Improvements in Educational Pathways

Improvements in
Educational Pathways
For West Valley College
California Polytechnic, Industrial
Technology
Authors
Michael Pearlman
Michael Job

Table of Contents
Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1
Table 1: Hierarchy of Project Needs........................................................ 2
Background and Related Work................................................................ 2
Objectives ................................................................................................ 3
Contribution............................................................................................. 3
Scope of the Project ................................................................................. 4
Literature Review..................................................................................................5
Importance of Literature Search .............................................................. 5
Overview of Organization........................................................................ 6
Current Improvement Programs .............................................................. 6
Industry Proposals.................................................................................... 7
LEED Professional Credentials ............................................................... 8
Energy Efficiency Services Sector........................................................... 9
Pathway Dynamic .................................................................................... 9
Interview Citation and Commentary........................................................ 9
Literature Review Conclusion ............................................................... 10
Table II: Needs of Project vs. Previous Proposals................................. 12
Procedure / Methodology................................................................................... 13
Surveys................................................................................................... 13
Survey Results ....................................................................................... 19
Results / Discussion........................................................................................... 20
Relationship between Industry and Curriculum .....................................20
Local Projects......................................................................................... 22
Labor Unions ......................................................................................... 22
High School to Community College...................................................... 23
University............................................................................................... 24
Implementation with Faculty, Administration, and Students ............................ 25
Faculty.................................................................................................... 25
Administration ....................................................................................... 26
Students.................................................................................................. 26
SWOT .................................................................................................... 28
SWOT Analysis Expansion ............................................................................... 29
Strengths ................................................................................................ 29
Weaknesses............................................................................................ 29
Opportunities.......................................................................................... 30
Threats.................................................................................................... 32
Conclusion / Observations................................................................................. 33
Summary................................................................................................ 33
What We Have Learned......................................................................... 33
Open Problems....................................................................................... 34
Conclusions and Observations............................................................... 34
Classes Used Chart ................................................................................ 36
Works Cited ....................................................................................................... 37
Gantt Chart......................................................................................................... 38

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Section I
Introduction
Problem Statement
West Valley College, a public community college located in Saratoga, California, is developing
new ways to help move students from differing backgrounds in education and experience
navigate into technology based industries that are in high demand of skilled employees.
Currently, the educational pathways oriented towards sustainable fields are underperforming.
One of the challenges they are facing is four-year universities lack funding to provide all the
necessary classes, community colleges have not recognized the coursework required to address
the industry and students’ needs, and students struggle to see what the path is to their desired
career. David Esmaili, AWET director at West Valley College, and Patricia L. Call, Interim
Director at West Valley College, have identified specific regions of northern and central
California that this project intends to target, along with a specific industry to build a pathway for:
Green-Building. It will be this project’s responsibility to determine where and why the current
processes are failing, where improvements can be made, and where new programs need to be
implemented. This project is important to West Valley College and the regions of California
being targeted because current industries are lacking skilled employees to fulfill current jobs.
The current educational system lacks the necessary capacities to inform and efficiently produce
environmentally focused professionals. With the successful completion of this project, thousands
of students could be impacted and introduced to careers in the sustainable fields. These findings
can lead to an increase in green manufacturing, specifically in the building industry, and in turn
help the targeted regions. This project will help students find their way to desired jobs in highly
needed sustainable fields.
Justification
West Valley College and this project are targeting twelve regions of central and northern
California to vastly improve their pathways to educate students and match the demands of the
workforce. With an increasing gap in the number of graduates trained in green building strategies
and other sustainable fields and a large growth in these industry fields, a new efficient and
effective plan to offer options to and educate students is necessary. There are many factors that

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will influence the effectiveness of this project as has been explained by David Esmaili and
Patricia Call. Those factors are outlined in Table 1.
Table 1. Hierarchy of Project Needs
# Description of Needs Importance
1 Identifying current failures 3
2 Improving Core
Competencies
2
3 Identifying Waste 2
4 Introduce New Pathway 5
5 Increase Student
Satisfaction
4
6 Cost of Implementation 3
Importance Scale: 4=Highest Importance, 1=Lowest Importance
The main focus of this project is to introduce a new pathway for students in the targeted regions
to enter the green building industry in multiple positions and levels of education and skill.
Background or Related Work
Recently the state of California has identified marketplace trends and has made a large push into
developing new ways of educating students in “Green” fields to match workforce needs. The
state has budgeted $250 million to the California Edge Coalition, a foundation that develops
career pathways and distributes grants to multiple educational bodies. The Green Academies
(www.FourEnergy.org), is an online resource for teachers that provides “Green” curriculums and
train-the-trainers programs for teachers on sustainability, funded by the California Department of
Education. This is an important resource that outlines the current educational structures that are
being used and the newest thoughts on improving this type of education. Researchers at the
Berkeley National Laboratory have studied and published on the topic of workforce and training
needs for the energy efficiency sector. This is a starting point for understanding the magnitude of
need that this workforce has.

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Objectives
The goal of this project is to make a realistic and effective proposal to implement a new
educational pathway for students from twelve regions of California with differing backgrounds
to enter the green building industry and be effective employees. Much research on the current
systems has already been done and proposals from different foundations and agencies have
already been made. The main goal of this project will be to bring the best aspects of those
projects together, remove waste from those proposals and current processes, and bring a student
perspective to the problem. Having been through the system recently, this team is optimally
positioned to offer insights to the biggest bottlenecks in the system that is being overlooked. Our
recommendation will consist of three major aspects:
1. Identifying the current failures in the multiple active systems.
2. Redesigning the systems into one efficient, tiered pathway.
3. Quantifying the cost of implementing this projects proposed plan.
Contribution
Currently, students have multiple paths available that they can take advantage of to try to get to
an end goal, in most cases a career. For students interested in sustainable industries, these paths
are harder to find and in early stages. Educational programs are young and are not entirely
aligned with industry needs leaving graduates less competent that industry requires. Some
students struggle to find the correct path out of high school and end up not entering the field
altogether. This leaves a skills gap in the workforce that needs to be addressed. This project will
try to implement a new pathway that combines the many current pathways into one,
interconnected efficient pathway that students can easily understand. The development of the
sustainable industries has been explosive; the education and training of students trying to enter
the industry has lagged and needs to be improved. One of the biggest challenges facing high
school students or adults looking to adapt to a modern marketplace is finding the right
educational path that will give them the skills to succeed in finding and keeping a job. The focus
of this project is help students easily understand what is needed of them to get to their desired
careers.

