George Philhowers, Eastern Hancock schools superintendent
CHARLOTTESVILLE — For several years now educators with Eastern Hancock (EH) schools have worked hard to develop hands-on, worked-based learning opportunities for their students.
Two EH administrators are now part of an Indiana coalition designed to build and grow youth apprenticeship. Superintendent George Philhower and Principal Adam Barton are two of more than 100 Indiana leaders, including corporate CEOs, university presidents, K-12 superintendents and state government officials, who have joined the coalition to develop a statewide modern youth apprenticeship system as one potential solution to the state’s mounting workforce crisis.
“Getting a chance to be invited to these state-level conversations feels like a big deal to us,” Philhower said. “We’re excited to be influencing what a state program could look like.”
Philhower and Barton were asked to be part of a high school committee within the coalition representing districts and charter school networks. Their committee is tasked with things like figuring out how to help students nagivate classroom schedules and transportation.
“When you read through the list of people who are all a part of this, you can see there are some pretty influential people in the state who are a part of this,” Philhower said. “To me that means this is a pretty big priority in the state.”
The governing committee consists of Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education; Chris Lowery, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education; and Pamela Whitten, President of Indiana University, to name a few.
The coalition recently kicked off a 10-month Implementation Lab (referred to as an iLab), an intensive collaborative officials hope will result in a comprehensive, statewide plan to increase the number of available modern youth apprenticeships.
Officials with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce sent a group to Zurich, Switzerland to study their work-based learning apprenticeship program on two separate trips to study their best practices.
“We’re not going to replicate the exact same things they are doing there because it is a different country and government,” Philhower said. “However, the good thing, things we can learn, we will always want to do what is best for the kids.”
Philhower noted they’ve had three good sessions so far with several more scheduled through this next semester. Next fall, a report will be filed to help state officials figure out how something modeled after the program in Switzerland might work in Indiana.
“We must take bold action to reform Indiana’s education and workforce development system to deliver better outcomes for individuals, employers and the state’s economy,” David Becker, chairman and chief executive officer of First Internet Bank and co-chair of CEMETS iLab Indiana, said in a press release on the coalition. “By forming this unprecedented coalition and increasing apprenticeship opportunities, we can change the trajectory of Indiana’s workforce issues and strengthen our state’s economy.”
The youth apprenticeship model allows 11th grade high school students to participate in a three-year, paid, work-and-learn program. The apprenticeship culminates in a high school diploma, college credit and an industry credential while preparing students for in-demand careers.
Officials note Indiana’s long-standing talent shortages worsened during the pandemic and are projected to increase due to an aging population and only a 63% labor force participation rate. Further, by 2031, 72% of jobs in the U.S. will require post secondary education and/or training. Indiana is not on track to meet that need, with only 39% of Hoosier adults 25 years and over having an associate degree or higher.
To complicate matters, college enrollment in Indiana declined from 65% in 2015 to 53% in 2021. All told, for each high school graduating class, only about 30% earn a college degree – meaning 70% enter the labor market without a degree or credential.
Philhower noted exploring all possibilities to give students real work experience to get them ready for the work world is worth the time and effort it takes to learn more about apprenticeship programs, even as far away as Switzerland.
“We want our kids to have the best of the best and this all falls in line with what we’ve been trying to do for our kids over the past few years,” Philhower said. “We feel like collaboration is the key to all of this and this helps us raise the level of expectations of what we want our kids to be doing while they are working.”
Philhower noted about a quarter of their students are currently doing some form of work-based learning, and he’d like to see those numbers increase.
