This content is sponsored by the Collaborative for Student Success.
In the Washington, D.C. region, nearly 300,000 new jobs are expected by 2030, according to the Greater Washington Partnership.
It means there will be demand for workers with the right mix of skills, including math fluency.
“Job requirements and skill requirements are changing dramatically every day, but there are some core things that we need to make sure that candidates have as they’re going out into the workforce,” said Jack McDougle, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. “Math is one of them.”
He doesn’t mean math in the narrowest sense.
“We’re talking about math from a perspective of problem solving and critical thinking.”
He gives the example of welders and other similar jobs.
“You need to understand pressure. You need to understand tolerances, and so a whole host of math skills are required to do almost every job out there today.”
McDougle added that “the business community has a responsibility to step up and articulate these needs even more clearly and forcefully than we might have in the past.”
Jim Cowen serves as the Executive Director of the Collaborative for Student Success. Business leaders have told him: “We’re looking for critical thinking. We’re looking for people who understand how to set up a problem, how to solve a problem, how to struggle through a problem.”
This all comes against a backdrop of consistently poor performances on national math assessments.
“It’s now reaching the point of a crisis for the country,” said Cowen.
He said a number of steps need to be taken, including using better math instructional materials and increasing math instructional time, “so that kids are being exposed to this before school, during school and after school.” Additionally, Cowen said kids should only be advanced if they deserve to be, and that the number of math coaches in schools needs to rise.
“That’s the blocking and tackling around this,” Cowen said. “It’s the medicine, if you will.”
So how did we get here?
“We’re making it way too easy to ditch math, to say that ‘it’s too hard’ (or) ‘it’s not relevant to what I do.’ And lots of kids are going through their K through 12 experience with
the notion of ‘I can’t wait till I get through this, so I never have to do this again,’ when what we really need to be talking about is: this is something that’s going to give you power throughout your life, and it’s really going to impact your career.”
“It demonstrates a level of competence,” McDougle added.
“The real world implication is that when you go to an interview and you are up against someone else who does have that critical skills ability, you’re not going to get the job,” Cowen said. “And the statistics are showing that for more technical skills, for those who are good at math, you’re talking about probably double the salary, the entry level salary, that you’re going to earn. And as you go through your career, you’re just going to continue to be behind.”
Cowen is trying to get that message across to students and adults alike.
“I think when parents see the potential for what it means for their kids in in real dollars, in real careers, they will become more engaged with this,” he said.
“I think that we need everybody to step up a little bit,” including business leaders, elected officials and others, McDougle said. Even entertainers and influencers can play a role, too. “People that kids are listening to need to reinforce these really positive messages: get out in front of math now (and) it will serve you well for your entire life and career.”
Stay with WTOP as we partner with the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Collaborative for student success on this series, Math That Works.
