Recommendations

1. Recognize that 87.5% of the educational requirements for the majority of Iowa job openings in the foreseeable future will be taught in community college environments, i.e., high school career academies and GED, specific-technical or skills-related certificate education, and two-year associate degrees (2 years).
2. Benchmark, chronicle, and focus K-14 efforts towards identifying and teaching skills and competencies that enable individuals to: a) work effectively as team members and leaders, b) identify and solve problems individually and in teams, c) build personal communication capacity (oral and written), d) boost industry-related technical knowledge, and e) serve society as both wise consumers and effective service providers.
3. Reinvent and redeploy K-14 curriculum to institutionalize education/industry partnership experiences relating to the above skills and competencies.
4. Regularly assess student comprehension and capabilities in the listed skills and competencies; regularly revise curriculum and training as needed.
5. Initiate widely-available public career seminars targeted to the populace in general relating to the above skills and competencies.
6. Based on the results of the Skills 2006 Outlook, Des Moines Area Community College proposes a set of recommendations to best leverage the $559,000 annual investment from the Grow Iowa Values Fund. Following are annual recommendations for the first two years of funding (Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005):
   • Expand DMACC’s Career Academies--$187,464
     • Career Academies are technical programs that begin in the high school, and students earn valuable career skills and college credit. The programs culminate in a two-year degree in a career-technical program at DMACC.
   • Increase training programs available to companies through the Iowa Job Training Program (260F)--$150,000
     • DMACC Business Resources (DBR) proposes to train 160 employees in seven companies engaged in advanced manufacturing, information technology and biotechnology. In FY2003, DMACC was unable to assist 34 companies requesting training projects through the “260F” program due to funding issues.
   • Expand apprenticeship training programs for skilled trades--$100,000
     • Advanced manufacturers have a need for skilled tradespeople for industrial maintenance work. DMACC will also work with union representatives to develop innovative recruiting programs to recruit minorities and other under-represented groups for high-skill, high-wage jobs.
   • Support One Source Training for companies with employees throughout Iowa--$41,976
     • One Source Training is a program to assist companies and organizations with training needs at multiple locations within Iowa. Before One Source was formed in 2002, companies had to work with multiple colleges in order to take advantage of 260E or 260F funding.
   • Expand Biotechnology Laboratory--$55,000
     • This will help approximately 100 students per year in DMACC’s biotechnology, agribusiness and health sciences programs.
   • Improve Math and Information Technology capacity for students in technical programs -- $50,000
     • Adding one full-time instructor to teach mathematics and information technology will serve approximately 150 additional students in technical programs such as civil engineering technology, land surveying and information technology.
   • Expand Accelerated Career Education (ACE) Programs--$30,000
     • DMACC proposes to invest $30,000 into ACE programs to expand opportunities for minorities and other under-represented groups to begin careers in advanced manufacturing at John Deere Des Moines Works.