A big thanks to Shawn Dilly for joining me on the podcast to discuss his priorities as asst. superintendent of instructional support for Jefferson County (WV) schools. Shawn describes the important job that high schools have in developing the skills to succeed in the workplace of tomorrow. He explains what skills he believes are most important and the instructional shifts required to bring these to fruition. Enjoy! 

Details:

• 0:00~1:19 Introduction
• 1:19~2:17 Shawn’s role as Deputy Superintendent of Instructional Support
• 2:17~4:02 Passion for financial education
• 4:02~6:45 Strategies to influence state legislature
• 6:45~10:40 Reconsidering high school graduation requirements
• 10:40~13:34 Deficiencies of employability skills
• 13:34~17:04 Developing employability skills
• 17:04~17:29 A word from NGPF
• 17:29~23:35 Instrumental shifts necessary to teach important skills
• 23:35~25:21 Successful cases of changing instructional environments
• 25:21~27:56 Experimentation in the school district
• 27:56~30:46 Education with the future in mind
• 30:46~32:25 Conclusion 

Notable Quote:

“Part of it is not about curriculum, part of it is about how we approach the curriculum and how the classroom instructional environment looks. This is more critical I think because a lot of the very traditional approaches to education do not promote the opportunities for kids to really engage in a much more real-world, critical experience where they can really evolve and develop central skills.”

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NGPF has a lesson and multiple activities to help build these employability skills in your students. Check out the lesson here! 

About the Authors

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

Ren Makino

Ren started interning at NGPF in 2014, and worked part-time through high school and college. With his knowledge growing alongside NGPF, he joined the team to work full-time after graduating from college in 2020. He is also the producer of the NGPF podcast. During his free time, he likes to try out coffees from different roasters across the world.