News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The annual Highlands Skills Assessment will go out this week to select school districts.
The Highlands Economic Partnership assessment gauges student enrollment numbers and success rates for programs in Putnam, Overton, Jackson and White Counties. Workforce and Education Director Kaitlin Sayler said the data focuses on programs related to high demand jobs .
“Basically, what are those high demand jobs that are currently available, and they are anticipating to be available in three to five year,” Sayler said. “And are we working with our education partners both at the K-12 level and high er education to make sure we are making a pipeline of students.”
Sayler said the four main programs studied are advanced manufacturing, health science, education and information technology. The Highlands Economic Partnership uses the data to apply for grants.
“Primarily, they are used for applying for grants and writing grant proposals,” Sayler said. “But, we also use this internally to show our work with our K-12 partners that our work is meaningful and impactful for students and employers in the region.”
School Districts have until mid August to complete the survey. Sayler said the report use to be sent out by Excel spreadsheets, but Highlands Economic Partnership is exploring new options and tools to collect and aggregate data.
Sayler said this year’s results will be available on highlandsoftn.com
“We want anyone who is interested in potentially relocating to the Upper Cumberland region to see what our schools are doing with their students,” Sayler said. “I think that is very important for us to show just how impressive our school districts are.”
