Industry Connect

Nancy Golden hit the ground running when she was tapped to become Oregon’s chief education officer. In her new position, she is tasked with overseeing the full spectrum of public education, from preschool through graduate school.

Appointed to the post by Gov. John Kitzhaber in 2013, Golden is expected to lead the state’s sweeping education reform and create a seamless education system that supports student success at every level. She heads the Oregon Education Investment Board, which was created three years ago to replace previously segmented (and often fragmented) state governing structures. She aims to keep the big picture in mind as the state gets more strategic about investing in education.

Nancy Golden

Kitzhaber has set forth a “40-40-20” goal: By 2025, 40 percent of adult Oregonians will have earned bachelor or advanced college degrees. Another 40 percent will have earned two-year degrees or other postsecondary credentials. And 20 percent will have earned a high school diploma. In essence, the goal means that every person in the state would be a high school graduate or higher.

Golden has her work cut out for her. Oregon’s high school graduation rates rank among the nation’s lowest, and the pressure is rising to improve the state’s public education system to meet the challenges of the global, technology driven economy.

“The work is in excellent hands,” the governor said when he announced Golden’s appointment.

Prior to taking the job, Golden served as Springfield’s schools superintendent and won the

Oregon Superintendent of the Year in 2011. Prior to that, she worked as an administrator at the University of Oregon. She began her career as an elementary school teacher in Springfield, and holds a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Oregon. She is originally from Utica, New York, and earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Denver.

What is your assessment of the progress Oregon is making toward the 40-40-20 goal by 2025, and what is next?

We are making really good progress, and we certainly have lots of work ahead. One of the things I am most proud of is the work we’ve done to build a seamless system of education from birth to college and career. A central piece of this has been to determine the most critical student outcomes along the education pathway and to include those outcomes in achievement compacts with school districts, colleges, and universities.

For the next budget, we are focusing on some of the biggest opportunities to reach our 40-40-20 goal. Reading, for example. We know that students are four times more likely to graduate from high school if they are reading proficiently by third grade, so we are starting with our earlylearning providers to ensure that students have basic skills to support reading when they enter kindergarten.

What must higher education — especially the universities — do toward achieving that goal?

If students demonstrate the skills and interest in post-secondary education, we have to find a way for them to go to college. So whether it is through accelerated learning in high school, or working together to help students and families better understand the opportunities available to them, or eliminating barriers to student attendance — all these strategies will be incredibly valuable. Also, increased partnership and collaboration among universities, community colleges, and school districts is central to achieving 40-40-20.

What needs to be done to prepare high school graduates for the rigors of college, especially in math and science?

First of all, we have to move away from memorizing facts in science and procedures in math, and focus more on deeper conceptual understanding through real-world applications. Asking students to actually think and explain, engaging them in reasoning rather than just restating what they’ve been told. In college, and in their future careers, students will be expected to think and communicate, not just remember. In the new Common Core State Standards we are implementing, there is increased attention to this deeper learning.

With STEM (Science, Technology, Education and Math) education such a priority, what can universities do to increase the quantity and quality of future scientists and engineers?

First, I want to say that institutions such as Oregon State are already doing a tremendous amount of work to increase the quantity and quality of graduates in STEM fields, and we need to bring greater attention to those successes. I am particularly impressed with programs such as the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, which is showing exceptional outcomes in helping our under-represented students to be successful in earning STEM degrees at both OSU and at PSU.

Many students enter universities with aspirations to get a degree in STEM, but unfortunately attrition rates are quite high. I’d like to see our institutions taking a closer look at the reasons behind that attrition, and implementing strategies to retain more of that talent in the pipeline.

Some universities have a culture of “weeding out” students. And while institutional capacity and the higher costs of STEM programs need to be part of the conversation, we ought to be shifting our mindset to a culture that encourages and supports success.

What is Oregon doing to support and expand university research, especially in engineering?

Investing in university research can be a powerful strategy for increasing economic prosperity in our state, and it needs to be a part of larger conversations that include economic development strategies, higher education funding, and workforce development. Through the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, we have an opportunity to begin focused conversations about investing in a research agenda across our universities, particularly in STEM fields.

We know that investments in primary research pay off in terms of economic growth, and there are some great examples through the Oregon Innovation Council, such as the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute [OSU is a major partner] and other signature research centers. These types of investments have resulted in a number of new entrepreneurial businesses tied directly to the research universities are doing.

How do you see universities partnering with industry, in terms of both research and the workforce?

Oregon universities have a strong history of partnerships with our industries. Those partnerships exist at a local level and through broader industry engagement, and has been successfully coordinated through the Oregon University System. We want to ensure that those close ties continue and our education system is closely coupled with workforce and economic development needs. This is particularly true in STEM-related fields, where there is a rapidly changing and competitive global marketplace.

Industry can play a critical role by helping to bring greater relevancy to our post-secondary programs — not only at universities, but also at our community colleges. Industry tends to have a much more rapid response time than currently is reflected in our education system. So, industries can help bring new technologies and methodologies into our university programs.

They can also provide greater access to student internships and support undergraduate research that is tied to authentic challenges industry is facing. Of course this doesn’t happen without substantial effort to improve communication and align efforts. We need to keep improving coordination between our diverse industry sectors and our educational institutions.

— Romel Hernandez