Fayetteville chamber committee hears about career education

NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Rick Neal (from left), superintendent of Pea Ridge School District, sits Friday with Mireya Reith, Arkansas Department of Education board member, Jim Rollins, superintendent of Springdale School District, Janie Darr, superintendent of Rogers School District, Kim Davis, Arkansas Department of Education board member, and Kim Garrett, associate superintendent of Fayetteville Schools, listen during the Government Relations Committee meeting at the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. The panel participated in a discussion about workforce development efforts in Northwest Arkansas.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Rick Neal (from left), superintendent of Pea Ridge School District, sits Friday with Mireya Reith, Arkansas Department of Education board member, Jim Rollins, superintendent of Springdale School District, Janie Darr, superintendent of Rogers School District, Kim Davis, Arkansas Department of Education board member, and Kim Garrett, associate superintendent of Fayetteville Schools, listen during the Government Relations Committee meeting at the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce. The panel participated in a discussion about workforce development efforts in Northwest Arkansas.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Superintendents from four school districts discussed Friday recent projects designed to prepare students for both college and careers.

"We used to try to make sure all of our students were prepared for college," Rogers Superintendent Janie Darr said. "All students will not need a college education for the career he or she chooses."

The Government Relations Committee of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce convened a six-member panel with the superintendents and two State Board of Education members to discuss the role of schools in developing the workforce.

"Our members are interested in what the future workforce is going to look like," said Patti Kimbrough, the chamber's director of special events and government affairs.

Employers are concerned about filling positions that don't require a four-year college degree, and having workers trained for those jobs is vital to the continued growth of Northwest Arkansas, Kimbrough said.

Northwest Arkansas needs both workers with bachelor's degrees and those who have training beyond a high school education, but less than a four-year degree, said Kim Davis, a State Board of Education member and director of external relations and economic development for the Northwest Arkansas Council.

Employers considering a relocation often want to move to areas where 30 percent of the adult population has a bachelor's degree, Davis said. At the same time, the majority of available jobs in this region require less than a four-year degree.

"We have employers saying we need these types of skills now," Davis said. "You're going to hear this conversation happening over and over across the state."

Preparing students for careers includes keeping them interested in math and science, said Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities at the University of Arkansas, who attended the meeting. Students often lose interest by fourth, fifth or sixth grade in those subjects and by the time they reach high school, it's too late.

Increased demand for students skilled in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, has led to several projects in the Fayetteville School District, said Kim Garrett, associate superintendent for the district.

Leverett Elementary School became one of the first of the state's schools of innovation this school year to focus greater attention on science, technology, engineering and math, Garrett said.

The district also plans to offer new courses next school year that integrate the four subjects for fifth-graders, seventh-graders and eighth-graders, Garrett said.

"It's not just the engineers that are needed," she said. "Within STEM, there are lots of certificate-level jobs."

Both Rogers High School and Heritage High School are organized into career academies, Darr said. Students choose an academy based on career interest in their eighth grade year. Students enter high school in the ninth grade.

Meetings are taking place to discuss how to give greater attention to math and science in elementary schools, Darr said.

Young children often want to be doctors, lawyers and teachers, and part of the job of educators is to teach both children and their parents about jobs that are in high demand and the skills and education necessary for those jobs, Pea Ridge Superintendent Rick Neal said. That is an ongoing challenge, he said.

Pea Ridge school officials worked with the Northwest Arkansas Council to develop the Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy, Neal said. The district-run charter school for high school juniors and seniors provides programs of study tied to specific high-demand jobs.

"We were missing out on some of the things to prepare kids for later in life," he said. "We had an opportunity to do something different."

Springdale School District offers career academies at the high school level that involve teachers working with business and industry leaders in developing curriculum, Superintendent Jim Rollins said.

The district's new School of Innovation opened this school year and is designed for students to be able to complete an associate's degree at the same time they earn a high school diploma, he said.

The district's academies and the new school are intended not only to prepare students for college and careers, but also to be ready to innovate and compete in a global economy, Rollins said.

NW News on 02/07/2015

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