Global Trends

Assignment # 1

Global Trends Analysis

by

Angela Kisor

MSL 0690 OL1 CRN 50663

International Leadership Perspectives

Nova Southeastern University

July 17, 2011

Introduction to the issues

There are two global trends in education that affect the Ironton-Lawrence County

Community Action Organization Head Start program. The first is a growing proportion of employees are expected to have a degree in order to succeed in today’s workforce. New regulations currently require a greater percentage of employees in Head Start programs to have a degree in Early Childhood Education or a related field. According to Hart & Schumacher [ (Hart, 2005) ], “The federal Administration for Children and Families, which oversees Head Start, set as a goal that each Head Start program achieve the 50 percent degreed teacher benchmark by 2003.” Head Start programs continue to pursue compliance of this regulation. The federal government has invested millions of dollars in recent years to help programs achieve this goal by assisting employees in acquiring their college degree. Ohio University Southern has actually had cohorts of students from Head Start who worked together on a degree in Early Childhood Education. This demand has also increased enrollment in the college. “The argument that a knowledge-driven economy demands a larger proportion of the workforce with a university education and with access to lifelong learning opportunities has had a major impact on participation rates in tertiary education” [ (Brown, 2008) ].

The second global trend that affects the Ironton-Lawrence County Community

Action Organization Head Start program is technology. There are new and improved uses of technology every day. However, teachers often have difficulty effectively using technology to improve student outcomes. “One possible explanation for this lack of success is that the use of technology in the classroom has been viewed in terms of simple skill acquisition instead of as a change process...