Report: Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color

As part of its Improving Learning Resources Through Diversity (ILRTD) initiative, AEP attended the release of the new report, “The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color from the College Board Advocacy.” The report explores the challenges facing young minority men in secondary and postsecondary education and identifies promising programs that might help accelerate their achievement.

On January 26 the College Board Advocacy and the Congressional TriCaucus convened educators, policymakers, and advocates to discuss the findings of “The Educational Crisis Facing Young Men of Color” and call on leaders and communities to address what they call a national education crisis. The main message was that kids and adults need a sense of identity and pride within their community. Unanimously, the speakers agreed that there couldn’t be any progress in the current educational system unless the approach changes. Furthermore, the message was very clear that America has to act now because all of our children need a strong education to help lead us in the future.

While there are many factors affecting the education of minority youths, the speakers identified three of the top reasons.

Building Strong Relationships Between Organizations and Independent Contractors

In the AEP blog series, What’s Keeping You Up At Night?, experts offer their advice on the most pressing issues facing the educational resource industry. During the 2009 AEP Summit session, “Publishers, Developers, and School Districts: Change Agents in Transformation,” Randi Brill of Quarasan! and Keith Garton of Garton Media Strategy discussed the key role independent contractors play in educational publishing. Here, Kevin Dwyer of Strategic Learning Designs presents his 12 keys to maintaining a strong relationship between publishers and contractors.

Solving business problems that lie outside an organization’s core competencies with outside help is more common than ever before. The trend towards smaller organizations complemented by temporary, outsourced talent has generated a pool of highly skilled professionals available and ready to work. In fact, many AEP members are independent contractors, some newly so. I thought it might be helpful to tease out some of the elements of a strong business relationship.

Like many members of AEP, I’ve worked on both sides of this relationship. I’ve hired contractors, and I’ve been hired as a contractor. I’ve had mostly great experiences as an independent, working with terrific leaders at all levels of organizations. Based on my experiences, the decision to hire an independent contractor / vendor for a short project or for a long-term assignment is as important as hiring any other key employee. Let me suggest some things to consider in building an effective and healthy relationship between contractors and employers.

Talent Development and Diversity: Why it Keeps Me Up and What I’m Doing About It

In the AEP blog series, What’s Keeping You Up At Night?, experts offer their advice on the most pressing issues facing the educational resource industry. Jim McVety, Principal and Founder of First Step Advisors, will be focusing on the issues surrounding cultivating new young talent and improving diversity for our industry. He invites you to post comments, encouragements, suggestions, and further blog posts on what you’re doing, what your peers are doing, and what the AEP community can be doing this year to further the goals of  AEP’s Talent Development Innovator Award and Improving Learning Resources Through Diversity project.

AEP has invited me to write about what keeps me up at night. For starters, my one-year old daughter and two-year old son and their thunderous footsteps on my hardwood floors. Tiptoeing sounds like Penn Station at rush hour. But when I’m not dealing with thundering footsteps and crying babies (hey, reminds me of a publishing office), I’m thinking about AEP members and what’s keeping all of us up at night. If you read this blog, there’s no shortage of things to think about in the wee hours…

Securing Electronic Business Information: Part 1

The shift from print to digital media isn’t just occurring in product development. Today, the majority of sensitive information, such as marketing plans and strategies, financial information, customer profiles, and even acquisition strategies, are all kept electronically. At the December 2009 CEO Roundtable Nick Akerman, Partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLC, discussed why the pervasiveness of computers has become a major security challenge for companies. In the first part of his session, he explained how companies can establish their own rules to protect their secrets.

First, executives need to know that any information that derives economic value from not being known to others and is subject to reasonable efforts to preserve secrecy is considered a trade secret. These secrets are protected by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (Title 18 U.S.C. § 1030). Initially enacted in 1984 to cover criminal acts, the statute was amended in 1994 to allow for civil cases related to interstate commerce, which includes computers and any other device that connects to or transmits data over the Internet.

McGraw-Hill Education Receives First AEP Talent Development Innovator Award

At the Hall of Fame breakfast on Dec. 3, 2009, AEP honored McGraw-Hill Education with its inaugural Talent Development Innovator Award. The award, established through the support of Nelson B. Heller, Ph.D., recognizes individuals and companies that strive to create the next generation of successful industry leaders through their outstanding hiring, professional development, and career advancement programs.

McGraw-Hill was chosen for its vast investment in creating the future leaders of educational publishing, from its internship program focusing on new recruits to leadership and management programs that invest in the skills of current, valuable employees.