Webinar Series

Educating Youth for a Cybersecurity Future 

September 16, 2020
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National 

Cybersecurity Career 

Awareness Week 

Goals

Goal 1: Inspire, Engage, and Inform the Nation

Inspire, 

Engage, and 

Inform

Demystify Goal 2: Demystify Careers in Cybersecurity

Develop Goal 3: Develop a Highly Skilled and Diverse Workforce

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Director of Curricula

chuck.gardner@cyber.org

September 2020

Dr. Chuck Gardner

NICE Webinar: 

Educating Youth for a 

Cybersecurity Future
• Employers are desperate for cyber 

degree program graduates.3

• 507,924 cybersecurity job 

vacancies (Jun. 2019- May 2020)1,

and the shortage continues to grow2

• Cybercriminals now responsible for 

billions in losses per year and 

state-sponsored hacking groups 

posing an ever-greater threat.3

Our national security and economic 

stability depends on us solving it.

1 CyberSeek.org

2 Supporting the Growth and Sustainment of the Nation’s Cybersecurity Workforce. https://www.nist.gov/ sites/default/files/documents/2018/07/24/eo_wf_report_ to_potus.pdf

3 The Cybersecurity Workforce Gap. William Crumpler & James A. Lewis. https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fspublic/publication/190129_Crumpler_Cybersecurity_FINAL.pdf 

Cybersecurity Supply/Demand Heat Map

Total Job Openings

THE WHY

Critical Cyber Workforce Shortage

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State of Cybersecurity Education in K12 Schools

Key Findings

• Less than half of educators 

surveyed (45%) say students 

are taught cybersecurity

• Access to cybersecurity 

education resources is not 

consistent across 

communities and educational 

settings 

• Cybersecurity education is 

more available to the higher 

socioeconomic regions of 

the country, leaving out 

students in rural, low-income 

areas 

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The solution for solving 

this workforce crisis is 

developing a capable 

national workforce, 

bolstered by a 

dependable pipeline of 

individuals entering that 

workforce at every level 

of education.

THE WHAT

Workforce Development Programs

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THE HOW

CYBER.ORG Solution We believe that the solution starts with reshaping 

K-12 education to include cyber career 

awareness, curricular resources and professional 

development. 

• Develop and distribute K-12 cyber 

resources

• Curriculum and partner projects like Palo 

Alto Networks Cyber ACES, Girl Scout 

Cybersecurity Badges, Career Profile Cards 

• Empower K-12 educators through 

train-the-trainer model

• Specialize in equipping teachers with 

curricula and training as we cannot reach all 

K-12 students directly, teachers are our 

force multipliers. Train-the trainer model.

• Scalable Program Model

• CYBER.ORG’s replicable program model 

allows for continued national expansion 

through multi-level K-12 education 

engagement.

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Strategic Curricula & Professional Development Partners

CYBER.ORG’s Content and Curricula is the 

vehicle by which we reach students with 

cyber education and training as well raising 

cyber career awareness

THE HOW

CYBER.ORG Curricula and Professional Development

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THE HOW

CYBER.ORG Solution

How campaigns can help increase online safety and career awareness?

• cam·paign (/kamˈpān/) noun:

• a series of military operations intended to achieve a particular objective, confined to a 

particular area, or involving a specified type of fighting.

• Cybersecurity Awareness and Digital Literacy Campaigns

• CTF

• Tabletop challenges

• Group research projects

• National Resources

• Girl Scouts of the USA

• Palo Alto Networks

• CyberPatriot

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THE HOW

CYBER.ORG Solution

How to introduce cybersecurity into educational curriculum?

