Southern Indiana Business Report
Three school corporations in the Radius Indiana region will participate in the upcoming Ready Schools cohort. Ready Schools helps align school districts to the education and workforce needs of Indiana Uplands employers and prepares students for high-opportunity jobs and careers.
Regional Opportunity Initiatives selected Barr-Reeve Community Schools, Crawford County Community School Corporation and East Washington School Corporation for participation in the fourth cohort of ROI’s Ready Schools initiative. The Ready Schools development grant provides an opportunity for the school corporation to involve their community in an immersive design thinking process throughout the 2023-24 school year.
The Ready Schools initiative is a framework to support school districts in aligning K-12 curricular and programmatic offerings to educational and workforce needs within the Indiana Uplands, an 11-county region that encompasses Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Monroe, Orange, Owen and Washington counties. Since 2017, ROI has awarded Ready Schools development and implementation grants to 18 regional school districts, impacting 85 schools and more than 35,077 K-12 students.
“Throughout the Ready Schools process, these school districts have embraced the important role they must play in regional economic prosperity,” said ROI President and CEO Tina Peterson. “This engagement will help schools carefully develop strategies to equip students from pre-K through graduation with the skills necessary to thrive in regionally relevant careers and 21st-century jobs.”
Cohort IV school districts will begin the first phase of the Ready Schools process in late August. A district readiness coordinator will guide locally developed advisory and design teams through the 10-month design thinking process. An ROI coach will work alongside the district readiness coordinator through the Discovery, Synthesis, Ideation and Refinement phases.
Creating a career ladder
The Ready Schools initiative will enable school districts to engage business leaders, educators, community stakeholders, parents, and students in defining what school success means for their community and to develop a strategic plan to obtain that success. The result is a collaborative approach and a comprehensive planning process designed to support students in achieving academic and career goals aligned with the region’s key industry sectors: advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and national security and defense.
ROI’s frequent Occupational Needs Assessments (ONA) emphasize the importance of relevant student pathways to meet our region’s workforce needs, support growth in key sectors, and attract talent. Intentional design to start earlier in a student’s K-12 journey and create a tangible bridge to a meaningful career ladder is essential.
Employers within the region’s three key sectors of life sciences, defense, and advanced manufacturing foresee accelerated growth but report that workforce quality and availability are limiting factors. The numbers below highlight the significant opportunity we have as a region to grow and retain talent.
- The Biomedical or Life Sciences sector regional cluster grew by 27.7% from 2012 to 2020, and employment concentration is 678% greater or roughly seven times that of the average U.S. region.
- The National Security and Defense sector combined federal and private growth is 68% greater than the national average, and employment change was 13.5% from 2012 to 2020, compared to 2.1% in the U.S.
- The trajectory of job growth in the Uplands advanced manufacturing sector cluster is increasing at a steep rate. Automotive manufacturing jobs increased by 93.5% here compared to 14% nationally; food-based manufacturing increased by 21.3%. And the employment concentration of furniture is 1,733% greater than the average U.S. community.
The six core principles that guide cohort work through the Ready Schools process include:
- Every student is engaged in a relevant path to success;
- Students graduate high school ready for post-secondary and career success;
- Meaningful and ongoing collaboration occurs among schools, industry, and community;
- Teaching and learning are grounded in relevancy;
- K-12 schools are aligned around a common vision of student success; and
- Schools embrace the significant role they play in achieving regional prosperity.
School districts that complete the first four Ready Schools phases will begin implementing comprehensive strategic plans beginning fall 2024.
Previous Ready Schools implementation funding has been used to support school district strategic plans with action items that align with the workforce needs of employers in the Indiana Uplands. For example, White River Valley utilized implementation funding to launch Wolverine Enterprises, a student-run business comprised of six divisions: Ag Enterprises, Precision Manufacturing, Precision Machining, Fine Arts and Design, Frozen Feasts, and Print Services, all managed by a student business and logistics team.
The three school districts of The Collaboration of Shoals, Mitchell, and Orleans Schools (COSMOS) used a portion of their Ready Schools implementation grant to redesign high school pathways aligned to regional industry sectors and establish a system of shared courses. These pathways and courses expand learning opportunities for students in all three districts as they provide course options beyond a student’s home district.
For a complete description of activities at each Ready Schools phase, go to: https://regionalopportunityinc.org/details-of-the-ready-schools-initiative/
“With the addition of these three school districts, the number of K-12 students impacted by ROI’s signature education and workforce initiative will exceed 35,000,” added Peterson. “We are proud of the dedicated work done by each Ready Schools district and the tremendous impact this work will have on preparing Indiana Uplands students for success in school and in life.”