Matthew DeFour:

While schools are ramping up their focus on employment, fewer employers are offering training. Over the past two decades the percentage of American companies that train their employees has dropped from 35 percent to 20 percent, according to Ed Gordon, a Chicago-based economist and author of “Future Jobs: Solving the Employment and Skills Crisis.”

“We’re seeing the same problem across every major business sector,” Gordon said. “The number of well-trained individuals who have all the skills — there aren’t enough of them. The reason is the education system that was the best in the world really hasn’t changed a whole lot in terms of what it’s producing in terms of educated people. But the job market has changed dramatically.”

Madison’s Pathways
The Madison School District’s Personalized Pathways program may be going even further than many districts in emphasizing career readiness. This fall it is altering the high school experience for hundreds of freshmen by focusing classes on health services topics.

Online training has exploded…