KidCentric has long touted the benefits of employer-sponsored child care--employee recruiting and retention, reduced absenteeism and turnover, employee loyalty, etc. Bill Millett, founder of Scope View Strategic Advantage, is now making the case for the necessity of child care for businesses and the economy in general to thrive. It is a case that KidCentric has made as an aside for years, but new research makes it an issue that needs to be examined again if employers want to have a future employee base. With 72 percent of 17 to 24-year-olds not currently able to meet the basic minimum standards required for military service, it seems that the benefits, and absolute necessity, of high-quality early care and education can no longer be overlooked.
Wise Investment
Speaker says early childhood education essential for business, economy to thrive
By Dionna Harris
POSTED: May 15, 2010
ESCANABA - If America has any chance of regaining its advantage as a global leader, changes in education perceptions must be made.
That was the message delivered Friday by Bill Millett during a presentation held at the House of Ludington. Millett is the founder of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Scope View Strategic Advantage. Millett's firm deals primarily with business and economic development. However, Millett has an intense personal interest in children's issues dealing with quality early education.
Millett's presentation, "Early Childhood Education; A Competitive Necessity in a Global Economy" was sponsored by the Delta-Schoolcraft Great Start Collaborative.
"Currently one third of all college students are taking remedial classes," said Millett. "Among high school students, the dropout rate is 30 percent."
Millett said, during the past 25 years, Americans have become complacent about early childhood education. This complacency has led to other countries surpassing the U.S. in the global market.
"Children today are facing a much more competitive world than it was 25 years ago. There is a finite number of jobs and more and more people are chasing those job opportunities," said Millett.
He said children today are living in a global and cognitive age.
One problem, he explained, is too much of education today is dedicated to memorization. There is a lack of practical application and collaboration for problem solving.
The solution, said Millett, is to invest time and resources to improve kindergarten through 12th grade education in the United States.
Millett added the economic and social costs not only to individuals, but communities, are too great to ignore.
Research revealed the capacity for developmental skills begins within the first five years of life, said Millett. Creativity, communication, team working, problem solving and critical thinking skills are beginning.
"These studies reflect the need for children to enter kindergarten prepared to learn. Unfortunately, too few young children today are prepared with these tools when they enter kindergarten," said Millett.
"A study was conducted between 1962 and 1967, where preschool teachers worked extensively with children from low-income families," said Millett.
The results reflected that after 40-years, almost one-half of the preschool children performed at grade level by age 14, with 60-percent earning nearly $20,000 per year.
"When the higher number of school grades completed was factored in, along with lower rates of criminal activity, reduced time spent in prison and other factors, the benefit to cost ratio was approximately $17 for every $1 invested," said Millett.
He said early childhood education offers greater potential returns with less risk. Unfortunately, early childhood development programs are rarely portrayed as economic development initiatives, which is a mistake, according to Millett.
Millett said for companies to become more competitive, an educated workforce is necessary. Aggressive preschool training for children, especially those from troubled homes, can yield extraordinary results for families and society.
"If early childhood education programs appear at all, they are at the bottom of the economic development lists for state and local governments. They should be at the top," said Millett. "America's continuing efforts to improve education and develop a world-class workforce will be hampered without federal and state commitments to early childhood education."
The plight of education regarding early childhood education is not only being seen in the global market, but also in America's military strength.
Research indicates 72 percent of 17 to 24-year-olds do not meet the basic minimum standards required for military service.
"We must invest now in the next generation to preserve our nation's security, freedom and opportunity. This includes fully funding early childhood education programs," said Millett.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Employee Management……GROAN!
I read an article recently with a quote by Joe Pelayo, a recruiter with Joseph Michaels International Global Recruiting Solutions: “Average managers spend most of their time with their below average performers. Great managers spend most of their time with their best people.”
This got me to thinking. In child care, like in all other industries, our best performing staff and managers get little of our attention. We come to rely on their consistency and performance. The difficult employees, those who gossip with parents, have less than ideal work ethics, have shaky attendance records, and who don’t seem to grasp or care about lesson planning – these individuals get most of our attention as supervisors/managers. We begin to feel like all we do is bang our heads against the wall!
I think Mr. Pelayo is onto something here. What would your program look like if you spent 80% of your energy and time with your highest performers? What if you only spent 20% of your time on those who aren’t performing up to your standards?
I think your program would begin to make significant changes in the level of expectation you have for your employees, but almost more importantly the expectations employees have for themselves. It really does not take that much time to address the negative, if it is done succinctly and factually. We all spend too much time trying to get employees to “just follow the policies”. I would venture to guess that all of our policies are pretty straightforward and easy to understand. If an employee isn’t following them, it is because they are unwilling, NOT unable. If the issue really is an issue of training, then spend time with them for training – but don’t spend time over and over again – on performance issues.
If/when the performance does not improve, weed out the negative influence from your program and replace them with someone else. Then you are free to spend time building up the skills and abilities or your top performers. Pretty soon you have a loyal group of employees who know they will be noticed for great performance. Pride in self will soon follow.
I know it sounds a little Pollyanna, but I challenge you to try it. Let us know how it goes. By the way, our KidCentric programs are all shifting to this paradigm, so we’ll keep you posted!
This got me to thinking. In child care, like in all other industries, our best performing staff and managers get little of our attention. We come to rely on their consistency and performance. The difficult employees, those who gossip with parents, have less than ideal work ethics, have shaky attendance records, and who don’t seem to grasp or care about lesson planning – these individuals get most of our attention as supervisors/managers. We begin to feel like all we do is bang our heads against the wall!
I think Mr. Pelayo is onto something here. What would your program look like if you spent 80% of your energy and time with your highest performers? What if you only spent 20% of your time on those who aren’t performing up to your standards?
I think your program would begin to make significant changes in the level of expectation you have for your employees, but almost more importantly the expectations employees have for themselves. It really does not take that much time to address the negative, if it is done succinctly and factually. We all spend too much time trying to get employees to “just follow the policies”. I would venture to guess that all of our policies are pretty straightforward and easy to understand. If an employee isn’t following them, it is because they are unwilling, NOT unable. If the issue really is an issue of training, then spend time with them for training – but don’t spend time over and over again – on performance issues.
If/when the performance does not improve, weed out the negative influence from your program and replace them with someone else. Then you are free to spend time building up the skills and abilities or your top performers. Pretty soon you have a loyal group of employees who know they will be noticed for great performance. Pride in self will soon follow.
I know it sounds a little Pollyanna, but I challenge you to try it. Let us know how it goes. By the way, our KidCentric programs are all shifting to this paradigm, so we’ll keep you posted!
Mindy
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