WHAT MATHEMATICS DO PEOPLE REALLY USE IN …

1 1 what MATHEMATICS DO PEOPLE REALLY USE IN THE WORKPLACE?Merrilea J. Mayo, Lead StrategistNew Options, New 3, 2012A Kellogg Foundation funded projectNewOptionsNEW MEXICO2 There Are Tests for Workplace MATHEMATICS , Some Quite has profiled over 16,000 jobs and designed this test to match the math needed in over 90% of those Skills Tests in General Are Much Better at Predicting Who Will Be Successful on the Job Than a Degree DoesAbility Composite = measurement of 3 cognitive skills, strongest predictor of on-the-job performanceWorkKeys Math test = 1 cognitive skill, little less strong predictor NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS4 Another Way of Looking at the NumbersVARIATION IN INDIVIDUALS ON-THE-JOB PERFORMANCE IS SUCCESSFULLY EXPLAINED BY:These numbers are the prior validity numbers, MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESSU nknown 99%Level of Education 1%Unknown75%Combined (3) Cognitive Ability Tests, 25%Math Skill Test Alone, 16%5 Skills (Ability Composite) Tests Predict Performance on Complex Jobs Better than Simple JobsJOB COMPLEXITY(as determined from DOL s data dimension in its Dictionary of Occupational Titles)HOW WELL SKILLS TESTING PREDICTS PERFORMANCE (RAW VALIDITY)1 = perfect prediction of performance0 = zero ability to predict performanceHigh : Hunter and Hunter, Validity and Utility of Alternate Predictors of Job Performance, Psych Bull 96, 72H981984 NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS6 Literally over 1,000 studies, over 40 years and many job types.

2 Literature Supporting Validity of .3 to .6 for Cognitive Skill Tests Prediction of Job Performance Olea and Ree, J. Appl. Psych 79, 845H851 (1994). Ree, Earles and M. Teachout, J. Appl. Psych 79, 518H524 (1994). K. Brown, H. Le and Schmidt, Intl. J. Selection and Assessment 14, 87H100 (2006). Schmidt, Ones, and Hunter, Ann. Review Psych 43, 627H70 (1992). Hunter and Hunter, Psych Bull 96, 72H98 (1984) Also: a full decade of papers by Hunter from 1980H1990, covering an enormous number of datasets. K. Pearlman, Schmidt and Hunter, J. Appl. Psych 65, 373H406 (1980). Schmidt, Hunter, and Caplan, J. Appl. Psych 66, 261H273 (1981). Northrup, Validity Generalization Results for Apprentice and Helper-Trainer Positions. Washington, DC: Office of Personnel Management, Office of Staffing Policy (1986). Hartigan and Wigdor, Fairness in Employment Testing: Validity Generalization, Minority Issues, and the General Aptitude Test Battery.

3 Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences (1989). Ghiselli, The Validity of Occupational Aptitude Tests. New York: Wiley, 1966. (1966), Also: Ghiselli, Personnel Psych. 26 461H477. (1973). Salgado, H, Anderson, S. Moscoso, C. Berta and F. De Fruyt, Personnel Psych 56, 573H605 (2003). Hirsch, Norhtrup, and Schmidt, Personnel Psych 39, 399H420 (1986). Trattner, The Vlidity of Aptitude and Ability Tests for Semiprofessional Occupations Using the Schmidt-Hnter Interactive Validity Generalization Procedures. Washington, DC: Office of Personnel Management, Office of Staffing Policy (1988).NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS7 EmployerPositions Filled Using WorkKeysOutcomes(compared to prior practices)Subaru of Indiana Automotive (Lafayette, IN)Automotive assembly workers25% reduction in Health Care (Macon, GA)Manufacturing productionPerHperson hiring cost reduced from $2,300 to $600 TimeHtoHhire reduced from 45 days to 17 days TimeHtoHfullHemployee efficiency reduced from 2 years to 6 (Calama, WA; Richmond & Rancho Cucamonga, CA)SelfHdirected manufacturing teams<4% turnover overall and a Best Practice award from the American Psychological Association for its hiring Village, a retirement community (Marion, IN)Nurses, nursing assistants, dietary staff, reduction in Health System(Falls Church, VA)Customer assistants & clinical technicians73% reduction in turnover.

4 $ cost call center(Lexington county, SC)Call center operators50% reduction in turnover; skillsHrelated turnover went to Results, When Employers Hire by Cognitive Skills TestsNewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS8So We Have A Test of Workplace Math that Accurately Predicts Workplace Is It Different from School Math ?NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS9 Content is INCLUDED Trigonometry, PreHCalculus, Calculus. Algebra is not explicitly included but is useful for problems involving more complex Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division (these operations for negative numbers as well), fractions, decimals, percentages, mixed numbers, unit conversions, averages & other simple statistics, ratios, rates, order of operations, perimeters, areas, volumesAll Problems Defined Against Workplace Standards: Math through 6thgrade MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS10 Context is Different.

