Sometimes, Arrant said, the “WE WANT TO RAISE THE INCOME LEVEL OF THE


PEOPLE IN THE STATE, BUT THE ONLY WAY YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO DO THAT IS IF FOLKS HAVE THE SKILLS AND ABILITIES TO GET BETTER JOBS AND HAVE A CAREER PATHWAY.”


—SEN. JANE ENGLISH


demands of their business. They were already being asked to consult with technician prorams because schools recognized the need for expert input but there were no statewide tech education standards. Calhoun, co-founder of the new


committee, said, “As this conversa- tion unfolded and developed, I’m not sure which one of us voiced it first, but collectively we have the ability to gather a lot of important industry voices together. If we can do that and come to a consensus on what we truly need, then maybe we have a chance of having an impact on the end product.” Named the Technician Curriculum


Advisory Committee, the group has gathered representatives from 17 differ- ent companies and educational institu- tions to start the discussion about how schools can better train technicians for employment. Some questions they are asking: What tools should we be using? How should we sequence our courses? What skills do students need on the first day, week, month, year on the job? This communication between


industry and education caught the attention of Sen. Jane English, who has a passion for building a better skilled workforce in the state and passed leg- islation in 2015 to restructure and increase funding for the state’s job- training programs. Sen. English joined the commit-


tee’s conversation because she sees these partnerships between industry and edu- cation as vital and her role as a legisla- tor, is to facilitate these relationships. “I figure out how we connect the


34


industry with the high schools and two- year colleges so that we really have the opportunity to build the kind of work- force we need.” “We want to raise the income level


of the people in the state, but the only way you are really going to do that is if folks have the skills and abilities to get better jobs and have a career pathway.” she continued.


CHECKS AND BALANCES Just inviting both parties to the


same table to decide what is taught in classrooms and how it is applied on shop floors is the first step. But the real test will be accreditation—the checks and balances of this equation. Accreditation builds trust in the


academy. Arrants’ job as a consultant for NATEF is often to visit schools that are building automotive programs and give them recommendations for how they can ensure they are providing students a skillset that makes them employable. He wrote the book on the process. A site visit and self-evaluation are


required whether a school hosts an automotive, collision or medium heavy- duty truck program and whether the institution is a high school, community college, or private for-profit tech school. There are 12 different standards and a long list of criteria a school has to meet to prove the outcome of its program meets employer expectations. Arrants reminds schools, they have


two customers: the students and the people who hire them. “Everyone else is in the way.”


instructors may not carry the industry- recognized credentials themselves. The accreditation process finds


those flaws in programs and aims to correct them, restoring an employer’s faith in the schools. And that pro- cess was a priority during the first Technician Curriculum Advisory Committee meeting. Adopting the NATEF task list as the standard for Arkansas schools was discussed. The committee will serve in an


advisory role to review the task list and help schools tailor the tasks to the needs of the local businesses. This industry involvement shifts the respon- sibility of workforce preparation, so that it doesn’t fall solely on the schools. Even when schools are adequately


preparing students, employers have to manage their expectations, Calhoun advised. Just like students shouldn’t expect to overhaul engines as a rookie technician, it’s also unrealistic for employers to expect professionals on the first day. Education doesn’t stop in the classroom or once the certificate is framed on the wall. Technicians will still have a lot to learn, and that’s okay, he said. “The students graduate and think


‘I’ve been trained on how to open up an engine and do major surgery, and now I will go out and knock down $35-40 an hour,’ and that’s just not how it works,” said Calhoun. Accreditation should be based


on entry-level skills that the industry needs. Engine overhauls, other topics commonly in technician training pro- grams, Arrants and Calhoun agree, are not entry-level.


CAREER LATTICE Communicating the starting place


and also the pathway to moving up is important to Sen. English. “We need to have much more


seamless programs,” said Sen. English. “It could go all the way to college. You have got [the logistics] program with UCA. How do you coordinate so that people can see there is a pathway, and


Issue 5 2016 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT


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