BY julie speed
DBJ Contributing Writer

GREENVILLE - To im-prove the workforce in the Delta, sweeping changes are needed in school curriculum, according to results of a survey with business and industry leaders in Washington County, says Michael Ray, director of the Greenville Technical Center.
"Industry representatives should participate in the curriculum frameworks of academic education," says Ray, a vocational educator 2000 finalist selected earlier this year by the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. "What we're teaching in secondary schools in the state does not match industry needs."
John Baas, director of industrial relations for the 1,800-member statewide manufacturers association, says the survey results are reflective of what's happening in similar communities across the state.
"Michael has done a good job of pointing out gaps that exist between schools and business and industry that need to be worked on," Baas says.
Last fall, 44 businesses and industries in Washington County, including Delta Regional Medical Center, Fruit of the Loom, Fairfield Inn, Trustmark Bank and WXVT-TV, were polled by the Greenville Technical Center to find discrepancies in educational requirements and workforce needs, and the results were forwarded to parents of students in the Greenville Public School System.
"We're beginning a new six-year cycle, and within the next few years, we must convince state superintendents to open their doors and allow us to put industry members, instead of just educators, on state framework committees," he says.
Joe Haynes, associate superintendent of education leadership and operations for the State Department of Education, and former school superintendent for Greenville Public Schools, says the school board is taking the initiative to make changes.
"Businesses are an integral part of the education process," Haynes says. "There has to be involvement on their part, because if we don't have what is needed in the curriculum to prepare kids for the world of work, then we need to make adjustments."
The bottom line: more trained individuals are needed, Haynes says.
"I'm not against college, but kids need to be able to go in either direction," he says. "Vocational education is a good choice and the curriculum needs to be expanded so more kids can be involved in it, if they so choose. The school board in Greenville recognizes that now and will hopefully be a big part of the curriculum as time goes by."
Nancy Alley of the community college board says 40% of all people in today's workforce lack one of the basic skills required for employment. According to the employment and training division of the Mississippi Department of Economic and Community Development, industry wants workers that have been trained in interpersonal, basic math, basic English and computer skills.
Only 20% of today's tenth graders will enter college. After the first year, fewer than 10% will remain, says Dudley Mitchell, executive director of the Mississippi Construction Education Foundation.
According to Roy Cresap of Mississippi Construction Education, 70% of today's tenth graders will be married in five years or have children.
"Yet all of them are going to be looking for jobs - and all will have bills," Ray says.
In the survey, all respondents stated that jobs in their locations require a prospective employee to have basic math skills ö number recognition, reading fractions and decimals, converting fractions and decimals, measurement skills and the use of a calculator. Only 23% says jobs at their location required pre-algebra or algebra skills, and only 7% required advanced math skills.
"We teach pre-algebra in the seventh grade, yet only 23% of our workforce needs algebra skills," he says. "The kids do what our framework says they need to do, but it's not what industry needs. If educators would take the lead in changing this, Mississippi education would come off the bottom of the list and industry would flow into the state."
None of the businesses and industries surveyed required the ability to recite poetry or explain a literary passage. Only 5% required prospective employees to communicate in a second language, only 7% needed skills necessary to write a research paper, but 86% required the ability to locate information using catalogs or equipment manuals, and 100% insisted on basic reading and communication skills.
"I like what the state superintendent is pushing in K-3 reading," Ray says. "First, you learn to read. Then, you read to learn. If you can't read, you can't do anything. Some kids in the 10th and 11th grade here can't even read a newspaper."
In science courses, 23% of employers required applicants to have training in the physical sciences or biological sciences, primarily health. Only one third required technology training.
Almost three-fourths stated that a prospective employee must have at least a high school diploma or GED to work on site. Only 9% required college degrees.
"The basic rationale for the survey is that businesses and industries are complaining that prospective employees lack the skills they require to be hired and become successful when entering the workforce," Ray says.
"Industries across the state will be affected as an aging workforce rapidly approaches retirement age," says Ray.
"The curriculum framework is, no doubt, the key to changing our workforce," he says. "What is taught in our schools is tested, based on frameworks. If we don't get what's needed into the frameworks, it won't be taught. Nobody's teaching it."