• Elementary and Middle School

• Cyber Pop-Outs in core science curriculum allowing students to make every-day 

connections to 21st century learning opportunities

• Coding and intro to security projects with micro:bit

• High School

• Various CompTIA-based courses

• A+, Security+, IT Fundamentals+ (by end of calendar year), Network+ (by start of 2021 school year)

• Opportunities for conversations relating to cyber ethics, business, politics, terrorism, law

• “Tabletop” simulations referred to as Analysis and Investigation of Cyber-based Scenarios, 

or AICS

• Micro:bit-based cyber:bot programming challenges bringing in cybersecurity concepts

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Pathway Opportunities for High School Students

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Cyber Fundamentals Cyber Literacy Cyber Science Cyber Engineering

IT Fundamentals . A+ Network+ Security+

Cyber Engineering Track

Cybersecurity and Certifications Track

Elective Opportunities

Computational Thinking . Cyber Society

Advanced Mathematics Crypto Math

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THE HOW

CYBER.ORG Solution

• Supporting “Opportunity Youth” to explore cybersecurity as an area of study or 

careers

• CYBER.ORG is preparing to provide homeschool or alternative learners with 

opportunities to study CTE-style courses, possibly making A+, Sec+, or Net+ 

available to student learners

• While currently, year-long content is made available to teachers and educators, 

not parents or students, post-COVID learning might include access for all 

students

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Q & A 

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About ACTE

Largest national education association of 

professionals dedicated to the advancement of CTE

• Achieving policy victories and increasing 

legislative activity around CTE

• Representing excellence and leadership in CTE 

for 90+ years

• Delivering robust professional development

• Growing a partnership network that provides 

added member value

• Nurturing a culture of recognition for excellence 

and inclusion of members in setting 

organizational direction

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www.acteonline.org 16
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Key Elements

• Model programs have effective counseling and advising that inspire, engage, and inform 

parent and students about the demand, opportunities, and multiple career options 

available within the area of cybersecurity. 

• Rigorous programs have highly qualified educators who meet appropriate certification 

and licensing requirements, maintain relevant evidence-based pedagogical strategies, 

are well-qualified, and stay up to date on the industry needs.

• Exemplary programs have abundant access to high quality and relevant training, 

resources, and equipment.

• Robust programs include a sequence of courses that incorporate technical, academic 

and employability knowledge and skills that are standards-based, industry-aligned, and 

incorporate multiple forms of evaluation, including performance-based assessments.

• High quality programs vigorously pursue strategies to scale high-quality work-based 

learning opportunities for all students.

• Stellar programs proactively implement research-based diversity and inclusion 

strategies to successfully attract, recruit, and retain underrepresented groups.

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Recommendations

• Creation and distribution of career awareness campaign material that informs parents, students, 

educators, and school counselors about timely information on regional occupational trends and outlooks, 

demand, opportunities, career options, and CTE cybersecurity related pathways. Distribution should also 

include research-based diversity and inclusion strategies to successfully attract, recruit, and retain 

underrepresented groups in cybersecurity work roles. 

• Educate the CTE community about and encourage educators to use the taxonomy and lexicon of the NICE 

Cybersecurity Workforce Framework as the reference for developing cybersecurity CTE related 

pathways.

• Expand model CTE cybersecurity related pathways for a wide range of cybersecurity-related work roles 

by developing knowledge and skills statements that can be incorporated into all Career ClustersTM. More 

distinctive statements should be crafted for specific Career ClustersTM that are likely to experience the 

greatest need for cybersecurity workers, and detailed industry-validated competencies developed for 

specific pathways most often associated with CTE cybersecurity pathways. Statements should be reviewed 

regularly and revised as necessary to reflect technological advancement. 

• Build in flexibility and/or exceptions in teacher certification requirements, especially for delivery of the 

highly technical courses in cybersecurity specific pathways programs and expand rigorous and on-going 

educator professional development opportunities through a variety of formats and organizations. 

• The private and public sectors should emphasize and expand hands-on, experiential and work-based 

learning approaches—including apprenticeships, internships, job shadowing, and virtual 

opportunities.

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Q & A 

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MONIQUE MILES, VICE PRESIDENT, ASPEN INSTITUTE

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ASPEN INSTITUTE FORUM FOR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS

▪ Mission: The Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions promotes collaborative, 

community-based efforts that build the power and influence of those with the least access 

to opportunity. We support communities to come together to expand mobility, eliminate 

systemic barriers, and create their own solutions to their most pressing challenges.

▪ Vision: We envision a future where communities create their own vibrant and lasting 

solutions to the social and economic problems that they face. We believe that if 

communities have more power to lead change, we will create a more just and equitable 

society.