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Scope of the Project
The scope of this project is clearly defined, yet encompasses a huge number of factors and
possible “customers.” We will be targeting twelve regions of northern and central California’s
educational systems. These systems start with Green Academies (high schools) and funnel into
community colleges, universities and night schools. All of these systems end with graduates
trying to enter industry. This team will try to streamline the path to the green building industry
for as many students as possible. The deliverables include SWOT analysis, several surveys and
their data, proposed changes and suggestions for implementation.

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Section II
Literature Review
This project will develop a new pathway for students to take to become trained and educated in
the green building industry. Currently, students can enter multiple paths that include public high
schools, Green Academies, community colleges, four-year universities, and night schools. These
paths are fragmented and often create confusion for those attempting to navigate through them.
Students find themselves lost trying to determine which classes to take, what schools to go to,
and how they will end up in the position they are working towards. Our team will develop an
integrated, tiered pathway that clearly defines and explains what schools one should go to and
what classes should be taken to achieve one’s goals. This pathway will be aligned with industry
needs so that graduates will be trained with relevant knowledge to be effective employees. This
project will research key factors involved in the processes including: high school curricula, what
are the current workforce needs in this industry, where is the educational system lacking, what
are the current roadblocks to implementation. The green building industry has been expanding at
an extreme rate, as have the rest of the sustainable industries, and the demand for well-trained
employees continues to grow. The purpose of this project is to provide a way for students to fill
that gap.
Importance of Literature Search
Without appropriate base knowledge of current systems and current improvement proposals this
team could not effectively develop and improved, integrated pathway for the targeted regions of
California. A review of literature will provide this team with an understanding of the existing
processes that California has developed and implemented, which will allow us to determine what
the core competencies of those systems are, as well as what their failings are. Our team will be
able to use that information to redesign processes and implement our own ideas where we find
shortcomings. By researching the current systems this team will gain invaluable insight into the
roadblocks facing implementation and possible solutions to problems that will have to be
overcome. Research will also give the project insight into what solutions other proposals have
introduced. This will help give our team inspiration for our own ideas as well as give us material
to integrate into our proposal. The team may find problems in other proposals, which can be

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addressed in our plan. Research will help define the project and give the team a working base of
knowledge to start from.
Overview of Organization
To accurately capture the information needed for this team to effectively develop a pathway, the
literature research is primarily based in current systems that the regions are using and programs
introduced to improve those systems. These two main topics have been broken into subsections.
The main focus of research has been into improvement programs introduced so that our team can
better understand the current thought processes of other developers.
Current Improvement Programs
One of the most important groups developing improvement plans and influencing the
advancement of “Green” education is the California Edge Coalition. This organization develops
career pathways for industries that are lacking skilled workers. At its foundation this group is
doing what this project intends to do, however their scope is much larger and does not bring the
perspective that our team does as current students. The California Edge Coalition has been
budgeted $250 million by the California state legislature to distribute as grants to charter schools,
school districts, and community college’s that it deems are working towards improved education
in necessary STEM fields (Brauer, J. 2013). The influx of funding from the state government is
critical to the success of this initiative. Many of the schools that are crucial players in
implementing any improved pathway are public entities and are publicly funded. These programs
must be cost effective and clearly present benefits to students. The coalition provides clear policy
issues that it is focused on, which if acted on by legislators would create major improvements to
the system. Some of these ideas can be narrowed down and specialized to this projects focus:
LEED Green-Building. The Bay Area Community College Consortium (BACCC, 2013)
introduced another important program for students to utilize. This website allows students to
explore the different community college programs that one can enroll in and what careers that
program might lead to. This is an important part of creating transparency for incoming students
and explaining how one can get to their end goal. It focuses on “Green” careers and explains the
large growth the industry has seen. This type of education should be integrated into our program,
as well as all improvement programs. Students need to become aware that high paying careers

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are available in these industries. The website provides information on multiple college options,
costs, and job statistics (BACCC, 2013). These are all necessary aspects of a developed pathway
for students to follow.
Industry Proposals
Industry has also identified the need for better pathways in education to provide them with
skilled employees. PG&E has introduced its own proposal for a new skilled workforce to help
the company meet its new renewable energy goals. The company needs to save 4,500 megawatts
by 2021. To accomplish this goal, new facilities will need to be built, designed, and run by
skilled workers. PG&E wants to work with pathway developers to introduce new education
curricula that will provide them with workers in every sector of their company that are
competent and stimulated (Shell, L 2012). The interaction with industry is critical to success of
any program. Students need feedback from leaders in industry to validate educational claims of
job opportunities and the relevancy of coursework. These tie into our teams’ current experience.
The shortcomings of the PG&E program are simply that its scope is only focused on a specific
project and their results may not be able to be extrapolated to other industries or even to the
energy industry as a whole. Our project must keep this flaw in mind and focus our scope on an
entire industry and not specific projects or individual companies.
LEED Professional Credentials
With companies like PG&E encouraging energy savings the U.S. Green Building Council’s
LEED credentials have become under greater demand. Several certificates are offered by the
USGBC ( US Green Building Council) the first of these is the Green Rater certificate. The Green
Rater certificate allows for current professionals to go back to school briefly to get certified in
rating, designing, and building green homes (USGBC, 2013). This enables contractors, building
inspectors, energy raters etc. to get an edge on the field and allows them to learn new skills. We
are analyzing how we can create awareness for this certificate and build it into curriculums for
those who are returning to school.

