JETI 21- Teacher in Workplace Program

Eighteen months ago, Jordan-Elbridge High School began JETI-21 (the Jordan-Elbridge Technological Institute for the 21^st Century) with the help of 20 local manufacturing employers, administrators and government officials.  The manufacturers require employees with skills that surpass basic reading, writing and math.  Through funding from the E6 Grant, teachers at J-E teamed up with their manufacturing partners to write curriculum for:

• Technical Reading and Writing
• Production Systems
• Applied Technological Mathematics
• Pre-Engineering
• LEAN Manufacturing
• Computer Integrated Manufacturing

With the assistance and collaboration of MACNY and Partners for Education & Business, three teachers participated in an intensive week-long professional development program that provided them with a framework for understanding the skill sets required by manufacturing employers, an understanding of the WorkKeys system, which helped them identify, analyze and measure these skills, and a method to develop integrated instruction that will help strengthen students’ skills and prepare them for what is needed in the workplace.

Two Tech teachers – Mark Schermerhorn and Todd Canino – and one English teacher – Dave Sipley – started the week with a presentation by Dave Freund, president of Selflock Screw Products.  He reinforced the issue of what skills workers need in today’s world, including:

• Being a self-starter
• Problem-solving
• Being a team player
• Sound math & communication skills
• Computer skills
• Mechanical aptitude

The soft skills are also lacking in many employees (i.e. being punctual, attendance, attitude, being productive, etc.).  Manufacturing provides a pathway to higher level positions and offers training, apprenticeships, benefits and opportunities – many with only a high school degree or GED.

This was followed by an orientation session of the WorkKeys system and an explanation of how they would be observing, identifying, defining and measuring the skills used by employees in the workplace to perform their job duties, when they visited three manufacturing facilities later in the week.

On the following three days, the teachers spent full days in the workplace at General Superplating, Acrolite, and Rock Tenn-Solvay Mill.  They met with or observed a variety of employees, learning about product development and processing, cross-training of employees, corrective action reports, chemical mixing, metric conversions, turnover rates and many of the issues that face manufacturing employers today.  The teachers determined that, though the plants all produced different products and ranged in facility and employee size, there were commonalities in the skills required:

• Observation
• Listening
• Teamwork
• Reading (especially for those employees who have limited English language)
• Problem-solving
• Communication
• Graphic Interpretation
• Troubleshooting
• Organization
• Technology

The teachers finished the week with a debriefing session, that allowed them to ruminate over what they had seen in the workplace and how they will integrate what they learned into classroom instruction.  The teachers will “team teach”, collaborating together for the Tech courses of Production Systems and Auto Cad, as well as the English course, including Technical Writing.  They will incorporate the WorkKeys skills, which align with the required state Standards.  One idea is to have students design, produce, test and troubleshoot a product and then have them write directions and operating procedures for that product.

The final outcome of the program is to prepare all students for success beyond high school and to look to our own local economies for support in teaching students how to be employable.