Community Update
May 2021
MSSC Updates
Biden $1.8 Trillion American Families Plan Highlights Certificates
Of special interest to the MSSC Community in this Biden initiative are the repeated references to providing every student the opportunity to secure a postsecondary degree or “certificate.” Equating a "certificate” with a two- or four-year degree in a major White House education policy initiative adds enhanced value of “non-degree” credentials. This emphasis is consistent with the 2020 Biden Plan for Education Beyond High School, which proposed a $50 billion investment in high-quality training programs “that lead to a relevant, in-demand industry-recognized credential.” Follow this link to read more.
Leading Industry Experts Define Quality Assurance Guidelines for Industry Certifications

Adding qualitative value to Biden Administration’s support for certificates are the new “Quality Assurance Guidelines for National Industry Certification Bodies” recently issued by a committee of national industry experts under the auspices of the Coalition for Career Development Center. These 12 CCD Center “Guidelines” represent a consensus among 18 industry experts, including from Amazon, American Welding Society, Association for Supply Chain Management, Automotive Service Excellence, CompTIA, MSSC, Manufacturing Institute, Microsoft, NCCER, and the National Retail Federation. With its focus on career advisement, the CCD Center has distributed this “Guidelines” report nationwide to career counseling organizations, student associations, and relevant officials in all 50 states. 
Download the report here
Community News
Brothers David & Daniel take you through their Journey on becoming MSSC CPT Certified

Upon arrival from Colombia to the US, David & Daniel enrolled in the Growing Opportunities in America for Latinos (GOAL) program. Through GOAL, they were able to earn their Certified Production Technician Certification (CPT), take those skills learned in the classroom to gain employment at a manufacturing facility, and along the way, earn a promotion/salary increase. To hear about their experience in their own words, check out the video below.

GOAL is funded by a TechHire grant that the U.S. Department of Labor awarded to the Labor Institute for Training (LIFT), an Indiana-based nonprofit that assists in the development and delivery of educational programs to increase and improve employment opportunities for unemployed, underemployed, and incumbent workers. 
MSSC Student Spotlight
Meet Eric who is on his way to earning the Full Certified Production Technician (CPT) 4.0 certification. Eric shares in a few words about his experience on the job as it relates to what he has learned in the CPT 4.0 certification program thus far:

“I am currently a student majoring in Industrial Technology and I also work full time in the Maintenance and Reliability department at a large manufacturing facility. As part of my curriculum, I am taking the MSSC modules needed to obtain the Certified Production Technician 4.0 certification. As someone who is employed and active in the industry, I can attest for the value created from soaking up the knowledge in these courses.

My company strives to be world class in safety, so I am well aware of the industry best practices in this field. MSSC’s Safety course covers the “what’s” and “whys” of safety in the workplace and can prepare inexperienced employees for real world advice. The information taught about operations, maintenance, and electrical/instrumentation are excellent at providing fundamentals that can be expanded once on the job. Even as an experienced employee, I was able to learn new things and apply them to my job. I have been able to immediately apply learnings from this course in my everyday work life. The CPT certification provides an excellent foundation for students wanting to go into an industrial profession, as well as adding to and honing existing skills of experienced technicians.”


Policy & Trends
National Association of Manufacturers Report on the Skills Gap
Deloitte Insight and the Manufacturing Institute, the research and education arm of the National Association of Manufacturers, has just released their latest report on the manufacturing skill gap, entitled “Creating Pathways for Tomorrow’s Workforce Today.” Key findings:

  • US manufacturing is expected to have 2.1 million unfilled jobs by 2030
  • The pace of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry will likely continue to redefine work for humans
  • The economic impact of protracted job openings in manufacturing is significant
  • Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an imperative for manufacturers
  • Manufacturers should create pathways to tomorrow’s jobs today

ED Announces New OCTAE Deputy Assistant Secretary/Acting Assistant Secretary
US Department of Education announces new appointments including Dr. Amy Lloyd as the new Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Strategic Initiatives at OCTAE, US Department of Education, as well as Acting Assistant Secretary. The announcement can be found by following this link.
HELP Committee Confirms Undersecretary of Education
President Biden’s nominee for undersecretary of education, James Kvaal, was confirmed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Kvaal previously served as deputy undersecretary of education under the Obama Administration and more recently the president of The Institute for College Access and Success.
Expanding Work-Based Learning Opportunities for Youth: Insights from the Field Summary of Responses to the U.S. Department of Education’s Request for Information on Work-Based Learning
Work-based learning1 (WBL) is featured prominently in Perkins V as a strategy for preparing career and technical education (CTE) students for further learning and careers. WBL is a key component of the law’s definition of CTE (20 U.S.C. 2302(5)). Importantly, the new law also included participation in WBL by secondary CTE concentrators as a new optional indicator of state performance. In State plans submitted during summer 2020, 26 states selected this indicator as one of their measures of secondary CTE program quality.
The report can be found here.
US workers, especially millennials, have plans to quit
One third of millennials intend to seek a new job when the pandemic ends, and 26% of all employees will look to change jobs, with 80% anxious about career growth, according to a Pulse of the American Worker Survey from Prudential. The Labor Department found that 3.4 million US employees left their jobs in February and almost 50% of the employees surveyed by Prudential who intend to leave their jobs say they would give their employer a grade "C" or lower for their workplace culture efforts during the pandemic. Click here to read more.
Research by Harvard's Project on Workforce Highlights Critical Need to Better Connect Education and Career
A new white paper released today by Harvard’s interdisciplinary Project on Workforce - Working to Learn: Despite a growing set of innovators, America struggles to connect education and career - highlights stark challenges and transformative opportunities for the growing field of organizations seeking to connect postsecondary education with employment. The development of job pathways that integrate work and learning are critical to an equitable recovery and a future where social and economic opportunity are available to all. The full report can be found by following this link.
Events
June 24-26, 2021: The Forum 2021, Evolving to Excellence, hosted by the National Association of Workforce Boards, both virtual and on-site in Washington, DC. Program information and registration can be found at www.forum.nawb.org.

July 13-15, 2021: Annual Virtual Leadership Summit, hosted by the National Coalition of Certification Centers (NC3). The program will share critical workforce insights as well as new ideas/trends as it looks forward to the future with visionary presentations. Program information and registration can be found at https://www.nc3.net/leadership_summit

July 21-22, 2021: Annual MSSC Leadership Meetings, held virtually, including July 22 Executive Briefing by Biden Administration officials