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Energy Efficiency Services Sector: Workforce Education and Training Needs
“It is almost impossible to find someone with energy efficiency program management
experience.” (Energy Efficiency, 2010). Management positions in energy efficiency are in high
demand, green demands in the market are outpacing the education system and many companies
are forced to find and train employees instead of hiring based off previous experience in the
field. This creates a real need to implement our project; if we can effectively introduce effective
pathways leading the way for education in energy efficiency we will see a high employment rate
for graduates.
Pathway Dynamic
It is essential for us to dissect the current system, identify what is the dynamic between high
schools, community colleges, four year colleges, and industry. There are many pathways that
lead between them and student success if based off the correct navigation of these paths. One of
the crucial resources we have been examining for this is the Career Ladders Project a project
dedicated to creating career advancement through education in a holistic approach. Career
Ladders has examined the connection between high schools and community colleges, they are
creating programs that allow for more technical work in high school and then transfer to
mentoring programs and technical programs at community (Careerladdersproject.org).
Understanding and mimicking programs like this are essential because they create students who
are hirable and are set on a pathway with specifically defined goals.
Interview Citation and Commentary
We interviewed Leticia Soohoo who owns Soohoocity an architecture company offering full-
service architectural design, green building strategy, and sustainability planning service.
The first question we discussed was how to successfully integrate LEED Certifications into a
classroom setting. Soohoo suggested setting up a framework of workshops to support lean design
programs already in existence. These workshops would be setup in the evenings creating
availability for students’ continuing education. She also suggested setting up a more hands on
approach implementing mock projects that go hand in hand with lecturing, participation in
contests, and partnering with companies to create internships and project opportunities.

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The second question we examined was what other accreditation could be built into the program.
She suggested examining the Living Buildings Challenge, the LEED for Homes AP
specialization, and Green Point Ratings.
The third and final question we wanted to examine was what strategic partners in industry,
education, and government can we contact. She suggested examining setting up mentorship
programs to help students discover which specialty they are interested in. These mentorships
would be setup with local companies and national organizations such as AMIA (American
Institute of Architects), labor unions, and construction companies. These organizations could
provide professional advice, guest lectures, informal and formal internships and project creation
or consultation.
We interviewed John Diffenderfer who is part of Aedis Architects a full service architectural
firm specializing in educational facilities. The conversation with Mr. Diffenderfer ranged
between many topics but primarily we discussed how to implement a successful Green Building
Program. He suggested examining existing majors and offering a program that integrated into
these various programs such as construction management, architecture, environmental science,
and other programs that had relevance in LEED Certifications and Green Building. He posed the
point that by creating a supplemental program you could pull in more interest and more students
than building a whole program from the ground up. This would go hand in hand with the
principles of green building, those being the combination of various fields to create a well-
rounded multi-disciplined program.
Secondly we examined how we could pull in industry support. He posed the point that because
this program is multi-disciplined many companies would be interested in supporting it. He
suggested looking into Autodesk, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, and various facilities
management and construction companies. The idea would be to spark industry sponsorship via
donated equipment and projects.

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We interviewed Kelly Cardella who is a vice president of HGA Architecture and Planning. Our
desire was to examine what weaknesses schools had in their current systems, primarily dealing
with recent graduates’ integration into the workforce. We discussed this in detail and she present
several interesting points to us. First of those was the lack of practical knowledge, she told us
that often architect students can build beautiful buildings but lack the understanding of how they
will be used, how they will affect the community and how they can be constructed. She also told
us how students typically lack social skills, such as team and professional communication. Also
she pointed out that they are lacking in public speaking skills.
We moved on to discuss in general what could fix these problems and what assets and skills she
saw valuable in a graduating student. She stressed that students need a multi-disciplinary
understanding or exposure to problems. She suggested that classes be offered that combine
disciplines such as engineering, business, construction, and work-flow management to create a
more holistic approach. She suggested that building in networking and real-world experience
would benefit programs. Such as making students participate in local AIA (American Institute of
Architects) Chapters, working on free community outreach programs such as green auditing and
other such programs. This would allow students to network with companies and professionals as
well as developing communication and presentation skills as well as gaining real world
experience.
In this interview, we discussed with Anjana Richards her current projects at the Career
Ladders Project. The Career Ladders Project is an organization dedicated to developing new
educational pathways for the areas of public education that are struggling the most. We talked
about what types of programs she wants to develop for community colleges and where she feels
they are currently failing. One of the biggest shortcomings she mentioned about the community
colleges was their continuity with apprenticeship programs and with four-year universities. She
suggested that we incorporate a connection between community colleges and labor unions. This
would help bring together to major sources of secondary job training for workers in specialized
fields and help improve future job mobility.
We interviewed Amedeo Simoncini. This interview discussed the important aspects of energy
engineering and the current failings of the education system in training engineers and architects

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in total energy understanding. The major shortcoming mentioned was in the education of
thermodynamics, mainly at the community college level. Amedeo explained that when designing
and building sustainable buildings the most important concept for professionals to understand is
thermodynamics and he expressed that many institutions are not succeeding at training students
in that subject. We also discussed his involvement in a program at SFSU that has students
conduct energy audits. These audits are a real world project that allows students to get hands on
experience in the energy field. They audit real companies and produce extremely specific reports
concerning that company’s energy usage and how they might improve. This is an educational
model that might be implemented in our pathways.
We discussed with John Carrese the major uses of energy in the state of California and
the major industries that are lacking skilled employees in the energy field. He provided us with
statistics concerning the uses of energy in the state of California and helped connect us with
other people in the energy field.
Literature Review Conclusion
The proposals reviewed have distinct advantages and disadvantages. The California Edge
Coalition is a well-funded foundation with distinct goals. This is important because they can
actively pursue the legislature and push agendas for public education reform. However, the
foundation has a very large scope and may have a hard time making in-depth change in any one
industry. This project will try to very effectively change how students enter the specific LEED
Green-Building industry. The BACCC is another useful resource for students. It provides
necessary information about community colleges and job opportunities, though the current
system lacks connections to four-year university programs, which may be where incoming
students plan on heading. Our team will develop a plan that integrates all paths to multiple
education levels and career entry levels into a tiered plan for students to follow. PG&E is
providing an important link between industry and education, however as previously stated, the
scope of their involvement is possibly limited to their specific project. Our team must avoid
limiting our scope to specific projects or companies and focus on the targeted regions mentioned

