EAST LANSING – Michigan could lead the nation in economic growth if it can be the first state to properly connect education and careers, Governor Rick Snyder said on opening the 19th Governor’s Education Summit on Thursday.

The event, Snyder’s fourth, was themed “Collaboration, Creation, Connection,” promoting the idea that all levels of education and private enterprise need to work together to be sure children are getting the education they need.

“I think we have a disconnected situation in our economy in terms of making sure people are career connected,” Snyder said.

Among the pieces of that effort is expanding the definition of higher education, Snyder said. “We really emphasized getting a university degree. That was smart,” he said. “If you’re an engineer in Michigan today, you can get a job very easily.”

But he said not everyone needs a bachelor’s degree or higher. “We messed up because we didn’t equally emphasize the skilled trades,” he said. “We have a skills gap and we need to close that skills gap.”

He said the state, and the education sector, have to find ways to attract students to those various skills areas. For instance, he said, promoting participation in the First Robotics program (where he noted the state now leads nationally in the number of teams) helps to guide students toward engineering. He said other such programs could help to drive interest in other fields.

“The rest of the United States is not doing career tech education very well,” he said. “We’re taking leadership (in First Robotics teams). We have that same opportunity in career technical education.”

He noted there are currently some 70,000 jobs posted on the MITalent.org website, most of which require some technical skills training.

And he said the numbers on the site understate the actual demand. “They only post one job,” he said. “They can’t fill that one job, so they don’t even post the fact that they would hire five people if they could.”

Snyder to an extent faulted the schools for not teaching skills, particularly mathematics, in ways that made them relevant to students and also that tied them to potential careers.

“In many places we need to be more practical about how we apply those standards,” he said.

For instance, he said, rather than succumbing to the push to eliminate the algebra II requirement, the way it is taught needs to change. “If you go to the welding programs, they’re learning algebra II, but they’re learning it in the context of welding.”

Snyder, to applause that briefly interrupted his presentation, said he would continue to back the Common Core State Standards. “It’s a very political issue, but I believe Common Core is the right answer,” he said. “It’s about setting a standard we can be globally competitive with.”

He said he also would continue to back the coming teacher accountability system.

“I don’t view accountability as a way to get somebody in trouble,” he said. “The point of the grade isn’t to get someone in trouble. How do you know you’re succeeding if you don’t measure it in some fashion?”

The state, though, also needs to recognize the best teachers.

“I’ve not been as successful as I’d like to be,” he said on that point. “I would like to build more on the concept of a master teacher.”

Pointing to his own profession as an example, Snyder said administration is not always the right move in climbing a career ladder. “Sometimes the best accountant is not the best person to be managing them,” he said.

The master teacher program, he said, has to provide not only recognition for the best teachers, but additional compensation as well.

But he said teacher assessment would continue to be a political issue.

He said after his presentation that he would also continue to push on the other political issue in education: the Education Achievement Authority.

Snyder rejected the assertions that the district, currently created under an interlocal agreement between Detroit Public Schools and Eastern Michigan University but intended to be strengthened in legislation now before the Senate, is failing.

“Go visit,” he said to those who make that argument. “If you have the opportunity to talk to who matters most: the students … particularly you should asked them about their pre-EAA experience and what they’ve seen change over the last couple of years and how they’re learning much more.”

He said the legislation is about increasing options for addressing persistently failing schools, but he said the EAA would continue to operate even without the legislation.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com