Building a Workforce for the Information Economy (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Longer-Term Strategies for Increasing the Supply of Qualified Labor: Training and Education
Longer-Term Strategies for Increasing the Supply of Qualified Labor: Training and Education
Pages 220-272
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7.1 THE ROLE OF FORMAL EDUCATION Any systemic approach to relieving tightness in IT labor markets must include education and training for a variety of IT occupations. As noted in Chapter 2, IT career pathways are highly variable.
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In the discussion below, the committee focuses on secondary mathematics and science education, rather than primary or middle school education. The reason is that it appears to be at this level that the "average" mathematics and science education in the United States is particularly weak (Box 7.1)
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. In response to a request from the National Science Teachers Association, the National Research Council convened a committee of experts, leading to the publication in 1996 of National Science Education Standards (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press)
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.4 Much of the science in secondary education is similarly disconnected from IT career paths. For example, the Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies found that the work involved in several groups of IT careers did not require Me discipline-specific knowledge associated win the biology, chemistry, earn science, or physics courses that characterize Me typical high school science sequence.5 Rawer, individuals in these careers made extensive use of modeling, logical ~inking, problem solving, and intellectual discipline abilities developed in the course of studying sciences 3Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.
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For example, the Intel Corporation's Teach to the Future program brings together IT companies including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Premio Computer, and Intel in an effort to train 400,000 teachers in 1,000 days. In the next 3 years, Intel will 7Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies, 1999, Building a Foundation for Tomorrow: Skill Standards for Information Technology.
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Even in Silicon Valley, most students know little about IT careers and how to prepare for work in the industry. A 1999 survey of over 1,000 Silicon Valley eighth graders and high school juniors revealed that a higher proportion of students understood the careers of lawyer, doctor/nurse, farmer, administrative assistant, and sales and marketing than understood the careers of engineer or computer programmer.ll When asked what kinds of courses they thought were required for IT jobs, a large majority of the students indicated that computer courses would be useful, only about 15 per cent indicated that mathematics courses were important, and less than 3 percent responded that science courses would be useful.
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Given this wider array of choices and the increasing difficulty of science and mathematics courses, many older students prefer other subjects. For example, in the small sample surveyed in Silicon Valley, students indicated that they most enjoyed art, drama, and speech courses.
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7.1.2 Higher Education Baccalaureate The discussion below focuses primarily on computer science in higher education. Such a focus is not intended to exclude discussion of other fields, such as information systems or computer engineering; however, in light of this report's focus on software-related fields (discussed in Chapters 1 and 2)
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Thus, before examining the supply of graduates with computer science degrees, it is important to look at the additional value that formal computer science education provides to IT workers. The value of formal computer science education depends in part on the nature of the IT work in question.
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It is possible for individuals lacking formal computer science background to do "small" or "basic" projects in or with information technology. But, as the above examples illustrate, when business requirements and problems involve more complex or larger solutions, individuals with formal computer science education become more valuable.
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Although one recent study has suggested that most employers do not view a 4-year degree as an important factor when hiring,27 employers appear to place a high value on formal IT credentials in many instances. For example, software companies often recruit quite intensively at computer science departments in top colleges and universities.28 Computing professional societies have helped to enhance the quality of formal computer science education.
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As these newer programs have followed the CSAB curriculum guidelines and met other criteria for accreditation, their quality is believed to have improved. Thus, model curricula and accreditation are tools for improving institutional programs and raising the standards of formal computer science education.
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Further, formal computer science education need not be limited to degree programs in computer science at all. Colleges and universities can also infuse IT throughout many different departments and courses, with the effect of helping those not receiving IT degrees to work in IT.
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Historically, bachelor's degrees awarded by Ph.D.-granting departments have made up about one-third of all such degrees awarded nationally, yielding the estimate above of 42,000 CS graduates in the year 2000. Another data source the National Center for Education Statistics' "Digest of Education Statistics 1999" indicates that there were 219,000 computer science majors in academic year 1995-1996.