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before. Table II displays the extent of coverage of previous proposals with the needs of this
project.
Table II: Needs of Project vs Previous Proposals
# Description of Need Covered by Previous
Proposals
Reason
1 Identifying current failures 2 Most do not address the
current failures
2 Improving Core
Competencies
3 Proposals mainly are
improving current systems
3 Identifying Waste 1 Proposals do not address
wasteful processes
4 Introduce New Pathway 2 Only PG&E is addressing
completely new pathways
5 Increase Student Satisfaction 2 Improvements in theory are
for student success,
theoretically leading to
student satisfaction
6 Cost of Implementation 2 Programs are not
developed enough to
discuss specific costs

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Section III
Procedure/Methodology
As previously stated, the purpose of this project is to identify major problems in the current
educational pathways that lead individuals to careers in sustainable fields, mainly focusing on the
green building industry. This project also aims to present solutions to these problems and discuss
why those solutions would be more beneficial than the current system or other proposed
pathways. This section discusses the analysis of surveys conducted concerning our solutions. We
conducted three surveys to determine the validity of our findings. The results of those surveys
are discussed in the headings below.
Surveys
We developed a survey for three different segments of our pull system so that we might ascertain
how different groups think about this plan. We surveyed administrators, industry representatives,
and students. The results of the survey were analyzed and helped us decide if our solutions are
going to be accepted by universities and participated in by Industry and students.
The results of the administrators’ survey showed that our pull system could be an
acceptable solution for universities. It showed that 73.7% of the administrators that were polled
believe that interacting with Industry is beneficial and 84.2% believe that adding more
internships into coursework would improve the quality of education. They were receptive to the
idea of developing more specialized coursework for a specific industry of company in turn for
more guaranteed job placement for students. This is a cornerstone of our plan and therefore
important that all parties buy into the idea and feel it’s an important aspect of education.
Administrators were less receptive to the idea of working with labor unions, however they over
60% still thought it was a good idea. We believe that number may be high because most of the
administrative respondents work at four-year universities instead of community colleges where
there is more competition with the labor unions. However it is still a sign that this relationship
could be developed and that it would be beneficial to students.
We also conducted a survey to gather information from industry representatives to see
what their response would be to changing their relationships with universities and taking a more
active role in course development. Overwhelmingly the respondents said their companies would
be interested in creating a working relationship with a university to develop a more effective

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course load to train students for the real world and in return offer some guaranteed internships or
jobs to graduates of that program. This response is in line with the majority belief that recent
college graduates have not been trained as effectively as possible to come into the job market.
61.1 % of industry representatives indicated this, which shows a need for universities to change
some of their education to make students more ready for their careers. Two thirds of the
respondents said that their companies must train new hires to get them ready to work, 53.9% of
which have training that lasts six months or longer. This is a long time to have to train new
employees and there would be a benefit for both students and businesses if some of that training
could be eliminated through updated coursework.
We created a survey to pull data regarding students’ current involvement in school, and their
interest in our program. We wrote fifteen questions which were aimed to gather general
information regarding, age, schooling, their current involvement in extracurricular activities, use
of current extracurricular activities, and general interest in our pull system. The following are our
questions.
1. How old are you?
2. What is the highest level of education you have completed?
3. Does your school offer extracurricular activities?
4. How many extracurricular activities are you involved in?
5. Do you think extracurricular activities are helpful in learning more about your major?
6. Would you be interested in becoming more involved in extracurricular activities
pertaining to your major?
7. Does your school offer a job fair?
8. Have you attended?
9. Have you received a job or internship because of it?
10. If given additional networking methods would you attend?
11. If you have attended your first year in college do you feel that you exposed to sufficient
major specific projects, networking, internships and other opportunities your 1st
year?
12. If you have attended you first year in college do you feel that you were exposed to
sufficient major projects, networking, internships, and other opportunities your 2nd
year?

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13. Would you be interested in participating with a community outreach program through
your major?
14. If you were starting your college career would you be interested in applying for a
program directly affiliated with industry that guarantees graduates meeting requirements
interviews with companies for full-time positions?
program directly affiliated with industry that guarantees students meeting requirement
internship and co-op positions?
We received twenty-three responses; out of these responses we separated them into four age
categories. We then analyzed the trends between age and education and found that out:
20-22 23-24 18-19 16-18
9: 3 Years 3: Grad School 3: 2 Years 1: 1 Year
1: Grad School 3: Graduated
1: 2 Years 1: 3 Year
Total: 11 Total: 7 Total: 3 Total: 1
By examining this data we were able to determine the average education of an age group. We
then determined the relationship between education, age and extracurricular.
20-22 23-24 18-19 16-18
1: Zero 1: One 2: Zero 1: Zero
4: Two 2: Two 1: One
3: Three 2: Three
1: Four 2: Four
1: Five
By examining this data we hope we could correlate the progression of involvement with
extracurricular activities. We had low participation with the younger age groups, but we can still
observe a lower extracurricular participation with them. We can also see that most students with

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three years of college education are involved in on average 2.33 activities. Then those ranging
from graduated to graduate school on average participate in three activities.
We then asked a simple question on if they would be interested in participating in more
major based extracurricular activities.
20-22 23-24 18-19 16-18
10: Y 5: Y 3: Y 1: Y
1: N/A 1: N
The overwhelming response was yes, and there were very few nos.
We then tested our finding that most students felt they were under-involved in their major
their freshman and sophomore years.
1st
Year
20-22 23-24 18-19 16-18
11: N 1: N 3: N 1: N
6: Y
2nd
Year
20-22 23-24 23-24 18-19 16-18
5: Y 3: N 2: N 1: N/A
6: N 4: Y 1: N/A
The answer no meant they were not satisfied, the answer yes meant they were. We found that
most students thought their first year was no in-depth enough. We also found that the second
year was roughly even and students were mixed on their opinion. We believe that the first
answer helps support our findings that students are not exposed to enough major curriculum their
freshman year.
We also examined the effectiveness of job fairs, we asked before the following questions
if their school had a job fair and then collected the following data.

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We discovered that many students attend job fairs, but upwards of fifty percent do not find jobs
or internships at these events. This means there is room to grow. The following also indicates
students are interested in finding additional meeting industry.

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Our last set of questions was designed to see if students would be interested in
participating in our pull program we proposed. The following is their response.
program directly affiliated with industry that guarantees graduates meeting requirements
interviews with companies for full-time positions?
program directly affiliated with industry that guarantees students meeting requirement
internship and co-op positions?
We received overwhelming interest in this program; students seemed to be interested in
participating in a program that would open doors for them down the road.

