Nashville, TN – A partnership between Tennessee departments of Education, and Labor and Workforce Development garnered top-ranking graduation and success rates for a third consecutive year. Jobs for Tennessee Graduates works with high school seniors to ensure they graduate and are prepared for a career or higher education. The JTG program again has been awarded the highest national accolade – the Five of Five Award – signifying JTG students exceeded the goals of the program.

“This partnership is changing the lives of hundreds of Tennessee students,” Acting Education Commissioner Tim Webb said. “The achievements of JTG students open the door to a promising future and show their peers what can be accomplished. Each JTG teacher should be commended for their role in this success story.”

“I am proud of the continued success of the JTG program and being a leading example for the nation,” said Commissioner James Neeley. “The partnership between the Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Department of Education has proved invaluable to this program and the Tennessee youth it serves. My congratulations go out to both JTG and the students who will soon be entering the workforce with the skills they need for success.”

The chart illustrates the achievements of JTG students in each of the areas measured by parent organization Jobs for America’s Graduates:

“I want to applaud my 35 teachers in the 41 Senior School-to-Career Programs across the state,” JTG Executive Director Betsy Houston said. “This is a very prestigious award and extremely difficult to achieve.”

JTG specialists work with at-risk students during their senior year and remain in contact with participants for the full year after graduation from high school. The awards will be presented during the National Training Seminar in New Orleans July 7-11. For more information, contact Rachel Woods at (615) 253-1960 or Rachel.Woods@state.tn.us.

The Knoxville Chamber has released a report detailing the Workforce + Education Summit Follow Up Meeting events.

Various task forces and groups were created from this event, and will continue to meet to discuss the challenges and issues facing education and workforce.

Summit Follow-Up Meeting Report

Over 200 Knoxville businesspeople, area educators, parents, students, and others attended the Workforce Development and Education Summit follow-up meeting sponsored by EdAmerica and South College. Knoxville Chamber Workforce Development and Education Manager Ahnna Estes helped organize the event, hosted by Innovation Valley, Inc. at Cokesbury United Methodist Center, designed to create action plans that will solve issues identified during March’s summit.

“Participants will come away with an understanding of what is required from them as we move forward,” she said.

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale led a panel discussion and spoke about the value of an educated workforce.

“Businesses are relocating and expanded to areas where a qualified workforce is available,” he said. “Our challenge here in Knoxville, Knox County, and East Tennessee is to make sure we have the country’s best workforce. Regardless of our outstanding quality of life here or our collective marketing efforts to attract businesses to the area, companies will find other places to call home if we don’t have qualified workers available.”

Attendees took part in five breakout sessions designed to develop action plans. Participants separated into Communications Campaign, Effective Teaching/Relevance Taskforce, Attracting and Retaining a Quality Workforce Taskforce, Bridging the Gap Between Higher Ed and Business Taskforce, and Under-Utilized Workforce Taskforce breakout sessions.

Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards challenged those in attendance to focus on implementing action plans.

“Discipline yourselves not to talk about what the problems are,” he said. “We’ve already done that. Spend your time on action items and how we’re going to go about addressing the issues we face.”

For more information about the summit’s follow-up meeting or information about Workforce Development and Education, please contact Ahnna Estes, 865-246-2658.

Three upcoming high school freshmen students visited the Knoxville Chamber as part of Knox County Schools “Schooled for Success” program.

This program’s purpose is to introduce entering HS freshman to career opportunities. The program is conducted each year after school gets out at various local businesses.

The student’s that participated in the Chamber's events were Abby Burroughs, Carter Middle School; Preston Johnson, Holston Middle School; and Marc Cooper, Powell Middle School.

The student’s spent two work days at the Chamber offices, during which time they had a tour of the building, interviewed staff members in various departments, conducted an internet scavenger hunt of the Chamber website and completed a project. The project was to create a brochure that can be used by the school counselors to help students understand what the chamber does and why it is important to the region.

Knoxville Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards received the Knox County Council PTA Partner In Advocacy Award May 1st at the Crowne Plaza in Knoxville.

“PTA members honored Edwards for his persistent and persuasive efforts on behalf of the children of Tennessee,” says Karen Davis, Knox County Council PTA president. “He has been unrelenting in his quest to remind all stakeholders that it is the right of every child to receive a quality education and it is our duty to provide them with an education that will give them the tools to be successful no matter the path they take in life.”

