What is P-20 and its Relationship to Engineering Technology?

The P-20 program encompasses P-16, postsecondary education and further includes business and community learning requirements.P-20 has been an evolutionary movement which was first K-16, then P-16 and finally the term P-20 which included graduate schools.The current P-20 environment includes the previously defined areas and expands into lifelong learning, including business and community organizations.P-20 educational and economic opportunities, including financial requirements, are explored.The paper reviews the definition of P-20 and how P-20 supports Engineering Technology.Supporting information illustrates the program values and beliefs for P-20 leaders.P-20 leaders must be innovators, exploring creative solutions to resolve educational issues and problems.The role of innovation in education and the importance of the development of new teaching methods and solutions are examined.The successful P-20 leader must implement ideas and new methods.The importance of successful innovation implementation is researched.Leadership development is important to the P-20 student, and the requirements of leadership are explained.Diversity and the requirements for understanding the many conditions of diversity are explored and summarized.An understanding of how P-20 helps to coordinate the efforts of funding, programming and aligning the efforts of P-16, including postsecondary education and having participation from the workforce and organizations is presented Proceedings of the 2018 Conference for Industry and Education CollaborationCopyright ©2018, American Society for Engineering Education communication and integration of engineering technology with the education and industry partners result in engineering technology being a leader in the P-20 education process.P-20 is the paradigm that education is utilizing to unite life long learning, P-16, higher education, and industry.The lifelong learning aspect encompasses the birth to death within education that engineering technologists often associate with the cradle to grave product development cycle. DiscussionThis paper provides an explanation of P-20 so that engineering technologists can be aware of the term and work to understand their role within P-20.The importance of P-20 to the engineering technologist is explained in broad terms.Every engineering technologist is important in the role of improving our own, our companies and our communities education.Engineering technologists will be needed to work in teams to help solve societal problems (Lawlor, 2016).This societal need drives the need for an engineering technologist to understand the concepts within P-20.P-20 education is an effort to bring leadership and collaboration between education, business and community organizations.Engineering Technology falls within the Engineering arena.Engineering Technologists are responsible for finding and implementing innovative solutions to aid institutions and society.Effective communication methods for engineering technologists are required to successfully improve learning.Barriers, walls, protection of turf and silos must be removed so that forward progress in the education process can be made (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2012).P-20 encompasses a worldwide effort to address the issues within education.This paper discusses P-20 activities in the United States of America (USA).The P-20 effort is supported by various initiatives issued by the federal, state and local governments (Horn, Edwards, Greene, 2015).By 2020 the number of job openings that require postsecondary education and training, beyond high school, such as engineering technology, will reach 65 percent (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2013).