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Section IV
Results/Discussions
This section discusses the approaches and solutions that this project has made. There are multiple
tools and concepts that have been created and could be implemented into current educational
systems. The solutions are explained in detail in this section, displaying the possible benefits and
effectiveness that they inherently have. Each solution has its own heading dedicated to
explaining what it is and how it will affect the educational systems, companies, and students
involved.
Relationship between Industry and Curriculum
Pull System
The pull system will interact and provide incentive to pull students through the program and fill
jobs that currently are waiting for people with the proper training and skill. Currently the
incentives are graduation and job openings. This will provide guaranteed jobs to students who
excel in specific programs. This will be a much more appealing and inspiring incentive to college
students.
Companies will commit to a school to develop a program that produces students with the
skills they want and require. They will spend time developing courses and curricula that they feel
reflect the current needs of industry. Specifically, they will explain to colleges what they are
looking for in new professionals and how those colleges can produce students who possess those
skills. An example of this is an architecture firm discussing with a university that new hires lack
strong communication skills, both intrapersonal and presentation, and the firm would like to see
a program that incorporates more communication classes and projects for architects. This
interaction will help guarantee that industries will get people trained in what they deem valuable
and that they will not have to spend months training new hires.
Schools will commit to companies to develop a program that better trains students for the
real world and builds school reputation with industry. Schools will discuss with companies what
the most lacking qualities in new professionals are, and how they can address these issues and
begin to develop new courses or curricula for specific industries. This will help schools

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modernize to train students in more effective ways. By doing this the school will also build its
reputation as an institution that produces effective professionals for industry.
Majors will be developed and tailored to meet a company’s need. As previously stated
companies and schools will work together to develop improved and modernized majors. These
will include courses that more accurately produce professionals who meet the needs of industry.
An important aspect of these newly designed majors will be cross training. Students need to be
capable of analyzing problems and projects from the viewpoint of multiple disciplines and be
able to communicate their views with others via communication and intrapersonal skills.
Students will choose to pursue the requirements agreed upon by school and company.
Part of the success of this system will be the participation of students in these newly designed
courses. These courses and curricula will be more difficult and time consuming than majors
currently are. Students will be disinclined to take on that endeavor, however with the incentive of
waiting jobs for that specific program students will be more engaged and interested in their
coursework.
Students also must be part of the process of designing these new programs. Their input is
a critical element to understanding what motivates students to engage and work hard on classes
and projects. Real world projects and competitions are the key drivers of student participation.
With more input from students, classes could become much more effective.
To provide protection to the companies engaged in this program, there will be
requirements for students eligible to fill the set number of position designated by the companies.
These requirements will be met throughout the students four years at higher education. The
requirements might include a minimum grade point average, industry accreditations (i.e. LEED),
and experience such as internships in the specific field that the individual is studying.
These requirements will produce well-trained and dedicated graduates to fill the
guaranteed positions in the companies who work with the programs. The students will have to
work extremely hard to meet the requirements; however they will have a much higher chance at
successfully getting a job in their chosen field upon graduation.
Every year a company will take a certain number of interns and every year hire a certain
number of full time employees from the specific program they helped designed, dependent on
enough students meeting all requirements agreed upon to fulfill the designated job slots. This
will ensure stability for the company in getting professionals trained how they deem necessary

22
and will provide a huge incentive to students studying at community colleges and four-year
universities.
Local Projects
One way to incorporate more real world industry projects and examples into courses would be to
interact with local businesses and professional associations. Local business could provide a
multitude of project for students to work on. Energy audits on any buildings could be a basis for
cost/benefit analysis, energy engineering, building design, and management. These projects
could be made into team competitions where multiple teams work on alternative solutions and
each present their findings to the company. The winner could then work with the company
during implementation and learn how plans actually get put into place in the real world and work
through new problems throughout that process. These types of projects will more thoroughly
engage students in their coursework.
Another way to bring students to industry is through the local professional associations.
Local clubs such as the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) could provide a place for
students to practice presentation skills outside of classrooms. They could present their projects to
professionals and get feedback about their work. Students could learn from the professional
presentations as well by seeing how real architecture problems are solved and how to present in a
professional ways. This would also be an important networking opportunity for students.
Meeting many professionals with connections to many firms and companies will benefit both
students and businesses match for internships and jobs.
These relationships with professional associations would also create a bridge for
professors and students to find and invite more guest speakers to classes. These speakers engage
students and excite them about what they are studying. Seeing excited people working and
looking for new recruits is what motivates students to work hard and creatively. Having more
and varied guest speakers would be a benefit to new curriculum.
Labor Unions
A major opportunity for development for community colleges is partnership with labor unions.
Labor unions have apprenticeship programs, which train high school graduates for one to two
years in unionized industries. These programs currently compete with community colleges for

23
students who recently graduated high school. The unions feel that the community colleges do not
teach as valuable material as the apprenticeship programs do and so they rarely hire community
college graduates. This creates a gap for community college graduates who want to enter those
fields. It also means that individuals who go through the apprenticeship programs are trapped in
that field because their training is so specialized.
The opportunity here is for the two organizations to partner. If students enter the
community college for one year and took basic coursework and general education courses and
then went onto the specialized apprenticeship programs, the result would be better-rounded
workers who have degrees and job mobility. The unions and community colleges would both
benefit because many more students would go through both programs. The industry would
benefit because they would have more skilled workers. And students would be more educated
and have more job mobility.
High School to Community College
There seems to be a discontinuity from the transfer between high school and community
colleges. Often students do not know what programs they want to join, what jobs they can expect
after graduation, or what skills they are expect to have.
Because of this we suggest a more involved partnership with high schools and
community colleges. Community colleges can be active in helping shape curriculum in high
schools giving them feedback on what skills they see students lacking and what areas they excel
in.
To help guide high schools we suggest that community colleges help provide extra-
curricular activities for high schools. These could include competitions, joint projects,
workshops, summer and night classes, and mentorship programs. Competitions would allow
students to explore areas they are interested and compete on a high level than available in high
school. Joint projects would allow high school students to work with professors and college
students providing exposure to upper level education. Workshops, summer, and night classes
would allow students to explore areas that high schools do not have the time or funding for.
Mentorship programs would allow teachers and students to learn leadership skills and pass on
experience to high school students.
Communication between high schools and community college is often lacking and often
only paid lip service to. High school students need to be educated as to what their options are

