Final Report

Introduction
Business leaders, educators, and workforce development partners joined Congressman Ralph Hall in a public forum on April 19, 2001 at Austin College in Sherman, Texas to address the challenges of Workforce Development & the New Economy.  Congressman Hall began the forum by addressing the needs for a skilled workforce and its importance to the local, state and national economy.  Using a comparison between 1979 and 1998, Congressman Hall presented the earnings differential between high school and college graduates.  In that 20-year period, the difference in earnings rose from 38 % to 71%.   He challenged the forum participants to come up with ideas on how to attract new scientists and engineers at a time when America’s student performance is steadily declining in math and science.  Congressman Hall spoke of the opportunity available over the next five or six years to make great strides in workforce development and encouraged attendees to get involved.

A variety of speakers and panel discussions filled out the day’s activities.  Audience participation during comment periods and the use of eForum interactive polling provided important and immediate feedback on workforce development issues.

OPENING ADDRESS:  The Nature of the Challenge
Dr. W. Michael Cox, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas delivered an opening address complete with facts and statistics describing America’s movement through the primitive, market, industrial, and information ages into today’s technological environment.  Dr. Cox discussed America’s world leadership in technology and our nation's willingness to “let folks lose jobs to grow new ones.    According to Dr. Cox, Americans are willing to endure the turmoil of job losses to move forward.  The rest of the world however, has had a difficult time accepting this concept and as a result lags behind the U.S. in many technological advances.  Dr. Cox stressed the importance of bringing markets and competition to our school systems.  He closed his presentation by comparing the incentives to build industrial capital (profit) with the need to design incentives to build intellectual capital. 

GUEST SPEAKER:  Educating Tomorrow’s Workforce
Mr. Robert Scott, Director, Public Education Policy, State of Texas, highlighted continued improvements in the Texas educational system.  State assessment tests, accountability systems, and improvements in curriculum have made Texas a national leader in educational accomplishments.  Mr. Scott credited a strong partnership between business and public schools, Texas grants, the reading and math initiatives, and school district accountability for many of the state’s successes in education.  Not willing to stand on recent successes, Mr. Scott emphasized that although things look good, they can always be better.  His words of challenge to the business and educational leaders were "we want a high school diploma that has a meaning!”

WORKING SESSION I:  Math and Science Education
Congressman Hall and Dr. James Wilson, Professional Staff Member, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, facilitated the session that included presentations by Dr. Neal Smatresk, Dean of Science, University of Texas at Arlington, and Mr. Danny Kenney, Vice President of Operations, GlobiTech, Inc, and a member of the Texoma Workforce Development Board.  Dr. Smatresk expressed his concern of recent movements in Congress to limit science and research funds and that America, as a whole, has done a poor job of getting students interested in science and technology.   As a result, Dr. Smatresk said America has jobs in search of people instead of people in search of jobs.  Mr. Kenney reinforced this assertion from a business perspective by pointing out the demand for trained workers exceeds the supply available.  Most students, according to Mr. Kenney, are not aware of the types of jobs that businesses have to offer them when they finish school.  He felt that business and industry can provide this insight to students in partnership with educational institutions.  Congressman Hall and Dr. Wilson, along with the two presenters and forum attendees, continued in a general discussion on ways to increase student interest in science and math programs.  Exposing students to opportunities and careers in math and science was the solution most often mentioned by the audience. Through this general discussion and use of eFORUM, participants offered feedback on priorities for the federal government in advancing educational technologies and technical training.

Question:
In your opinion, which is the top priority for the federal government to advance the effectiveness and more widespread use of educational technologies and technical training to better meet worker and business training needs?

FEATURE PRESENTATION:  Works in Progress:  Identifying Success Stories
Dr. Michael Hensley, Dean of Workforce Education, Grayson County College, and Mr. Eric Davis, President of the Sherman Economic Development Corporation gave a joint presentation on establishing effective partnerships between workforce development, industry, education, and economic development. 

Dr. Hensley chose a topic of  “Building our Workforce” to emphasize his position that what we do now is important and can affect us for years to come.   He recommends four courses of action to other educational institutions: 

1. Cluster curriculum around general career areas; 
2. Develop career academies inside every school;
3. Ensure policies reinforce workplace values and character development, and 
4. Use technology to support traditional teaching and learning. 

Mr. Eric Davis followed Dr. Hensley by telling the audience how a consortium was developed between the Sherman Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO), Grayson County College, and the Texoma Workforce Development Board to build a high-tech training center in Sherman to support the local industries.  After extensive input from the industries themselves, the consortium was able to identify the role each partner would play in making the training center a success. SEDCO would market the center, Workforce Texoma would find the people, and the college would provide the training.   Funding sources included local sales taxes, grants, donations from industry, and various federal and state funding streams.  Groundbreaking for the new center will occur this summer.  The 45,000 square foot structure will include classrooms, labs, conference facilities, and distance learning.
 

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Congressman Hall introduced Mr. Mike Rawlings, President of Pizza Hut Inc.  Mr. Rawlings got off to a laughing start as he encouraged attendees to keep eating their lunches because it’s the nature of his business.   Employing over 175,000 people across the nation, Mr. Rawlings admits that you cannot approach employment in the "same old way."   A 17 year-old employee, making $8.50 per hour is a free agent in today’s job market just like a high priced sports figure.  The 17 year-old approaches the job with the same “what can you do for me” attitude as the sports figure does. 

Mr. Rawlings said there are four things every business should do. 

1. Provide internal opportunity that is real and not make believe.  Be able to show case histories of workers who advanced in your company. 
2. Hold career fairs to let the public know about your company. 
3. Benchmark plan with your people.
4. Make careers important for your employees.

WORKING SESSION II:  Business-Education Partnerships
The afternoon working session began with a presentation by Ms. Stephanie Powers, Director, National School-to-Work Opportunities Office.  Ms. Powers described the school-to-careers initiative and its value to both students and industry.  Supporting the theme of the session, Ms. Powers described how business is looking more and more to school-to-work strategies.   Approximately 265,000 businesses are somehow involved in workplace learning initiatives today.   Ms. Powers felt that schools are more comfortable with the fact that they can’t do it alone anymore and need proactive business input.  Schools, she said, are referring to their new relationships with businesses as "strategic alliances." According to Ms. Powers, "If there is to be an impact in learning, the lessons of the workplace must be brought into the classrooms."

The session concluded with panelists Mr. Davis, Dr. Hensley, and Ms. Powers joining Congressman Hall to discuss hurdles that need to be overcome in developing business and education partnerships.  Issues such as teachers’ pay, common language and understanding of technical terms, cultural differences between education and business, and the need for objective facts and goal setting topped the list of challenges. 

Question:
In your opinion, how critical are business-education partnerships to the future of math-science education?