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Attracting more students from underrepresented populations by providing them with the financial resources needed to attend college and graduate school is another approach.38 The approaches used to attract students to IT 36An informal survey of the Forsythe list, consisting of all of the Ph.D.-granting institutions in computer science and computer engineering Most of which have undergraduate programsy, suggests that lack of resources is the primary constraint on rapid increases in the production of new computer science majors. The committee inquired about "the ratelimiting factor on [the]
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236 BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE INFORMATION ECONOMY majors by historically black colleges and universities may provide useful lessons for other colleges and universities. Between 1989 and 1996, the fraction of graduates from majority U.S.
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However, because an individual's exposure to formal CS education is more important than a degree per se, relying on the number of domestic computer science degree recipients as the sole predictor of new entrants to the IT field is unwise as 39sased on results from a survey of the Forsythe list, which consists of all of the Ph.D.granting institutions in computer science and computer engineering Most of which have undergraduate programsy. 40Korb, Roslyn A., and Austin F
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and Undergrad continue to Rise., As noted above, the low response rate from CE departments suggests that 12,500 is more accurate as an indicator of the number of cs master s degrees than as an indicator of both cs and CE master s degrees awarded. 43Roberts, 2000, computing Education and the Information Technology Workforce,,, white paper.
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statistics courses, faculty in other departments can teach, for example, certain types of programming, or can help to team teach courses requiring cross-disciplinary work. And, of course, many existing faculties of computer science have senior individuals whose academic work predated formal computer science degrees.
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students in graduate programs is due largely to their lack of willingness to go to graduate school immediately after graduation instead of accepting a position in industry.47 45By contrast, the fraction of bachelor's degrees awarded to foreign students has been about 7 percent of all the bachelor's degrees awarded in math, computer science, and engineering, compared to about 3.7 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded in all science and engineering categories (including social sciences)
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Note that the terms "2-year" and "community college" are used interchangeably in this report.
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Community colleges play a large and growing role in preparing their students for Category 2 IT work, and for some types of Category 1 work as well.51 In addition to enrolling growing numbers of younger, full-time students in computer science and related fields, community colleges are training working adults for IT careers. For example, in a recent survey, more than 100,000 2-year college students enrolled in both credit and noncredit classes were asked about their background and their goals.52 About 18 percent of all respondents enrolled in for-credit courses (leading to an associate's degree)
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1 1 The Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies (NWCET) at Bellevue Community College in Washington State has developed comprehensive skill standards designed in part to ensure that current 2-year IT education matches the requirements of the labor market.
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is a new educational institution that provides course content on the Internet, and partners with community colleges to deliver instruction. CTE's Software Systems Development curriculum seeks to incorporate not only the detailed skills and knowledge needed to work with today's technology, but also the fundamental underlying concepts.56 All courses involve extensive hands-on assignments, a combination of principle and practice derived from the parent Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science.
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In addition, as discussed in Section 7.1.5 below, community colleges could continue their rapid expansion of short-term courses leading to IT certification.
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These contracts reduce the ability of community colleges to reduce, reassign, or add faculty in response to changing labor market demands. Because 2-year colleges focus more on preparing people for employment than do 4-year institutions, they are generally more responsive to changing labor market demands.
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Because so many community college students only attend classes part time, the FTE is a more predictable and accurate measure of instructional effort than is a head count. The FTE is used to make staffing decisions and to calculate faculty workload.
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Private providers create their own courses, and/or reconfigure existing curricula for online or CD-based instruction. Public educational institutions at all levels, including high school, community colleges, and universities, often partner with vendors to offer training for certification.
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7.1.6 Distance Learning An issue common to almost all institutions of postsecondary education community colleges, undergraduate colleges, master's-granting institutions, and for-profit institutions involves the use of information technology to deliver education (and training) at a distance.
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7.2.1 The Need for Lifelong Learning As discussed in the previous section, successfully performing many kinds of IT work, including both Category 1 and Category 2 work, requires formal education. In addition, however, following their initial education, IT workers require ongoing training.