24
after graduation. Often the progression to community college is a fail-safe for when students do
not know what they want to do otherwise. Community college is often a good choice for students
who are not looking avoid high tuition or decide on a career path, this needs to be clearly
communicated. Representatives need to avoid the occasional lecture and brief touring that is used
now. These are only a surface exposure and do not give students an in depth understanding.
Instead councilors, teachers, and administration from high schools need to partner with them.
This can be done with the above-mentioned joint projects; these projects could include staff from
both schools. This would allow the merging of ideas and allow both groups to reach a better
understanding of each other, allowing each to make suggestions and help shape each school's
curriculum.
University
Community colleges serve as a starting point for many students who are trying to acquire their
bachelor degree. This two year transition can be difficult for many students who are unsure what
skills they need, what units they need to take, and if they can get into the university of their
choice. Because of this we feel it would be beneficial to set-up a partnership between local
university programs and community colleges.
This connection would allow for universities to give feedback on what skills and classes
students need before transferring. This would be done through the analysis of the existing
curriculum. This would be more informal if possible; it could be accomplished through a series
of quarterly seminars and workshops where teachers from both universities and community
discussed methodology, curriculum, new technology, and emerging trends. This system would
be tailored to help teachers keep uniformity in education so the jump from community college to
universities would not be too great. It would also allow for teachers to get feedback on what
areas students need to receive additional schooling in and what areas they are doing well in.
The next level of interaction would be between the administrations of each college. There
are often many misunderstandings as to what units transfer and what classes need to be taken.
These issues could be resolved by the administration setting up course plans that universities
would help mold to fit their needs.

25
Implementation with Faculty, Administration, and Students
Faculty
The successful implementation of this plan will be dependent on the instruction and
dedication of faculty at every institution it is being introduced to. The faculty must understand
what is trying to be achieved and then participate in multiple ways to make it a success.
First, workshops can be developed to instruct faculty on the changes and their main
functions. A key understanding of the research behind the decisions and changes will help get
professors motivated and excited about the changes. Discussions can be had about the emphasis
of each aspect to ascertain how the faculty views each step. Their input will be valuable and can
help shape the implementation process.
Workshops can also be used to develop coursework and curricula with industry.
Professor can meet with industry representatives and professionals and discuss in detail what
students should be learning and working on. These discussions will be critical for this process to
work effectively. The industry representatives must be interactive with an excited and receptive
faculty; therefore the participation of faculty is key.
Faculty must also be receptive to more industry speakers in their classes. When students
are able to hear from and interact with professionals it brings a new perspective to their
coursework and makes them excited about what they are studying. Teachers need to be proactive
in finding professionals to come to lectures and present current or past projects they have worked
on, showing students what to expect in industry. This is also a very important networking
opportunity for students and industry. When representatives come to schools they give students a
face for a company and an avenue to find jobs. Contacts in industry are critical for finding
internships and jobs.
Students are the other aspect of implementation that faculty must work with. The students
are who will benefit the most from these changes; however they will see them at the beginning as
more work. Professors must effectively explain and excite students about these programs.
Students who are informed and motivated will enter into these advanced and redesigned courses
and take advantage of the job placement associated with it.
Professors can also take student input about how classes are designed and run, and use
that input during workshops with industry. Both faculty and student input will help shape the
design of the industry sponsored programs and the implementation process.

26
Administration
Administration plays the role of enabling teachers and students; this must be done
through networking and connecting.
Administrators must play the role of connecting colleges with industry. This can be done
by organizing networking sessions, inviting industry professionals to workshops, creating
industry sponsored projects, and maintaining relationships with graduates.
Administrators also play an important role connecting the college to the community.
They must lead community outreach programs by networking with the community and
connecting faculty with field.
Inter-major coordination will also be an important aspect of their job. Typical systems
today have very isolated majors which tend not interact with others. Admin must break this by
connecting majors together; they can be the catalyst by creating more networking opportunities.
This can be by setting up inter-major curriculum, projects, community outreach projects, social
events, or sponsoring clubs.
Inter-major coordination is an area in which we believe that there is the largest
opportunity for growth. Typically most majors are separated by curriculum requirements and
separate funding. These must be overcome, because one of the most valuable skills a college
graduate can have is the ability to work with multidisciplinary teams. In industry engineers work
with architects, business students work with manufacturing, graphics design, etc. For a program
to excel they must instill this into their students so they are prepared to enter the real world.
Students
One of the main complaints that are heard from underclassmen is how they are unable to
become involved in their major. In our survey we polled a majority of students who thought their
first year did not have enough involvement in their major. Then during their second year we
polled significant amount who thought they did not have enough involvement. This is
disappointing because students are often most motivated and curious their first year into college,
if they do not become involved in extracurricular activities, projects, etc. they will not be able to
set good habits and will be less likely to become involved later when something else has filled
their free time.

27
We propose that to counteract this college’s immerse their students in their major
offering in-depth lower level intro classes which encourage involvement in extracurricular
activities that are major related. This would allow for students to dive into their major and
establish themselves. From personal experience and interviewing other college students we have
found that most students feel that they were not given enough opportunities as a freshman and
sophomore.
To enable students to get involved in their majors early on we suggest colleges
participating in more competitions / challenges. Competitions are motivating for students
pressing them to excel in their major while driving for a clearer goal than most classes can
establish. This would be a good way to introduce students to their major and entice them towards
future involvement. From personal experience we believe that colleges tend to delegate students
to GE’s their freshmen and sophomore year thus shunning them from their major and allowing
them to pick-up other responsibilities outside of their major to invest themselves in.
Involvement in major related activities also extends to networking. Students should be
exposed mandatorily to networking with industry. The majority of students will be graduating
college to move to industry, having exposure to industry will allow for an easy transition and
will give the students a better understanding of it. Networking can be done through meet and
greets, industry sponsored projects, guest lecturers, clubs, and community outreach.

