The Skills Training Landscape: The Site Analysis

By Stefany Deckard

Indiana’s economy is experiencing a skills gap and it is it negatively impacting employers’ bottom line. Although not unique to Indiana, the skills gap is a critical economic and workforce issue that all industries across the states are experiencing. Employers everywhere are looking for the right people to hire at the right time and our state’s career and technical education (CTE) programs in high schools and two-year postsecondary institutions can fill those gaps.

Many students are already enrolled in CTE in Indiana, developing technical, academic and employability skills and engaging in work-based learning experiences, such as internships. In 2019-2020, there were 73,848 high school students enrolled in CTE programs, and an additional 25,311 post-secondary students enrolled in programs. These enrollments continue to climb by the thousands while programs continue to evolve to better align with employer needs and meet their demands.

According to a LinkedIn survey, over 70% of jobs require degrees—but less than 50% of the US workforce hold the degree these jobs require. Due to the urgency to fill positions and the demand for new skill sets, employers are shifting their focus away from hiring based on degrees to hiring based on skills, and you will not find a better talent pipeline than what you have in your own backyard across the CTE programs around the state.

It is ever more important that employers and CTE programs work together to train students for job placement upon graduation (and temporary placement through internships) to prepare the skilled workforce that is in such great demand. And there is no greater opportunity than now to be involved in that planning and preparation of your next generation of workforce.

Drawing the Conceptual Design

In 2019, Indiana introduced new high school graduation requirements which placed greater significance on skills training. Starting with the 2023 freshman class, all students must participate in some form of employability skills training to graduate whether it be a project-based, service-based, or work-based learning experience. How schools and CTE programs design these learning experiences for students is unique to each student, community, and employer partnership.

Long before Indiana adopted such practice, the federal Smith-Hughes Act of 1917 was enacted to support the practical value of work in the American education system. Vocational education, as it was formerly known, was a solution to problems of skilled-labor shortages and unemployment in a rapidly industrializing society.

When Indiana adopted these new graduation requirements, the state’s CTE programs continued to operate business-as-usual and under the same precipice of the Smith-Hughes Act: Integrating hands-on training and partnering with employers. Maintaining these tenants was protocol for the basic function and purpose of CTE programs and the cornerstone by which all CTE programs have stood since the early 1900s.

Now that Indiana’s CTE-based landscape has broadened and the demand for skilled employees has increased, there is an even greater need for employers and schools to collectively design opportunities, plan access to, and gather resources so that students will graduate high school with an awareness of career opportunities within the industries in their communities.

In essence, this partnership should serve as a recruiting mechanism for business and industry, and it calls for greater strategy to build solutions to diversify the workforce. Effective CTE and employer partnerships fully consider, value, and center the lived experience of the learners and communities they serve. Doing so requires multiple steps, including sustained processes to engage and act on each other’s input. The next section highlights some of the best practices around the state.

Putting the Detailed Design Together

A quick survey of exemplary approaches to building industry partnerships was conducted before penning this article. Below are only a few examples of how CTE programs in high school and post-secondary settings are reinforcing current students to enter job markets and/or internships across various program areas:

1. To address the ongoing shortage of qualified educators, Monroe County Community School Corporation partners with Ivy Tech Bloomington for the first two years of a student’s coursework, then complete the last two years of coursework with St. Mary of the Woods College, leading to the completion of the requirements to earn an educator’s license. Upon college graduation, students are ultimately offered teaching positions in the Monroe County School Corporation. Monroe County School Corporation pays full tuition, fees and textbooks for those who have qualified for FAFSA grants.

2. Porter County Career Center has partnered with the Multi-Agency Academic Center (MAAC) where they host the Fire Science, Criminal Justice, EMT and Veterinary Tech programs. More specifically, the MAAC hosts the Fire Science Program every day, and the other programs mentioned have the opportunity to use their facility for training.

3. Heartland Career Center has created a pathway for high school students to complete the CDL Class A licensure program. It primarily functions as an internship and a senior student who is 18 years old by the spring of their senior year is eligible to apply. They have had 23 students successfully obtain the license and this spring they have 12 new students who will enter this program. Additionally, (Article continued on page 26)

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