Coalition focuses on work force

Education issues cited at group's first meeting

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

By MARIAN ACCARDI

Times Business Writer marian.accardi@htimes.com

The Huntsville/Madison County Workforce Coalition came up with dozens of suggestions for ways to build a competitive work force for the future at its first meeting of the year.

About 40 professionals from education, health, social services and business took part in a Southern Growth Policies Board forum series on "Building the Next Workforce: Making Choices for Your Community."

Brenda Terry, executive director of the Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Coalition and the forum's facilitator, sees the coalition developing some work-force-related action items at future meetings, and using the comments made at the forum to better focus the council's direction as it moves forward.

"We're trying to get our arms around what is going on in work-force development" whether or not it's related to the BRAC relocations, "to make sure we're all working together," said Lucia Cape, vice president for work force with the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. A new division was created at the chamber that focuses on supporting work-force development, recruitment and retention.

The Workforce Coalition is hosted by the chamber.

Some of the suggestions made at the forum:

Promote hands-on technical skills and upgrade technical training in schools.

Improve parental involvement in kindergarten-through-12th education.

Start career education as early as grades four through six.

Provide greater opportunities for dual-enrollment programs with colleges.

Provide a multiprong approach for students in curriculum and assessments.

Offer ethics education and soft skills training such as professionalism in the school curriculum.

Promote critical thinking skills by introducing workplace challenges for students to solve.

Provide teacher in-service/experience programs in industry.

Improve career path assessments.

Promote high school career academies and other school-to-career programs.

Feedback and survey results from the forum will be presented to the Southern Growth Policies Board, a public policy think tank based in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, to be included in its June report.



Coalition focuses on work force Education issues cited at group's first meeting Tuesday, January 09, 2007 By MARIAN ACCARDI Times Business Writer marian.accardi@htimes.com The Huntsville/Madison County Workforce Coalition came up with dozens of suggestions for ways to build a competitive work force for the future at its first meeting of the year. About 40 professionals from education, health, social services and business took part in a Southern Growth Policies Board forum series on "Building the Next Workforce: Making Choices for Your Community." Brenda Terry, executive director of the Alabama Mathematics, Science and Technology Education Coalition and the forum's facilitator, sees the coalition developing some work-force-related action items at future meetings, and using the comments made at the forum to better focus the council's direction as it moves forward. "We're trying to get our arms around what is going on in work-force development" whether or not it's related to the BRAC relocations, "to make sure we're all working together," said Lucia Cape, vice president for work force with the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. A new division was created at the chamber that focuses on supporting work-force development, recruitment and retention. The Workforce Coalition is hosted by the chamber. Some of the suggestions made at the forum: Promote hands-on technical skills and upgrade technical training in schools. Improve parental involvement in kindergarten-through-12th education. Start career education as early as grades four through six. Provide greater opportunities for dual-enrollment programs with colleges. Provide a multiprong approach for students in curriculum and assessments. Offer ethics education and soft skills training such as professionalism in the school curriculum. Promote critical thinking skills by introducing workplace challenges for students to solve. Provide teacher in-service/experience programs in industry. Improve career path assessments. Promote high school career academies and other school-to-career programs. Feedback and survey results from the forum will be presented to the Southern Growth Policies Board, a public policy think tank based in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, to be included in its June report. © 2007 The Huntsville Times © 2007 al.com All Rights Reserved.