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Global Opportunity Youth: A critical moment to 

tackle youth unemployment

• “Peak youth” -1.8 billion strong global

youth population (and growing!)

• Climate change, conflict and

urbanization

• Changing nature of work in the form of

automation and digitization

SDG8: “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic

growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”

350 million youth are not connected to education, training or formal jobs

Limited scalable solutions

• Existing efforts reach a tiny fraction of total need

• Field is fragmented

• No “silver bullet”

• Young people are not partners in solution

development

• Business case not well defined – unclear ROI

• Lack of local data – evidence base

underdeveloped

Increasing Pressure

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Focus to address the challenge is on “Opportunity Youth”

• Global youth unemployment is three times

higher than adult unemployment

• 70 million youth are unemployed

• 145 million young workers are living in

extreme or moderate poverty

• ~70% of those with access to work are

informally employed

Global youth distribution by employment, education 

and training status Source: ILO Stat, 2019

• 90% of global youth live in developing

economies, concentrated in Sub-Saharan

Africa and South Asia

• 3 in 4 unemployed youth are female

• Rural areas experience highest

unemployment but urban areas host

majority of total unemployed

• Vulnerable populations: migrants and

refugees, youth with disabilities, ethnic and

religious minorities

Regional population growth, Source: UNDSA, 2015

Not in employment, 

education or training

Not in employment 

but in education or 

training

In employment

• Youth aged 15 – 29 who are not in

education, employment or training

(NEETS) or are informally employed

• Primary focus:

• Coming from lower socio-economic status

• First time job seekers or first-time

entrepreneurs

• Transitions out of informal

• Young women

Focus on “Opportunity Youth”

An asset-based framing that recognizes the 

systemic, rather than individual, nature of 

challenges these youth face 

Global Youth Unemployment 

Characteristics Who is affected?

Asia

Africa

Latin America & 

Caribbean

Europe

North America

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WHO ARE OPPORTUNITY YOUTH?

▪ Nationally:

▪ The 2018 youth disconnection rate was 11.2 percent, or one in nine young people, down from 11.5 percent in 

2017.

▪ The country’s disconnected youth are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty, more than three times as likely to have 

a disability of some kind, nine times as likely to have dropped out of high school, and more than twenty times as 

likely to be living in institutionalized group quarters as their connected counterparts. 

▪ Disconnected young women are over four times as likely to be mothers as their connected peers.

~Measure of America

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WHO ARE OPPORTUNITY YOUTH?

▪ Gender:

▪ Girls and young women are less likely to be disconnected than boys and young men, 10.8 percent versus 11.5 

percent. 

▪ But the gender gap varies by race and ethnicity. For Latino and Native American youth, young women have slightly 

higher disconnection rates, whereas for black and white youth, young men do.

~Measure of America

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WHO ARE OPPORTUNITY YOUTH?

▪ Race and ethnicity:

▪ Native American youth have a disconnection rate of 23.4 percent, the highest of the United States’ five major racial 

and ethnic groups. 

▪ Black teens and young adults have the second-highest disconnection rate at 17.4 percent:

▪ followed by Latino (12.8 percent), 

▪ white (9.2 percent),

▪ and Asian (6.2 percent) young people.

~ Measure of America

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WHO ARE OPPORTUNITY YOUTH?

▪ States:

▪ North Dakota has the lowest youth disconnection rate of any state (5.4 percent) and Alaska has the highest (18.1 

percent). 

▪ Alaska experienced the largest increase in the share of disconnected young people between 2017 and 2018, 28.0 

percent. 

▪ The largest drop in disconnection was achieved by Utah, from 9.6 percent in 2017 to 7.3 percent in 2018, a 

decrease of 24.9 percent. 

▪ The lowest state-level disconnection rate for young black men (Massachusetts, 11.1 percent) is still well above that 

same state’s rate for young white men (6.0 percent).

~Measure of America

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & COVID-19

• First, unemployment has skyrocketed. Between March 15 and March 28 alone, 13.2 million people filed jobless claims, 

an all-time record, and as of May 1, the novel coronavirus had cost more than 30 million Americans their jobs. The 

Congressional Budget Office predicted that the unemployment rate will soon exceed 15 percent—higher than during the 

Great Recession—and remain close to that until the end of 2021.

