By: David Bressoud @dbressoud

A recent report from Deutsche Bank Research, America’s Racial Gap & Big Tech’s Closing Window, warned that by 2045, 76% of Blacks will be prepared for only 12% of jobs. The report looks at the requirements for a digitally literate workforce in the United States. Their prediction is that in just one generation 88% of new jobs and 86% of existing jobs will require at least mid-level skills with digital technology. Currently, 76% of Blacks and 62% of Hispanics lack these skills. Their point is that if something does not change, we will have a large and growing underclass that is shut out of employment options.

I became aware of this report in a recent address by Maria Echaveste, President and CEO of The Opportunity Institute, at the recent CBMS Mathematics Alignment Forum, run by the Charles A. Dana Center as part of the CBMS series of conferences on High School to College Mathematics Pathways. (Click here to watch her presentation, beginning at minute 14.)

There is already a noticeable digital divide. The Deutsche Bank report describes three levels of digital literacy:

Low Level. Requires nothing more than ability to use email, smartphone apps, or communication software such as Skype or Zoom.

Mid-Level: Requires ability to use productivity or consumer relationship management software or occupation specific technology or software skills, the sorts of skills that require some post-secondary training or certification.

High Level: Requires coding, higher order mathematics, specialized STEM education, or a graduate degree.

Today we have already reached the point where 61% of all jobs and 69% of new jobs require at least mid-level skills. But these skills are held by only 24% of Blacks and 38% of Hispanics in the workforce.

The challenges are daunting. As Echaveste points out in her presentation, there are structural inequalities that operate against the ability for members of under resourced minorities to unleash their individual potential. This is not merely a question of access to good schools and teachers, though the differences here are stark. She talked of the well-documented effects of adversity and low-level trauma brought on by poverty, family strife, or concerns for safety that are known to significantly affect the ability to learn. COVID-19 is exasperating this. This past spring in the Los Angeles Unified School District, one-third of all students were not checking in regularly with their online learning.

She stressed that equity goes well beyond equal opportunities. Not all are equipped to take advantage of what may be available. Equity is about creating opportunities that are tailored to the needs of each individual.

This requires resources, and that is an obvious problem in this time when resources are stretched as they have never been before. Now, more than ever, we need a deep and thorough appraisal of how our resources are being allocated.

One step in the process of this appraisal is to monitor existing disparities in educational achievement and opportunities. For this purpose, the National Academies have produced two reports,  Monitoring Educational Equity and Building Educational Equity Indicator Systems. The first is a consensus report presenting the architecture for systems that monitor educational equity. It describes the kinds of data that must be collected and the questions that must be answered. The second is a practical and detailed guide to such monitoring for PreK-12 education.

Maria Echaveste concluded her address with three questions that I quote here:

1. How do we monitor progress towards equity?

2. How do we put an equity lens on the future of work so that as the economy changes the traditionally marginalized communities do not get left behind yet again?

3. How do we change our current system of education to provide a whole-child equity approach so that the adversity outside of the classroom does not become a barrier to that education that we absolutely need and are working toward?

The third question lies at the crux of what is needed, now more than ever. This past spring 40% of high school graduates were Black, Hispanic, or Native American. Despite the economic shocks this country has experienced, we are still a wealthy nation. We do have the capacity to open opportunities for all students. For the sake of the future of our society, we must.

References

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Monitoring Educational Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25389.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2020). Building Educational Equity Indicator Systems: A Guidebook for States and School Districts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25833.

 Walia, A. and Ravindran, S. (2020). America’s Racial Gap & Big Tech’s Closing Window. Deutsche Bank Research. https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RPS_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000511664/America's_Racial_Gap_%26_Big_Tech's_Closing_Window.pdf

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