“The Chamber has been diligent and focused on providing the children of Knoxville the education they need and deserve,” says Edwards. “We feel very strongly that their future and the future economic prosperity of our region depend on their classroom achievement today.”

The Chamber hosted the Workforce and Education Summit in March at the Knoxville Convention Center. The event gave Knoxville businesspeople and educators a chance to share ideas and goals that will improve the region’s educational systems, which ultimately determine the quality of the workforce. The Chamber will host a follow-up to the summit on June 10th to discuss ideas and responses. The meeting will be from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. at the Cokesbury United Methodist Center located at 9919 Kingston Pike in Knoxville. Chamber sponsorship of events such as these is part of the reason Edwards was recognized by the PTA.

The PTA’s Evening of Elegance honored individuals and local PTA/PTSA members’ schools for their hard work and dedication to the children of Knox County. PTA/PTSA members, parents, teachers, principals, community partners, and elected officials attended the event. In addition to the Partner in Advocacy Award, the PTA announced its Awards of Excellence for Outstanding Local Unit, Outstanding Teacher, Outstanding Principal, Outstanding Elected Official, Outstanding Volunteer awards, and others were presented.

The spring Workforce and Education Summit dealt with education in broad terms and participants discussed what was necessary for students to successfully complete their education and be functioning members of the workforce.

On June 10, the Chamber will hold a follow-up meeting at Cokesbury United Methodist Center so that the community can share ideas and action items that will positively benefit the local education system and workforce development initiatives.

Read the Knoxville News Sentinel column on the workforce and education follow-up meeting.

For more information on the Summit follow-up, contact Jennifer Evans or Ahnna Estes.

Reports from the Workforce Summit:
Final Summit Report
Appendix 1: Summit Notes
Appendix 2: What to Do For Schools List
Appendix 3: Summit Evaluations

The Knoxville Chamber has sent letters to a number of Knoxville-area legislators urging them to vote against Rep. Niceley's amendment, which would have the superintendent voted by the public, rather than appointed by the school board. Here is a copy of the letter, sent from Mike Edwards, which states the Chamber's position:
___________________________________________

To sustain our economy and continue our economic prosperity substantial improvements are necessary in public education. We need to increase academic rigor and improve the skills of high school graduates so students are ready for the workplace or post-secondary training. These improvements will not come easy and will require the focused effort of a strong, professional school superintendent.

The current legislative effort to allow for an elected school superintendent (Amendment 3 to HB 3857) is bad public policy. The Knoxville Chamber is opposed to this legislation and would look at its passage as hostile to public education. I hope you will not allow such a vote to become part of your public record.

Knox County's superintendent of schools needs to have academic improvement and execution of strategies to increase the skills of graduates as his/her singular focus. That professional cannot be distracted by periodic elections.

The School Board is, and ought to continue to be, the place where public policy is set and the public's desires and the electorate's voice is heard. The Board should continue to formulate policies based on public input. But the implementation of those policies should
be left to the professional staff employed by the Board.

I urge you to vote against the amendment offered by Rep. Niceley.

Sincerely,
Michael Edwards
President & CEO, Knoxville Chamber

___________________________________________

Also, the Knoxville News Sentinel had an editorial on the proposed superintendent policy change, which was attached to Edwards' letter.

Click here to read Niceley's amendment.

NOTE: This comes from a release by Energy Solutions, a Knoxville Chamber member business.

One Tennessee high school student will be able to worry a little less about paying for his college education. Xinran (Ryan) Liu, a sophomore at Oak Ridge High School, is the 2008 Distinguished Award recipient of the EnergySolutions Foundation scholarship.

Exemplary students from eligible schools in six states were selected to receive $2,000 merit-based scholarships. All recipients were then entered into the competition for the three Distinguished Awards. Ryan was selected from a pool of applicants from Idaho, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Washington and other Tennessee students to receive the additional $25,000 Distinguished Award scholarship which is to be used in math, science, or engineering studies. Two students in Washington were selected to receive the $5,000 and the $2,500 Distinguished Awards.

