The Penn Foster Blog

Recently, Wal-Mart began piloting an initiative to train entry-level service workers through a 6 month blended learning program. The corporation will implement this training program nationwide in more than 4,500 U.S. stores in early 2016. Most notably, this program fundamentally challenges the company's well-known mantra of low-costs and efficiency by developing a new model based on investing in workforce development. This shift has tremendous implications for millions of entry-level workers across the service industry, especially for the retail, foodservice, and hospitality spaces.

All college students experience at least some stress during their college career. Most students get stressed while learning how to juggle personal responsibilities with coursework, for example, and as final exams approach. But stress levels for certain college students can soar during such times, and without resources to cope or get help, they become at risk for a variety of physical and emotional side effects. Their academic performance may suffer as well and, if it goes on long enough, they may decide to leave school.

The White House recently announced two major changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, designed to make it easier for students to apply for aid:1

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.