5 All problems are word problems All problems are highly plausible onHtheHjob situations None of the problems has explicit math No find the common denominator. No written formulas you are told to rearrange or solve. YOU must interpret the English in terms of math and YOU must choose the correct math tools to solve the MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS11 Scoring Scheme is Different School Math View: Problem A is harder than Problem B because A is trigonometry (taught in 9th grade) and B is arithmetic (taught in 2nd grade) Workplace Math View: Problem A and Problem B are the same. Both require simple memorization of a fact. There is no way to solve either problem using reasoning or deduction. Thus, both questions measure math skill at a subHliterate A. what is the sin of 30 ?2+2=?B. what is the sum of 2+2?12 More and more extraneous information to sort through.

6 More and more rearranging of information required to get to the answer. More and more chained steps. Sequencing is sum: Workplace Math is critical thinking, as applied to MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESSIn Tests of Workplace Math Skill, Higher Level Questions Have the Following Features:13 Applied MATHEMATICS Level 3(Qualified for Entry Level Job)NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS14 Applied MATHEMATICS Level 5(Qualified for Skilled Labor or College)NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS15 Applied MATHEMATICS Level 7(Qualified for Professional Level Work)NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS16If We Measure the Population Against Jobs in Terms of Workplace Math Requirements, what Do We Find? NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS17 WorkKeys APPLIED MATH02040608010002040608010034567% Population Who Can Do the Job(is at required skill level or higher)% Jobs Skill Level(N=798,589)(N=4,298)(8% job-illiterate math)Data from ACT, , MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS}(Un)fortunately for the US, most US jobs don t require much , some important jobs do.

7 (list of occupations requiring AM Level 7)NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS19 But Why Can Only 6% of the US Population Score a Level 7 in 6thGrade Math? The ability to code a real situation into math, , to applymath, is almost never taught and completely missing, not only in KH12 but also the graduate level. This may also explain the US poor PISA MEXICOM onth Day, Year20y = + = 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WorkKeys Scale Scores: (65-90)Years of EducationThe ability to ApplyMath Increases Agonizingly Slowly Through SchoolYears of EducationN Size7th Grade108th Grade339th Grade7210th Grade12211th Grade25212th Grade/HS Graduate/GED 97413 1st year Postsecondary9214 2nd year Postsecondary12815 3rd year Postsecondary5116 4th year Postsecondary4117 5th year or higher34 TOTAL1,809>334567 WorkKeys Skill LevelsCorrelation=.

8 32 Data from NMDWS; analysis by Tom KilijanekNewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS21 Targeted curricula can do in one year, what it takes school 6-10 years to accomplish. Applied MathGainLocating InfoGainReading for InfoGainRequired Keytrain(California data,Kilijanek (N=132; p< ) (N=218;p< ) (N=63;p< )Optional Keytrain(Dona Ana Community College data) (N=38; p< ) (N=38; not sig) (N=38; not sig)School (N 1800, New Mexico) Population Who Can Do the Job(is at required skill level or higher)% Jobs Skill Level: Locating Information(N=660,044)(N=4,910)8% illiterate in this skillUnderstanding Charts & DiagramsIs Actually a Bigger Problem than Applied MathData from ACT, MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESST here is not enough excess high skill population for employers to demand this skill at high levels PLUS any other criterion ( , individual lives in their state, has a particular degree, is a citizen, has prior experience).)

9 23 National Deficiency in Locating Information is a Major Contributor to the STEM crisis. NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESSO ccupations Requiring Locating Information Level Workplace Math View of the World is So DifferentWORKPLACE SKILLS VIEW You need to be able to applymath, but only at the 6thgrade level.* *some exceptions apply PreH and postHtesting of even college algebra class show zero gains in applied math skill. School degrees predict 1H10% of work performance variation. CONVENTIONAL WISDOM You need a lot of math to get a good job. Taking advanced math courses gives you the ability to apply math. School degrees are a good first cut to predict who will perform on the job. NewOptionsNEW MEXICOMEASURING WORK READINESS25 The Inability to Recode Real World Situations into Math Persists through Graduate School26 Proof: Employers are Desperate to Hire QuantsJunior Quantitative Analyst, PHD Machine Learning or Signal Processing Investment Bank NYC $250k PHD from a well-regarded university, in Physics, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Signal Processing, Computer Vision, Statistics, Econometrics, Operations Research PhD Quant Analyst (High performance Computing) Fixed Income Research NYC $250k PhD in a Quantitative/Scientific subject.

10 PhD from a top tier University. Quant Developer/ Algo Developer- Algorithmic Trading Firm- Chicago $175-250K To qualify for this position, you will have a Bachelors, Masters or PhD in Computer Science etc from a red brick University with a high GPA. From one week s job postings in They Consider the Graduates from the 110 Programs In this Field Unemployable28 How Can This Be? All over the world, it has become fashionable for Universities and Colleges to offer Masters degree programs in quantitative finance or financial engineering (FE), a code word meaning the solution of the Black-Scholes option pricing differential equation in as many ways as possible. Unless the [academic] field re-invents itself pronto and starts becoming relevant to what PEOPLE actually do out there, graduates with newly minted financial engineering degrees hoping to see a decent return on their own or their parents sizable investment will continue to be sorely disappointed by their actual career prospects, and will keep wondering where in God s name they went wrong.