28
Strengths
 West Valley College Department of Interior Design
o Strong interaction with Industry
 Fundamental Building Design
 LEED Accreditation
 Advisory Board
 AP Internship
Weaknesses
 Communication Skills
 Multi-Dimensional Problem Solving
 Practical Skills
 Poor Standardization of class transfer credits
 Cross Training
 Transferring from CC’s to Universities
 Job Placement
 Defining College Programs
 Flexibility of Class Hours
Opportunities
 Problem Solving (5 Why’s)
 Networking
 Jobs, Internships, Co-Ops
 LEED Accreditation
 Holistic Training
 Cross Training
 Understanding Business Demands
 Understanding Community Design
 Exposure to Sciences
Threats
 Budgets
 Participation of Third Parties
 Dedication of Implementation
 Standardization of Pathways
 Student Rejection
 Student Lack of Participation
 Curriculum Issues
 Cross Training Issues
 Lack of Consistency in Leadership
Discussion
SWOT Analysis: West Valley Community College

29
SWOT ANALYSIS EXPANSION
The following is a more in-depth explanation of our SWOT Analysis which will discuss
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths
Through the research and interviews that we conducted we determined the strengths of the
existing educational system, as well as the strengths of West Valley College specifically. The
system as a whole does an excellent job of training students in traditional architecture and
engineering. These students enter the workforce extremely capable of designing buildings and
systems. The strongest pathway for this type of training is through four year universities. They
are able to teach fundamental principles such as thermodynamics in depth, so that students can
appreciate these critical laws when designing systems such as air conditioners. (Simoncini, 2014)
West Valley College has more strengths than most community colleges. This college has
a program designed to teach LEED green building techniques and students become accredited in
LEED. This is a very important accreditation that firms look for in new hires. Also built into this
program is an internship aspect. They have connections with industry that help students work on
real industry problems in an internship setting and fulfill the internship requirement to become
LEED AP accredited. This is a much more difficult accreditation to get and is very important to
industry.
The strengths of the entire system are found in its ability to teach core subjects to students
and train them to do a specific subject well. Architects and engineers are well trained in their
niche areas of study. The current system produces excellent professionals. West Valley college
excels at bringing in and interacting with industry. They have developed programs that
incorporate internships and industry projects that help train students for real world situations and
jobs.
Weaknesses
As we investigated the weaknesses of the existing programs we discovered several areas we
thought to be the main issues. Communication skills were at the forefront of this work and were
mentioned to us by several of our interviewees. They stressed that new college graduates were
lacking in interpersonal skills between employees, customers, and vendors. Also graduates lack

30
presentation skills and struggle when put in positions requiring this. Another issue that was
examined was multi-dimensional problem solving, typically most graduates only have training in
their field and fail to see that most problems have are many faceted. This leads to a narrow
mindset which ignores issues that more experienced employees do address. Stemming from this
is students’ lack of practical skills; they have little on the job experience and tend to approach
problems from a purely analytical approach. Both the lack of practical skills and problem solving
are caused by poor cross training, students may not need to be experts in construction, fluid
dynamics, thermal dynamics etc. but they must know about them.
We identified several more tangible problems these being a poor standardization of class
transfer credits, issues transferring from community colleges to universities, unclear definition of
college programs, and inflexible class hours. The transition from community college to four year
universities can be a nightmare with unclear expectations. Many college programs also suffer
from an unclear definition to students, most students choose an area they are generally interested
in but have little to no knowledge of what the program actually consists of and what job fields
they will be entering after. Finally classes lack flexible hours, many students are working their
way through college and require flexible hours. Classes that are offered once a year and required
for graduation tend to be bottleneck and stop students who have rigid job schedules from
graduating in four or two years.
Our last point is job placement. Students struggle to find jobs and typically have little to
no exposure to what type of position they are interested in. Programs fail to make the connection
to real world and tend to stay more general addressing their future work theoretically instead of
assigning real world projects.
Opportunities
West Valley has many opportunities to improve their curriculum, student success, and
empowerment.
Students can be armed with problem solving skills; West Valley needs to instill a sense of
digging for deeper understanding of problems. Students should be taught to analyze problems
with methods like Toyota’s Five Whys. This system is meant to dig to the root of an issue and
not slap surface patches on the issue.

31
We believe that providing holistic training to students will help them understand real
world dynamics. This can be done by forcing students to work with other majors, in multi-major
based teams. Green Building and other sustainability classes are relevant to multiple majors, if
you pull these majors into one classroom you can help create a multi-disciplinary team which
will examine issues from a more realistic dynamic viewpoint. We believe that these teams should
participate in competition and project based classes, this will allow for better integration of teams
and allow student to be involved in industry relevant projects.
Most educational programs are based around memorization and stagnate course material.
In order for classes to have a connection to industry they must have ever changing curriculum
that reflects current trends and demands. Because of this we suggest incorporating project based
classes. Projects are deliverable based which reflects industry more aptly than the typical test
based curriculum. As mentioned before competitions should be included in coursework, many
competitions are hosted by organizations that shape the projects to reflect current trends and
emerging issues in industry. By keep pace with these students can be introduced to the cutting
edge of industry, taught presentation skills, communication and teamwork skills, and most
importantly taught to work with other disciplines. We believe that this is crucial to the success of
students in the real world.
Another aspect that we find important to prioritize is networking with industry
professionals. Organizations like the AIA have local chapters, which are open to students; these
are rarely utilized by students because of their heavy course load and lack of time. Students are
also hesitant to approach professionals because of their lack of experience. To fix this, classes
should push students toward connecting with industry. This can be done by making it mandatory
to present projects at AIA meetings, attending local workshops, and presentations.
Lastly community involvement is important for colleges. Students tend to be isolated
from the community they live in and tend to be in the microcosm of college life. This leads to a
lack of exposure to the real world. This can be remedied by the former mentioned networking
and an organized community outreach program. This program can vary from local open houses
presenting projects and curriculum to community projects focused on giving back to the
community, such as at SFSU where students go out and conduct energy audits for local
companies. This is a perfect example of giving back to community and getting industry
experience.

