Joe E. Ross, President of Reach University: Turning Jobs Into Degrees

Episode 95 November 15, 2024 00:28:35
Joe E. Ross, President of Reach University: Turning Jobs Into Degrees
WorkforceRx
Joe E. Ross, President of Reach University: Turning Jobs Into Degrees

Nov 15 2024 | 00:28:35

/

Show Notes

For those who can’t afford to leave their job to earn a degree, there’s a relatively new ‘learn and earn’ model that essentially turns a job into a degree program. It’s called the apprenticeship degree, and we’re going to learn all about it on today’s episode of WorkforceRx from Joe Ross, president of Reach University, which is dedicated to growing this approach. As Ross tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, Reach’s first area of focus is K-12 schools where it can offer classroom aides, cafeteria workers and other staff without bachelor’s degrees a pathway to the teaching profession. A typical student might do online seminars twice per week in addition to working fulltime. Not only will this help with the teacher shortage, Ross says, it also increases diversity. “Paraeducators are much more likely to look like the students they serve in a given community than the teachers.” Find out how the programs are funded, how liberal arts courses can be integrated into the workplace experience and what models Reach is developing for the behavioral health sector as this innovation becomes more popular.

Other Episodes

Episode 101

February 26, 2025 00:27:57
Episode Cover

Dr. William Hazel, CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities: Building Virginia’s Workforce Highway

As a physician for many decades and former Secretary of Health and Human Resources in Virginia for eight years, Dr. Bill Hazel has come...

Listen

Episode 33

February 22, 2022 00:35:17
Episode Cover

Stephanie Mercado, CEO of the National Association for Healthcare Quality: Meet the Hidden Teams Driving Quality of Care

You might think improving healthcare quality is largely in the hands of the clinicians providing the care, but much of this challenging work is...

Listen

Episode 5

September 04, 2020 00:21:30
Episode Cover

Jaime Fall, Director of UpSkill America at the Aspen Institute: Invest in a Culture of Learning

If you want to know how employers are changing their thinking about educating workers in the wake of COVID, Jaime Fall is in a...

Listen