Interview with Paul Gussman who is the Director of High School Initiatives/High School Education at the State Department of Education. He oversees the development of the California Career Technical Education Framework for California Public Schools, Grades Seven Through Twelve.

(PM) Thank Paul for taking the time to speak with me today.

(PG) Sure. I thank you for doing this work.

(PM) What role does the Department of Education play in developing digital media arts?

(PG) Big question. They play several roles. First they develop the California Career Technical Education Curriculum Standards for Grades seven-12. These standards are divided into 15 industry sectors. Each industry sector has different career pathways. The one we are most interested in here would be the Arts, Media, and Entertainment Industry Sectors. Then these standards are broken out according to three career pathway areas, Media and Design Arts, Performing Arts and Production and Managerial Arts.

There are two kinds of standards within each area, one is called "foundation standards" and the second are "career pathway standards." You might want to include some quotes from this document because it sets the stage for everything we do.

(Quote page 47 from the Standards)

"Of all the career industries, the Arts, Media and Entertainment sector requires perhaps the greatest cross-disciplinary interaction and development because the work in this sector has a propensity to be largely project-based, requiring uniquely independent work and self-management skills. New technological developments are also constantly reshaping the boundaries and skill sets of many career pathways. Consequently, core arts sector occupations demand constantly varying combinations of artistic imagination, metaphoric representation, symbolic connections and technical skills. Successful career preparation involves both in-depth and broad academic preparation as well as the cultivation of such intangible assets as flexibility, problem-solving abilities, and interpersonal skills. "

Another thing we do is to oversee the development of the soon-to-be-released Career Technical Education Framework for California Public Schools, Grades seven Through Twelve.

I think the framework will be a great addition to our set of resources.

This division also provides help and assistance to the California Partnership Academies, which are schools within schools. These specialized programs include a close working relationship to the business sector. So, the industry is setting the standards that schools will follow.

We also provide policy guidance to other state agencies that work in this area. Naturally, we work with Workforce Investment and Community colleges for example. The point is in this day and age, what we teach in school has to be connected to the greater world, the world of work and work-force development.

In fact in 1998 the legislature passed AB 1542 that mandates that all agencies that work in the career and workforce development areas sign onto an interagency agreement that is based upon the principle that "California must have a world class system of education and training linked to economic development in order to meet the demands of a global economy."

So, CDE recognizes its responsibilities to provide assistance to our schools within the context of workforce development. The students need to know what the world of work is like and what each career pathway will require. We need to provide a sound foundation for that. I like to put it this way. "In a knowledge based economy the most valuable asset is learning how to learn." That means we need to develop ways to get students to know how problem-solve and interpret information rather than just provide them with memory banks filled with bites of information and data.

(PM) I want to go back to the Framework for a moment. What is the function of the Framework?

(PG) Well, the standards are basically what students need to learn to be successful in school or careers. The Framework is a blueprint for educators to follow so they can implement the standards. They are not mandates, but rather they provide a context for the content of the standards, examines best practices and explores other areas of implementation such as model programs and strategies. I also like to point out that somewhere in this area we discuss life-long learning. We hope the Framework provides a context for why students should get a grounding in skills that they can expand throughout their lives. The world of work is not static. Especially in the arts, media and entertainment sectors. Things change rapidly and people who enter these industries must understand they will need to continue education throughout their lives.

(PM) I always talk about the importance of digital media arts in this day of the knowledge revolution. Is that true for education?

(PG) yes, I am glad you brought that up. There is the knowledge revolution and a knowledge-based economy. Things have changed. In the 40s and 50s for example we were still in an industrial based economy, the world of the left-brain if you will. The assumptions about what students need to learn have changed. There is a much greater emphasis on innovation and creativity today than there was. Think about that, if you were a worker in a classic manufacturing industry, chances are you only needed to know about your little piece of the world. You did your operation many times over. Today every worker has to be aware of meaning. Every worker needs to possess knowledge, which is information in a context.

Education has to keep pace. The main shift I see is that Education has to shift from an Entitlement mentality to an Investment mentality. We can't be preoccupied with supply we have to worry about the demand side. Everyone today expects a Return on Investment. So education today can't be content with a kind of accountability that says, "We gave the students so many hours of work within the curriculum. "Today we have to ask what have they learned and find ways to communicate with students on a variety of levels. The other thing is we need to understand what it is industry leaders; the employers want.

That shift has consequences. . First I think educators need to understand systems. The old system used a command and control model. Leadership was at the apex of the triangle. Leaders commanded and controlled downward. In the knowledge age it is about learning how to learn.

The pyramid is flattened and now the triangle has morphed into a circle. Now the leader leads through a "serve and respond" model. It used to be that a Principal could be expected to jump into a classroom and teach any class. Now that would be impossible. The knowledge base today is so vast. The systems were linear. No more.

In my opinion we still spend too much time re-working the student. We just remediate them until they get it right. What we should be doing is rework the system.

So a good administrator works best when they serve and respond, give teachers resources and "coaching" and get out of the way. They should clear hurdles.

(PM) What is the role of County Superintendents?

(PG) Well they have a large and important role. As you know the County Superintendents are intimately involved in curriculum and leadership. The County Superintendent also has a great role to play in career tech education. Industry today is regionally based. That means they may have county-wide interests and may not be able to deal with individual districts especially smaller ones. They have responsibility to develop and administer ROP programs. I know that some Charter Schools are also under their purview. The County is a good sector of government to assist. They can facilitate change. They can engage the community and attract resources that individual districts might not be able to do. Good luck to you on this project.

(PM) Thanks Paul.