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In order to help workers to keep their skills current, a growing number of providersincluding consultants, state and local governments, vendors, technical institutions, and community colleges offer formal IT training outside of normal working hours. In addition, many IT workers join professional associations to help keep their skills current.
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However, perfect competition does not describe all labor markets.69 For example, in some situations, such as those in temporary help firms,70 an employer who trains a worker may know much more about that worker's increased skills and productivity than any potential new employer might know. As a result, the current employer can keep the employee without raising his or her salary to levels reflecting the actual increase in productivity.
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Intense competitive pressure may either encourage or discourage employers from providing opportunities for training on the job, as well as from providing formal training. On the one hand, providing training may help employers to attract sought-after employees in this tight labor market as part of the overall compensation package.
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, such career paths may well be more difficult in the future. To the extent that an IT worker lacks a modern formal computer science education, it may be more difficult for such an individual to learn to use emerging technologies than for someone with such an educational background.
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Census Bureau in 1994 and 1997.76 Lynch and Black analyzed the survey data and reached several conclusions.77 · Most employers (81 percent) provide some form of formal training.
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This is quite similar to the Bureau of Labor statistics estimate that high-technology employers provide about 34 hours of formal training per year, based on a large, nationally representative survey. See American society for Training and Development.
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. Drawing on a large, nationally representative survey of firms and a smaller survey of workers, BLS estimated that IT firms provide employees with 64 hours of both formal and informal training per year, or about 15 minutes per day.
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Larger firms can also more easily provide on-thejob training opportunities by linking training to internal mobility within the firm. Some firms provide formal training on a "just-in-time" basis to employees coming off one project and starting another project where different skills are required.
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264 BUILDING A WORKFORCE FOR THE INFORMATION ECONOMY they stay. This company has much lower annual turnover than is typical among IT firms more generally.
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They also allow member companies to pool their training resources and achieve economies of scale. Many IT employers have already begun to develop shared education and training programs through organizations such as Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, the Massachusetts Software Council, the Maryland High Technology Council, the Northern Virginia Regional Partnership, and the New York New Media Association.
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For example, the graphic arts industry in San Francisco supports a consortium that provides workshops and courses to advertising, printing, and graphic design professionals, using the latest computer hardware and software. Consortia provide a cost-effective way to upgrade the skills of current employees, improving job performance and customer satisfaction.90 Most of these regional training consortia have won state and federal funding, allowing them to expand their pool of trainees beyond the employees of member companies.
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For example, if a worker receives training in a new skill but has no opportunity to apply and refine the new skills once back at work, the training will have a limited impact on job performance. Similarly, the degree to which the trained worker's supervisor supports that individual in applying the new skills influences the degree to which formal training and education transfer to the job.9~ Against this background, employers who seek IT workers with some experience in addition to formal training are behaving rationally.
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The mentors who guide interns in the workplace could also work as adjunct faculty in the educational institution. They could bring a bit of the real world into the classroom, whether as actual instructors or simply as regular visitors.
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In particular, improving secondary mathematics and science education can help young people develop intellectual, reasoning, and problem-solving skills needed to succeed in higher education for IT and in many IT jobs. In addition, because advanced high school mathematics and science courses are prerequisites for entry into many 4-year IT programs as well as some IT jobs, improvements in mathematics and science education should increase the number of college students who are able to graduate with IT degrees and succeed in IT jobs.
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At the same time, postgraduate education provides the "seed corn" or faculty to educate the next generation of IT workers. However, current IT labor markets provide little financial incentive for individuals from the United States to obtain postgraduate degrees, particularly at the master's level.
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And with well-established ongoing training systems in place, employers could more easily hire and productively employ workers from other occupations, thus increasing the total supply of skilled IT workers. The potential contribution of ongoing training to increasing the supply of IT workers will likely be easier to realize over the long term because in the future, the IT workforce will include a larger proportion of workers with a formal IT education.
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