Though cooperation between business and education organizations had produced 15 career academies operating in area high schools, Andrews says the academies did not cohere into a system. The Chattanooga Chamber launched its Education Initiative and, in January 2006, hired Andrews, a higher education specialist with 20 years of experience, to plan and run it.
“I did six months of research,” Andrews says. “Learning what the business community needed from public schools was the easy part. I also sat with foundations, nonprofits, city and county government representatives, and with folks from the educational community. And what I heard across the board was, we need a partnership where we understand one another’s needs.”
Transcending the communication barrier—“getting people to think out of context,” as Andrews says—became the first goal of her strategic plan. Today, the chamber uses business leaders as its “education emissaries” at conferences and other functions, and school officials serve on such key chamber boards as Workforce Development.
Rick Delano and Sandy Mittelsteadt of Social Marketing Services, a consulting firm working with the Ford Motor Company Fund, had spoken with Andrews during her initial planning phase about the potential for an academy system in Hamilton County, which includes Chattanooga.
“They asked if I would be willing to include in my final strategic plan what essentially were the 12 best practices of a Next Generation Learning Community,” Andrews says. “I eventually learned that Ford was looking for a community in which the relationship between the school system and the business community would be productive enough to be designated the first NGL.”
Andrews included the 12 Best Practices in her plan and, in August 2006, Hamilton County Schools were designated the first NGL in the nation.
Andrews used a $20,000 grant from Ford to fund a labor market analysis for the community. Local businesses and industries were aggregated into career clusters, and the top 25 employers identified problem areas and future trends for each. “We’re now getting realistic about where the jobs are,” Andrews says, “so that schools can begin to deliver to business.
“We’re also making progress assessing the existing academies,” adds Andrews. “Ford has offered the resources of two evaluation experts who will come to Hamilton County and give us the necessary help administering national standards.”
“If you come to Hamilton County, you might not see a great number of career academies,” Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Jim Scales admits, “but you will see new and wonderful things throughout the system.”
He points to the integrated curriculum being used at East Ridge High School’s Construction Academy, where students examine electricians’ contracts along with literature in their English classes. He cites Red Bank High School, where Chattanooga’s health-care institutions provide job shadowing, internships, and curriculum consultation. He mentions the Engineering Academy at Soddy Daisy High School; instructor Joel Laney and his efforts in connecting students with the Tennessee Valley Authority and other engineering groups were recently featured in Teacher magazine.
“We were scratching the surface before,” says Scales. “Through the
Chamber, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in involvement, initiative, and commitment from the business community. Together with Ford, we can ensure that our programs are more focused.”