The Penn Foster Blog

Amidst a growing trend of employers implementing in-house training programs, JetBlue has recently announced that it will launch a recruitment program which will train students with no flying experience to become pilots. The program, called Gateway 7, will complement JetBlue's six existing recruitment programs and will train two dozen students on an introductory basis in summer 2016.1 Although this particular program is highly specialized to the aviation field, employers from a variety of industries can reap tremendous rewards from applying this type of initiative to their own recruiting efforts. Read on to learn how an employee training program can benefit your business:

This afternoon, the White House announced a new bipartisan victory: President Obama has officially signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) into law. On the heels of the House of Representatives favorable vote of 359-64 last week, the Senate voted 85-12 in favor of the Act on Wednesday. The ESSA is the latest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a replacement of the dated and universally unfavored No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

The first women's rights convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. It marked the beginning of the official nationwide effort to advance women's rights, from being granted the right to vote and lobbying against job discrimination to the legal use of contraceptives, and it launched the modern feminist movement.

Transportation issues are preventing some people from getting a college education. The Congressional Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance identified the lack of efficient transportation as one of the barriers to postsecondary education1 - it limits one's choice of schools, prevent students from arriving to class on time and causes such hassles as difficulty visiting financial aid offices and libraries during business hours.

For many retailers, recruiting and retaining skilled employees is tough. According to a joint survey from CareerBuilder and WorkInRetail.com, 36 percent of retail hiring managers said retaining top talent is one of the most challenging parts of their job, and 29 percent said that recruiting skilled talent is a top challenge.1 Some retailers turn to volume recruiting to try to solve the problem, but the result is only high turnover.

High schools that take an active role in encouraging their students to pursue higher education should consider offering a dual enrollment program. Dual enrollment is a partnership between a high school and a local college that enables students to take college classes for credit while earning their high school diploma. In some cases, classes are taught at the high school by college-approved teachers, and in other arrangements, the high school students are taught by college faculty on the college campus. There are many benefits of such programs and many ways they encourage success in high school students.

Earlier this month, our team had the opportunity to travel down to Atlanta, GA to join Le Cordon Bleu (LCB) in celebrating their most recent class of graduates " including two Penn Foster High School graduates from LCB's Pathway Program! With over 1500 attendees, the graduation ceremony brought in family, friends and alumni who came to celebrate the recent graduates.

The whole reason students go to college is better employment opportunities, making your school's career center vital to its mission to serve students. In addition, a good career center helps your school thrive under the new gainful employment regulations, in which a career college's eligibility for federal student aid depends on how well its students are prepared for "gainful employment" in a recognized occupation. The Department of Education recognizes a program as leading to gainful employment if the estimated annual loan repayments of its graduates do not exceed 20 percent of their discretionary income or 8 percent of total income.1 To help students land a good job after graduation, your career center should offer the following services and resources:

As we take the time to reflect upon what we're most thankful for this holiday season, I am filled with gratitude whenever I get the chance to witness something truly remarkable. Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to attend Penn Foster's Scranton-based graduation and student meet-up event, orchestrated for 60 students and their 200+ family and friends. Our students have overcome some of the toughest obstacles and have faced myriad hardships throughout their lifetimes - yet have defied the odds and persevered in order to gain their education. Seeing the joy, the tears, the proud families and friends standing by as each of our graduates walked across the stage fills me with a sense of utter gratitude to have the privilege of being a small part of something meaningful.

Each year, the Penn Foster team has the opportunity to attend some of the most prestigious conferences in the career college and private postsecondary education space. This year, we rounded out our circuit with a quick succession of trips to the California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools (CAPPS), Accrediting Council for Continuing Education and Training (ACCET), and Career Colleges and Schools of Texas (CCST) conferences. After attending numerous sessions and speaking with attendees from various schools, it quickly became evident that the industry is shifting its indicators of success. Schools are placing more emphasis than ever on student outcomes, and are using new technologies to help them adapt to these new standards. Read on to discover what technologies schools are using to ensure improved student outcomes: