By Don Heinzman
ECM Editorial Contributor
There is a growing need for trained and skilled workers in Minnesota businesses.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has a Grow Minnesota program that has resulted in 43 chambers of commerce making 3,000 visits and assisting more than 400 companies during the last four years.

Last week, business officials learned that the number one concern of businesses visited is the need for more workers with the right skills. The hardest positions to fill in order were: specialty skilled, professional, sales and marketing and information and technology.

At a recent conference of business and education leaders at the Anoka Technical College K-14 symposium, all agreed that learning how to communicate verbally and in writing, how to work as a team and customer services were important skills to learn. They also agreed students need to learn technical skills.

One school system has a program attracting national and international attention because it merges students' early desire to learn technical skills, the needs of businesses and earlier instruction of college-level subjects.

This model called the Secondary Technical Education Program (STEP is a part of the Anoka-Hennepin School District's high school program).

This year 800 high school juniors and seniors are studying basic and vocational career subjects either full or part-time in a school on the campus of the Anoka Technical College.

Most attend their home high school studying basic subjects in the morning and learn advance vocational courses of welding, automotive, carpentry, technical, law enforcement and nursing skills in the afternoon. Of the 800, 75 learn the basic and career courses at STEP school.

These vocational classes are matched with an introductory-to-college curriculum, focusing on a career and earning both high school and college credits. Ginny Karbowski, director of secondary vocational education, says STEP students take advanced math, science, algebra, chemistry, physics and trigonometry designed to fit their interests.

For example, carpentry students take applied geometry and medical career students take probability of statistics.

The genius in this STEP program is 800 high school students are focused on a career path while taking the basic courses and career subjects before they graduate from high school. Many of these graduates are continuing their studies at two- and four-year colleges.

The Minnesota Chamber has another idea. Adapt the college schedule and the curriculum so high school graduates first can get situated in a job and then begin their technical college studies, simultaneously studying and working in a career.

This is based on the concern that good employees are kept out of the workforce too long and may be learning a curriculum not suited to needs of the businesses.

Meanwhile, the STEP program is being replicated and has the interest in Rochester, the Range schools, Brainerd area schools and in the St. Paul school system. Visitors have come from Sweden and the Republic of China to observe STEP. A program like STEP is under way at Dakota County Technical College.

This is a program that may be the right step for other high schools close to technical colleges. It should be examined by all business leaders in this state.

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