• Second, school enrollment is likely to drop. Unlike during the Great Recession, when many young people waited out the 

poor job market in the classroom, the coming year will see ties to the educational system unravel. Last spring, K–12 

schools in all fifty states moved to distance learning. This disproportionately impacts opportunity youth.

~Measure of America

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & COVID-19

• During and in the years following the Great Recession, the number of disconnected youth was close to six million; 14.7 

percent, or about one in every seven young people, were neither working nor in school. Given the wide-ranging and 

catastrophic effects of the current crisis on both the economy and the educational system, we estimate that the number 

of disconnected youth will easily top six million and could swell to almost one-quarter of all young people, or nearly nine 

million teens and young adults.

• Disconnected youth and their families will be hardest hit.

~Measure of America

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & CYBERSECURITY

▪ According to the agency charged with tallying statistics on the cyber talent gap, there are over 1 million unfilled 

cybersecurity jobs as of 2017. It is projected that this number will grow to 1.5 million by this current year (2020).

▪ We need to match the capacity of the growing legions of cybercriminals with an increased number of U.S. experts who 

serve as our most important line of defense against them. 

~Michael Echols, CEO of the International Association of Certified ISAOs

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & CYBERSECURITY

▪ It has been suggested that the next administration focus on practical strategies for assuring there are enough 

cybersecurity professionals to make the nation resilient.

▪ Enabled people are key to unlocking new opportunities that make the existing tools and processes more effective.

▪ If all existing best practices were employed we would eliminate 80% of all cyber breeches.

~Michael Echols, CEO of the International Association of Certified ISAOs

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & CYBERSECURITY

▪ While some programming exists to support young adults to build skills in cybersecurity, including the “National 

Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies portal” launched as a partnership between the Department of 

Homeland Security and the National Institute for Standards and Technology, more can be done.

▪ There is a national call for the government to invest in the creation of effective pathways to employment in the 

cybersecurity field for Opportunity Youth, the 6 -10 million young adults in the United States who are out of school and 

unemployed or underemployed.

▪ Current approaches to addressing this talent gap fail to provide onramps for those, who often lack the resources, 

credential, and networks to take advantage of opportunities in this dynamic field. Without a doubt, we must integrate 

these overlooked young people as a part of the solution; they are this country’s most tangible cybersecurity 

assets. We need to invest in them and can no longer waste time.

~ Michael Echols, CEO of the International Association of Certified ISAOs

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & CYBERSECURITY

• Effective models for identifying high-potential young adults and preparing them for success in professional jobs exist. Year 

Up, for example, is a national nonprofit organization that provides marketable skills training, mentoring, and a six-month 

internship experience to empower opportunity youth to fulfill their career goals. YouthBuild is a similar model that 

achieves similar results.

• Programs like Year Up and YouthBuild (which is federally funded) are gaining traction as employers come around to the 

idea of tapping into previously overlooked talent pools and to the practice of considering professional competency-based 

certifications as an alternative to college degrees. 

• The IT sector should support the expansion of such solutions to bring a new generation of driven, talented individuals to 

the daily cybersecurity fight and help the nation meet its growing skills shortfall.

~Michael Echols, CEO of the International Association of Certified ISAOs

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OPPORTUNITY YOUTH & CYBERSECURITY

• Of the cybersecurity issue, President Obama said, “It's one of the most serious economic and national security 

challenges we face as a nation. Foreign governments, criminals, and hackers probe America’s computer networks every 

single day.”

• It’s time for us to rise to this call. A solution that introduces youth to cybersecurity and provides them with real workbased experiences can both expand opportunity for our country’s young people and keep our nation safe from the 

cybersecurity threats of today and tomorrow.

~Michael Echols, CEO of the International Association of Certified ISAOs

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QUESTIONS?

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Thank You for Joining Us!

nist.gov/nice/webinars

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Upcoming Webinar: “Addressing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap at Scale -

Introducing Learning and Employment Records” 

When: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 2:00pm EDT 

Register: https://nist-nice.adobeconnect.com/webinaroct2020/event/registration.html