As the annual show kicks off in New York, the focus is about how technology is reshaping the retail experience but I found as interesting the latest Monthly Economic Review from the NRF’s Chief Economist, Jack Kleinhenz, especially the economic data he summarizes. Inflation, supply chains and COVID continue to muddy the waters but as he summarizes
"Consumer spending propelled growth in 2021 and will continue to be a bright spot as 2022 unrolls. The current recession recovery cycle is very different from previous ones. Consumers have never been as wealthy as they are today. In fact, consumer wealth grew an additional 18.1 percent year-over-year in the third quarter, keeping well ahead of inflation. If there is one lesson we have learned it is not to underestimate the resilience of the consumer and, therefore, the U.S. economy. With stimulus programs in the rearview mirror, consumer income and spending will instead be fueled by job growth paired with wage gains going forward. That said, the omicron variant could cause households to crunch down. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell recently said “people are learning to live with it” but households have already changed their behavior. Theater performances and concerts are being canceled and universities are returning to remote teaching. Fortunately, we have a lot of tailwind in terms of job growth, spending and production as we turn the calendar to 2022."
Competency-based education
So, after months of discussion, the district switched to competency-based education, a form of personalized learning that emphasizes mastery of skills over time spent in class. At Northern Cass, that means that grade point averages no longer exist. In two years, neither will grade levels. Instead, K-12 students get rated on a four-point scale for each skill, receiving about two new ratings per week. In seventh-grade English, that may mean the ability to hold collaborative conversation. Those who are prepared with questions and open to other viewpoints might receive a three. Leading the conversation and keeping it from stalling out would garner a four.
“We kept coming back to the idea that you couldn’t get world class because the system itself wasn’t designed for that. The system itself was designed to sort kids, to rank kids,” says Dr. Steiner.
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November 11, 2021 in Industry Commentary, Vertical Applications | Permalink | Comments (0)