Report: Turnaround high school a work-force model
As Maine lawmakers and business leaders hone their focus on work-force development strategies, a report by a national nonprofit singles out one Maine school as an early success story.
The study, by the education nonprofit America's Edge, estimates that about 15,000 more high-skilled workers will be needed to fill 26,000 positions opening in Maine in the next 10 years. The report showcases Lake Region High School, which raised its graduation rate from 76% to 91% over three years, as a model on how to address the state's projected skills gap.
The study estimates that having 1,000 more high school graduates in the state would increase Maine's gross state product by nearly $12 million annually, support 80 new jobs and increase state revenues $900,000 annually through the increased spending and investment of those graduates.
How to boost those graduation rates, and graduate students with the right skills, is a question schools everywhere face, according to Lake Region High School Principal Ted Finn.
"Most schools in Maine and those across the country were set up to support a 20th-century industrial economy," Finn said in a phone interview with Mainebiz. "The question is now: Where is the industry?"
In Maine, the report projects that, over 10 years, the state will be short around 1,500 information and technology workers, 1,000 machinists and 4,000 other high-wage jobs, of which two-thirds require education beyond a high school degree.
Steve Pound, associate director of work force development at the Cianbro Institute, said during a press conference Tuesday where the report was unveiled, that increasing skill requirements is evident at his company.
"There's not a job at Cianbro where you don't need math and science," Pound said.
But employer demands increasingly will go beyond textbook curriculum, said Pound, a former superintendent of RSU 60 in Greenville.
Addressing those needs will require a new high-school model that incorporates project- and work-based learning and enhanced communication requirements, while moving away from rote memorization. Lake Region is an example of those approaches, Pound said.
Finn said he was surprised by the mention the study made of the school he took over three years ago, when it was ranked as one of the state's 10 lowest-performing high schools.
In addition to boosting graduation rates, Finn said the school has increased math proficiency from around one-third of students to 46%, just one percent short of the state average.
"We've come a long way in a short time and I'd like to attribute these positive moves to the structural changes that we've made," Finn said.
The Naples-based school opened nine career academies with the help of a federal grant, which focused on hands-on learning and coordination of lessons throughout core subjects.
That structure continues to change at Lake Region as it nears the end of a three-year, $1.6 million federal School Improvement Grant. To make up for the funding loss, Finn said the school plans to consolidate its nine academies to four, anchored by one academy that focuses on career tracks in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields. The other three academies next fall will include visual and performing arts, leadership and a vocational career academy.
Finn acknowledges it is still too early to tell how the academy approach will translate into tangible benefits for Maine businesses, but he said his school remains committed to the new teaching approach.
"I think that only time will tell," Finn says, "but we see that, in fact, we can sustain and continue to grow what we've started."
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