32
Threats
There are many threats to the successful implementation of this plan. The first is budget issues. It
is well known that California has complex budget issues, especially concerning educational
spending. This could be a major issue in implementing changes to multiple establishments across
California. The expense could stop any changes from actually happening. Another threat is the
participation of all parties involved. Industry must get involved and participate in the plan.
Without industry the programs will not be accurately developed and jobs and internships will be
harder to locate. Universities must be involved so that plans are adopted and industry geared
curriculums are developed.
Community colleges and universities must be dedicated to this implementation. This
program will affect many institutions and will be most effective if every school is fully dedicated
to making it work and changing. Schools must be ready to work with industry and students to
become more effective at training people for the real world. This means that the pathways
developed need to be implemented in a standardized way. They will work through a
standardized, dedicated implementation.
Another threat is student rejection. These pathways can be implemented and curriculums
developed, however if students do not participate and enter these programs they will fail.
Students must see the value in internships and in real world complex projects that train them to
think about multiple aspects of an issue. If students do not participate it could lead to schools
losing focus on implementing the plan and backing out. These will lead to issues with differing
curricula between schools and industry losing confidence in the skills and training of incoming
professionals.
The last major threat is a lack of consistency in leadership. This program will have to be
championed by school presidents and administrators across California. If some of these people
leave after a year or two and new administrators come in, they may not be as dedicated to the
program as their predecessors. This can threaten the effectiveness of these pathways because
they may not redesign curricula or work with industry to the point that is needed.

33
Section V
Conclusion/Observations
Summary
This project’s goal was to make a realistic and effective proposal to implement a new pathway
for students to enter the Green Building industry. The scope of the project is large and a number
of factors have been taken into account. We defined several levels at which this system would
need to be implemented. Firstly we examined the interaction between the different parties
involved and categorized them. We researched in-depth the relationship between industry and
education, and provide feedback on the weaknesses and strengths of the current system. We also
created detailed plan regarding the implementation of our suggestions. Next we identified the
relationship between educational systems. We examined how high schools, community colleges,
and universities interact. We provided suggestions and designed a system that would help better
integrate the three institutions. Finally we examined the relationship between the parties involved
in education, these being faculty, administration, and students. We presented how these parties
could involve themselves in the new system and what would be required of them for it to be
successful. We also provide a SWOT analysis of the existing system that helped provide a
detailed overview. Lastly we conducted a survey of industry, faculty, and industry professionals,
which allowed us to provide statistical analysis and receive feedback about our system.
What We Have Learned
During this project we have learned much about how to integrate the skills learned from our
major curriculum into this project. Firstly communication skills have proved tantamount, we
have interview and hosted over twenty conference calls. During these calls we had to explain our
goals, and ask clear and concise questions. Because of this we learned a great deal about how to
set-up a successful interview call and how to point our questions to needed information. During
this project we applied lean thinking and principles to create a cohesive and dynamic solution,
because of this we learned about how to apply lean thinking to education. This project was aimed
at the green building industry, and because of this we spent time researching and understanding
LEED accreditations, and industry practices. Lastly we learned a great deal about networking, in

34
industry and education there a key individuals who provided us with valuable information and
who were gatekeeper. This was valuable because it taught us that in industry it is very important
who you know and how you can leverage their expertise.
Open Problems
There are several open problems in the project. The first is the lack of analysis concerning which
companies should be approached to bring into the pull system. Currently we have stated that
architecture and engineering firms should be approached for the Green Building sector, however
we have not found specific companies that would be better or worse than others. Another open
problem is that we have not done a financial analysis of these implementations. It would be very
difficult to assess how much this plan or these solutions would cost to implement because we do
not know to what extent they will be used, how many institutions would use them, or what the
expenditure relationship would be between companies and universities. The last major open
problem that we have not addressed is the step by step implementation of our solutions. We have
provided new pathways and connections that will improve the current educational pathways;
however we have not researched exactly how to implement those solutions into individual
institutions.
Conclusions and Observations
The results of this project presented multiple solutions to be studied and implemented. The first
solution we developed is the pull system. This is a new, highly interactive dynamic between
universities and industries. This system will help redevelop coursework to bring real world
problems and projects to students and help increase incentives for students by improving their
chances of getting an internship or job in Industry. This system is extremely reliant on the
participation of businesses and universities to change their current philosophies and approaches
to hiring and education. The transition may be difficult but will benefit the students, in turn
benefiting the educational institutions and businesses. The second solution developed is for labor
unions and community colleges to work together in a two-step educational process for trade
training. These two organizations currently compete for the same high school graduates, creating
tension between the two groups. Working together to educate the entire sector would improve
those students’ job mobility and overall education. A third solution we discovered was to

35
introduce LEED green building accreditations into college coursework so that students enter the
job market with the necessary accreditations. This will increase their chances of getting a job and
their productivity in that job.
Main Solutions:
 Pull System
 Introduce LEED accreditations to educational coursework
 Develop relationship between labor unions and community colleges
 Bring real world problems and projects to coursework
 Emphasize communication skills
 Promote student involvement
 Create more networking experiences between Industry and students

37
Works Cited
Career Ladders Project (2013, October 15) retrieved from
http://www.careerladdersproject.org
Bay Area Community College Consortium. (2013, October 20) retrieved from
http://www.bacareerguide.org/home/index
Brauer, J. (2013, January 3) retrieved from http://californiaedgecampaign.org/
Cardella, K. (2014, Feb 7). Telephone Interview.
Carrese, J. (2013, Jan. 19). Interview by M Pearlman.
Diffenderfer, J. (2014, Jan 7). Telephone Interview
Goldman, C., Peters, J., Albers, N., Stuart, E., & Fuller, M. (2010). Energy Efficiency Services
Sector: Workforce Education and Training Needs.
Richards, A. (2014, Jan. 04). Interview by M Pearlmann.
U.S. Green Building Council. (2013, October 21) retrieved from
http://www.usgbc.org/leed/credentials
Shell, L. (2012, February 29) retrieved from
http://www.pge.com/about/careers/powerpathway/trainingnetwork/energysectorstrategy/
Soohoo, L. (2014, Jan 17). Telephone Interview.
Simoncini, A. (2014, Feb. 05). Interview by M Pearlman.

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