Educators » Carol J. Carter

Finding “Fit”: Aligning Your Gifts, Talents and Interests with Purposeful Education and Work

Half of employees were either ready to leave their jobs or unhappy in their position, according to last year’s Mercer survey.¹

As we discuss how to get more students graduating from high school and college and into a career, it’s important individuals, schools, and businesses align their definitions of successÂ so that an individualâ€™s strengths and abilities are maximized.Â In school, success is largely measured by class standing and grades. In your career, success can be measured by status or money. But what about fulfillment? Purpose? Meaning?Â Contribution?
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Aligning K12, College, and the World of Work

K12 communities want students to have higher scores and higher graduation rates. Colleges want active students and successful grads. The working world wants a bigger talent pool and more creative minds to fuel innovation and job growth.

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The “Time Wasting Divide”: Digital Literacy Opens Opportunities for Low-Income Families

As more low-income families get access to devices and the digital divide closes, an unexpected side effect is left in its wake. The outcry for equal access to technology and Broadband is being answered, however, instructions for how, when, why to use technology aren’t included. This is causing a problem in low-income families — the families who are supposed to be helped by closing the digital divide — as the younger members use their new gadgets for entertainment, not as an educational resource.
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Starting on the Career Path Before Graduation: Arming Students with Real-World Knowledge

Internships were originally intended for students in the medical field. Doctors knew medical students needed hands-on experience working with patients before they were qualified to work on their own patients. Today, internships have spread beyond the medical field and become an important part of many jobseekers’ resumes in education, technology, writing, marketing, and more.

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Innovative Summer Learning: K-12 Schools Partner with University

For kids, the long summer days pose many opportunities for having fun with friends, relaxing, and watching TV. Unwinding from the stresses of the school year is an important use of summer time, but so is providing kids with learning opportunities to keep their brains engaged and ready to enter the next school year strong.
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Leadership from the Medical Community for Low-Income Students: LifeBound and La Casa/Quigg Newton Family Health Center Promote Reading, Literacy and Opportunity

Summer learning losses are a real threat to all students entering the summer months. Providing kids with educational games, activities, materials, and experiences during their summer vacation is crucial in retaining information learned during the school year and preparing them for the transition into next year.

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The Value of Internships: Pros and Cons

Many college students are lining up internships for the summer months or the coming semester. Some college graduates are also getting internships to further their professional experience after college and possibly get their foot in theÂ door in careers and fields they have recently narrowed to match their interests and abilities.
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Earning Success: Why the Exceptional Get Results

It’s a harsh reality:Â average workers willÂ have a much harder time in today’s economic climate. The competition is heating up and those who are exceptional will have traction, gratification and fulfillment in theÂ workforce.

Average workers don’t put in the extra that sets them apart from other members of the team, whereas exceptional workersÂ draw energy from harnessingÂ Â their uniqueÂ abilities. It may sound like becoming an exceptional worker will be much more depleting than putting in average effort, but, in fact, it’s the opposite. People who feel “very successful” and “completely successful” at work are twice as likely to say they are happy than those who only feel “somewhat successful,” with their level of income making no difference in their levels of happiness, according to Arthur Brooks in the article “America and the Value of ‘Earned Success.'”¹ Exceptional people are driven to become exceptional for its intrinsic value (in happiness and fulfillment), not extrinsic value (in dollars and status).
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Where Are We in American Education Right Now? A Look at Patterns the Last Three Decades

Thirty years ago this summer, I was finishing my first unpaid internship in Washington, D.C with Common Cause, a lobbying Â group run at the time by Archibald Cox, John Gardner of Stanford, and, at times, Ralph Nader. The next year, the report,Â A NATION AT RISK¹, was issued as I began my internship in New York City at the Academy for Educational Development. During both summers, I waited on tables at night to be able to work for no pay at my valuable internships. This report was commissioned by the then President Ronald Reagan. I distinctly remember one of the most defining lines of that document: Â The educational foundations of our society areÂ presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as aÂ Nation and a people.
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Marching into a Recession: Class of 2012 Follows Generations Before

Recessions,Â ebb and flow. Between 1948 and 2011, there have been 10 recessions, according theÂ National Bureau of Economic Research¹.Â That means there are many people in the U.S. who have been in all 10 recessionsÂ and made theirÂ Â way out. The BLS describes a recession as: “A general slowdown in economic activity, a downturn in the business cycle, a reduction in the amount of goods and services produced and sold.”

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