors (1 in 10), are the most common                 source of information from which current postsecondary students                 learned about the institutions they attend. 
   2.  Almost as many             students (26%) choose the institution they attend because it is                 close to where they live as choose the institution because it offers            the kinds of courses they want (31%). 
* How have students adjusted            to life in postsecondary career-oriented institutions? 
   1.  Two             in three students are employed full-time or part-time while                     enrolled. 
   2. Motivation to learn does not appear to be a                   problem for these students. 
   3.  Most of these students report              having little difficulty with either (a) housing or (b) costs. 
*              How do current students rate the postsecondary institutions they are            attending? 
  1.  More than 8 in 10 students rate their                        institutions either as "outstanding" (29%) or as good" (57%) 
                 2.  A clear majority of these current students would recommend the              institution they attend to students still in high school but sizable            differences exist among them. 
   3.  About 1 in 4 students                    report "all" of their instructors know them well.  Another 1 in 3               report "most" of their instructors know them well. 
* What are the             employment experiences of former students 6 months after leaving the            institution? 
   1. Three in four reported that, if they had it to             do again, they would enroll in the same institution and choose the              same program. 
   2. Two in three judged the first jobs they                   obtained after leaving the institution to be better than the last               job they had prior to entering the institution. 
   3.  Three in               four reported the first job they obtained after leaving the                     institution to be better than they had expected it would be. 
   4.            One in three rated the job placement assistance they received from              the institution as "low". A RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION1.                Recognize and emphasize that the concept of "excellence" is                     applicable to all kinds and levels of education. 
2.  Provide all              secondary school leavers with a set of general                                  employability-adaptability-promotability skills needed for attaining            excellence in the emerging information society. 
3. Emphasize the              variety of opportunities for quality postsecondary career-oriented              education that are available at the sub-baccalaureate level without             devaluing the social and economic benefits of four-year                         colleges. 
4.  Help approximately 300,000 four-year college                    graduates annually prepare for and secure employment in occupations             not requiring a four-year college degree. 
5.  Make high quality,              career development assistance and high quality jobs available to                women, minorities, and persons with handicaps. CONCLUSIONSThis            document is intended to report the major activities carried out and             the major findings produced from the Counseling For High Skills                 Project. 
Using a "customer satisfaction" approach, data were                  collected from 39,940 currently enrolled students in 2,145 programs             in 361 postsecondary institutions in 14 states. These data were                 summarized on computer disks and provided to school counselors. When            counselor use of these disks in helping students make decisions                 regarding their postsecondary plans was studied, it was found that              counselors judged the disks to be useful to them (Hoyt, 1999). 
It             is concluded that, when furnished with pertinent data and                       information, many of today's school counselors are highly motivated             to try helping all secondary school leavers concerning their needs              to seek some kind of postsecondary education that will equip them               with skills needed in tomorrow's occupational society. It is further            concluded that school counselors have demonstrated the usefulness of            career development information supplied them by the Counseling for              High Skills Project in helping students make more informed and                  reasoned decisions regarding postsecondary                                      education. REFERENCESBureau of Labor Statistics (Winter,                  1997-1998). Projected change in employment, 1996-2006. Occupational             Outlook Quarterly, 41 (4), pp. 11-12. 
Cosca, Theresa. (Winter,                1994-95). High-earning workers who don't have a bachelor's decree.              Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 38 (4), pp. 39-46. 
Halperin,                  Sam. (1998). The forgotten half revisited: American youth and young             families. Washington, D.C.: American Youth Policy Forum. 
Hoyt,                K. (1999). Evaluation of the counseling for high skills computer                disks: The real experts speak out. Professional School Counseling,              2,(5), pp. 404-408. 
National Center on Education and the                      Economy, (1990). America's choice: high skills or low wages.                    Rochester, NY: Author. 
Parnell, Dale. (1985) The neglected                    majority. Washington, D.C.: American Association of Community and               Junior Colleges 
Shelley, Kristina. (Summer, 1996). 1994-2005: Lots            of college-level jobs - but not for all graduates. Occupational                 Outlook Quarterly, 40 (2), pp. 2-9. 
Bureau of Labor                           Statistics. (Winter, 1999-2000). Labor force share by race and                  Hispanic origin 1998 and projected 2008. Occupational Outlook                   Quarterly, 43(4), P. 38. 
OCChart (Spring, 1994) Projected changes             in employment, 1992-2005. Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 38, p.                52 
OCChart (Winter, 1995-96) Occupations that require at least an             associate's degree are growing, the fastest, but they will not                  provide the most jobs. Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 39(4), P.                8 
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Kenneth B. Hoyt is a University Distinguished Professor             at Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS. 
James Maxey is                     Assistant Vice President and Senior Research Scientist of Applied               Research, Research Division, ACT, Inc., P.O. Box 168, Iowa City,                IA. 
ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely                   reproduced and disseminated.  This publication was funded by the                U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and                Improvement, Contract No. ED-99-CO-0014. Opinions expressed in this             report do not necessarily reflect the positions of the U.S.                     Department of Education, OERI, or ERIC/CASS.                                 **Title:** The 70% Solution: Meeting the Need for High Skills. ERIC/CASS Digest.        **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Counseling and Student Services Clearinghouse, University of               North Carolina at Greensboro, 201 Ferguson Building, P.O. Box 26171,            Greensboro, NC 27402-6171. Tel: 336-334-4114; Tel:                              800-414-9769 (Toll Free); Fax: 336-334-4116; E-mail:                            [email protected]; Web site: http://ericcass.uncg.edu.                       **Descriptors:**  Career Guidance, Career Planning, Job Skills, Postsecondary                    Education,  School Counselors, Secondary Education                           **Identifiers:**
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