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General Assembly commissioned a recently published paper that aims to give policymakers a clear understanding of learning accelerators and their role in modern education. The paper, co-authored by Andrew P. Kelly and David A. DeSchryver, intends to spark a discussion of how state regulations could be retooled to reflect this new model of education, which the authors define as “organizations that offer private postsecondary, non-degree granting courses and full-time immersive programs in technology, business, and design.”
The essence of the report suggests more modern regulations could allow credible learning accelerators to fully flourish, resulting in an increase in tech-skilled workers and a chance at closing the country’s skills gap.
In a foreword, former North Carolina Governor Beverly E. Perdue wrote, “Now more than ever, governors are working to transform their education systems to meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce. In North Carolina alone, there are over 18,000 open computing jobs that are unfilled. In the U.S., there are currently over 5 million (yes, million) job openings. At the same time, our nation is investing over a trillion dollars in postsecondary and workforce training each year.”
The authors of the paper go on to discuss the gap, the impact of learning accelerators, and the regulatory environment, ultimately summarizing with 10 issues that policymakers should consider when evaluating learning accelerators.
“There can be a mismatch between some of the more traditional or outdated notions of official education training and some of the more innovative models like accelerated programs,” Liz Simon, associate general counsel and director of public policy at General Assembly, said to Built In Chicago. “So there is some misalignment there, but also opportunities.”
Simon said one example of how current regulations — which vary state to state — could hamstring learning accelerators is the requirement to have a physical library. Most learning accelerators don’t have one.
Another example Simon provided is the requirement to have curriculum changes approved by state regulators before entities can actually implement said changes.
“If we’re promising to help students get a job in the industry, we want to make sure that we’re teaching them the most relevant skills, and that requires iteration and keeping our programs fresh,” Simon said. “Sometimes state regulation requiring things like approval before you can modify curriculum can really slow that innovation down.”
“It raises some questions and answers others,” Simon said of the paper, adding that it is a good starting place for this landscape.
Here are some statistical highlights from the paper:
About the skills gap:
- A Jan. 2015 survey found that while 60 percent of college graduates thought they were well-prepared, only 20 percent of employers did.
- More than 50 percent of employers report difficulty when looking for qualified graduates.
- Nearly half of college graduates were underemployed in 2012 — or working jobs that do not require a college degree.
Reach of learning accelerators:
- Course Report, a reviewer of accelerated learning programs, reported there were 33 organizations offering full-time courses in mobile and web development in 2013. A year later, the number spiked 175 percent, totaling 43 schools and 5,987 graduates.
- General Assembly, which began offering classes in 2011 as an ancillary feature to its community work space in New York, soon shifted its focus entirely to education. Since doing so in Oct. 2013, General Assembly teaches students in San Francisco, London, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney, Washington D.C., and elsewhere. The authors assert that General Assembly has more than 10,000 alumni and plans to expand to seven more cities in the next two years, eyeing to surpass 40,000 alumni by the end of the year.
Impact of such programs:
- The authors focused on the following seven learning accelerators, based on their large size and relatively long existence: App Academy, Dev Bootcamp, Flatiron School, Galvanize’s gSchool, General Assembly, Hack Reactor, Hackbright Academy.
- Information available to the public indicates that the collective job placement rate for those seven learning accelerators ranges from 90 percent to 99 percent.
- Course Report said full-time courses across all schools generated $59 million in revenue last year, and the authors termed that figure “conservative”.
- The authors cite an estimate that students who complete a programing course see a 44 percent increase in salary, or a $25,000 jump on average.
Read the entire paper here.
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