This is the second year in a row the top Distinguished Award recipient has been selected from Oak Ridge High School. Mr. Chuck Carringer had the following comments during the presentation, “We are excited for Ryan to receive this prestigious award.” “We appreciate the commitment from EnergySolutions to offer this opportunity to our students again this year”.

The EnergySolutions Foundation began the scholarship program in 2006 as a way to promote the study of math, science, and engineering to encourage the next generation of professionals to seek degrees in biochemistry, chemistry, ecology, engineering, geology, geophysics, mathematics, meteorology, or physics.

Ryan wants to pursue a physics degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has won awards across the spectrum….MathCounts, University of Tennessee Pro2serve Math Contest, Science Olympiad, Science Bowl, Scholars Bowl, Swim Team, Piano, and Violin. Ryan has always been a straight A student in high school even while taking AP Calculus, AP Physics, and Honors Chemistry, English, World History and Orchestra. According to his AP Physics B instructor, Peggy Bertrand, Ryan read physics books over the summer in preparation for Physics B.

“Ryan is an incredible mathematician in the making and there is no limit on his curiosity, thirst for new challenges, and the pace at which he learns,” said Benita Albert, Mathematics Department Chair, Oak Ridge High.

“The goal of the scholarship program is to help create the next generation of mathematicians, scientists, and engineers for America’s future,” said Jordan Clements, Chairman of the Board for the EnergySolutions Foundation. “This is an excellent opportunity for the Foundation to act locally and get results on a global scale,” said Clements.

“We are pleased to help these motivated students fulfill their desire of a college education," said Steve Creamer, CEO of EnergySolutions. “Because the scholarship program is an extension of our commitment to this great community where EnergySolutions employees live and work, I am so happy for the difference this will make in Ryan Liu’s education,” said Creamer.

The EnergySolutions Foundation will honor the Tennessee recipients at a luncheon on Wednesday, May 28th at the Flat Water Grill.
For more information about the scholarship program, please contact Sharon Templeton at (865)220-1263 or Pearl Wright at (801) 870-1505 or visit our website at energysolutionsfoundation.org.

The Crossville Chronicle recently ran a story about a meeting Mitch Steenrod, VP/CFO of Pilot Travel Centers, held with Crossville residents about education.

According to the Crossville Chronicle, "Steenrod wants to see a cause and effect from funding for public education. He said the Knox County school system is instituting a new accounting system that will allow them to know the total costs down to the building level ... Knox County is also trying to integrate the value added scores from standardized test into the data reports to be able to look at educational success.

"Steenrod added he felt If taxpayers can be shown the results coming from their investment, they are much more likely to be comfortable with their tax money supporting the school system.

" 'The business community is telling the schools what they want in their employees,' said Steenrod. 'Those things are communications skills, decent math skills plus confidence and problem solving skills.' "

Read the Crossville Chronicle story about Steenrod's meeting in Crossville.

NOTE: This release was sent from the University of Tennessee communications department.

East Tennessee high school students will have a chance to explore the world of business and possible business careers during a new summer enrichment program sponsored by the College of Business Administration at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Called "Business Education for Talented Students" (BETS), this weeklong, residential program will run June 21-28. The program targets students from communities that have been historically underrepresented in business. There is no cost to participate.

BETS is designed to introduce 25 rising seniors from diverse backgrounds to the various business majors offered at UT -- accounting, finance, marketing, economics, human resource management, public administration, enterprise management, logistics and statistics.

Students must have a 3.0 cumulative grade-point average. Complete eligibility requirements and application are available at http://bus.utk.edu/diversity . Applications are being accepted through May 16.

Program funding is provided by UT College of Business Administration alumnus Andy Taylor, a partner in the Memphis financial investment firm Gerber/Taylor Associates.

"One of Andy's goals is to ensure that the college's future students are prepared to enter the exciting world of business," said Sarah Gardial, associate dean of academic programs. "The BETS program will introduce students to the opportunities available in our college and give them the opportunity to become familiar with UT and life on campus."

Taylor said he wants high school students "to realize that they can achieve their dreams as long as they stay focused, work hard and get an education.

"My hurdles to success were many. I'd like to make it easier for our future leaders to achieve their goals."

Students will participate in professional development, real-world simulations, challenging team-building activities and business instruction led by the college's faculty. In addition to attending classes, students will interact with professionals from business and government during organizational visits, plant tours and guest lectures.