More than 100 Attend First Roane Education/Workforce Summit on May 12, 2010

"Education drives the economic train!" - Buzz Thomas 

For many people, attending the Education and Workforce Summit on May 12 was a wake-up call.  Roane County's students must be better educated to have a competitive edge in today's high technology workforce. The Summit, initiated by The Roane Alliance, is the start of a new effort for businesses, educators, parents, and community leaders to address education and workforce issues in Roane County.

"The academic performance of our students in Tennessee needs to improve if we want to stay competitive in the global marketplace," said Allen Lutz, Education and Workforce Development Specialist with the Roane Alliance and a presenter at the Summit.

"Education drives the economic train," said Buzz Thomas, President of the Great Schools Partnership in Knoxville and keynote speaker for the Summit.  Buzz stated the economy of the past, which was composed primarily of labor based "do" jobs, is gone.  "Sixty-seven percent of Tennessee employers want employees with postsecondary education. Today, seventy percent of employees in the U.S. are paid for what they ‘know,' not what they ‘do.'" Thomas announced that the new Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga "wants all of their employees to have as a minimum a two-year associate's degree. That's ALL employees.  It doesn't matter what their job is."

"We are a global community and our children are in competition with hundreds of thousands of college-educated Indians and Chinese, not just students from other parts of the US," said Leslie Henderson, President/CEO of the Roane Alliance. "The jobs they need to prepare for are no longer available to those with few skills. Even manufacturing positions now require a year or two of post-secondary training. The world is high-tech now and we have to get prepared for it. Receiving education and training beyond high school is needed to be successful."

The message is getting through. "My child is high school age," said a Summit participant, "and it was an ‘eye opener' to hear how business views levels of education and what the future holds as far as what they will be looking for when hiring."  A government employee said the Summit highlighted the "importance and relevance of a strong K-12 education system to ensure a healthy and robust economy and quality of life in Tennessee."

"Once graduating from high school, students can obtain a postsecondary education from Roane State Community College or the Tennessee Technology Center at Harriman that provides a degree or certificate in a career field that can lead to a good paying job," said Lutz. "One projection of workforce needs within the next ten years indicates that seventy percent of jobs will require some postsecondary education; to fill that requirement, we need to double the number of students obtaining a postsecondary education. That is no small task."

Part of the problem is that many of our students are not prepared for college level classes upon graduating from high school. The American College Test (ACT) measures a student's knowledge in English, reading, math, and science/reasoning.  "If a student can achieve the ACT Benchmark score for a subject, they have a seventy-five percent chance of obtaining a B or C grade in a college course for that subject," says Thomas. "In Tennessee, only eighteen percent of students are meeting ACT Benchmarks in all four subject areas."

To begin efforts to address these issues, Summit participants were able to attend one of five different information and discussion sessions: 

• Early Childhood Education (Pre-K, Head Start, Literacy Program)
• Parental Involvement in Education
• Race to the Top (included TN Diploma Project, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) information)
• Workforce Training and Post-Secondary Education
• Adult Enrichment Programs (education, work and social)

The response to the sessions was very positive. "I got concrete numbers on why education is critical to the workforce," wrote one educator. "The program of today's Summit enabled quality, in-depth discussion to be generated and shared because smaller groups worked on topic and delivered results to the larger assembly."

For many participants, the Summit highlighted the "importance of cooperation between business leaders, parents, and the community" and provided "time to share ideas and concerns with all stakeholders."  

The Summit received excellent feedback and evaluation scores from participants.  The Summit sponsors asked for suggestions to improve the event and participants suggested more time be allowed for the sessions to continue discussions and make plans; to allow people to participate in more than one session; and to have a better mix of educators, parents, business representatives, and other community leaders in the sessions.

As Roane County addresses its education concerns, Thomas recommends the community do three things:

First, "don't measure yourself just against your neighbors. Measure yourself against the nation and world; they are the target." This could include the types of courses completed by students, ACT scores, and high school graduation rates.

Second, "make sure that every single kid graduates from high school and is ready to go to college. It is a smart investment to get every student a two-year degree," he said. "It doesn't cost as much as you would think after using scholarships and grants that are already available." Thomas named the Blount Achieves and Knox Achieves programs as examples of a way to achieve this goal. 

Third, "Tennessee can not get from ‘good' to ‘great' with only government resources.  The private sector must invest.  You get what you pay for."

The Summit sponsors know education and workforce development is a community-wide issue.  That's why the Roane Alliance, Roane County Chamber of Commerce, Roane County, Roane County Schools, Roane State Community College and the Tennessee Technology Center at Harriman planned the Summit; it is just the initial effort to address this critically important issue.

"We are all in this together," says Lutz, "Education leads economic growth."

The Education and Workforce Summit is an extension of The Roane Alliance's Education Initiative ­-- Education Matters! -- made possible by Innovation Valley, Inc.  Contact Allen Lutz with the Roane Alliance at (865) 865-376-5572 or alutz@RoaneAlliance.org with questions about the Summit and Education Matters!