BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Feb.16, 2023) – The Alabama Office of Apprenticeship and FuelAL, a program of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA), are proud to announce partnership in hosting the Second Annual Governor’s Summit on Talent Retention & Work-Based Learning. The Summit will take place in Mobile, Alabama, at the Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel, May 3-5, 2023.

The Summit will bring together employers, educators, economic developers and workforce professionals from across Alabama to learn best practices in talent retention & workforce development. Keynote speakers and panelists representing each sector will share their unique perspectives on how talent retention and work-based learning can benefit each component of a successful economy.

The Summit will also offer various breakout and panel sessions focused on topics such as apprenticeship, career pathways, and other work-based learning resources. Attendees will gain valuable workforce development tools and resources to better equip them.

Read More and Register For the Summit!

Due to the strong leadership of Governor Ivey, the Alabama Legislature, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, and education advocates in business and industry, Alabama’s historically anemic student proficiency scores and national rankings are beginning to move in the right direction.

This didn’t happen by accident. Governor Kay Ivey is Alabama’s education governor, and she has done more to transform Alabama’s K-12 education system during her five years in office than any of her predecessors.

From the beginning of her term as Governor, Kay Ivey has always said that literacy and numeracy are the “blocking and tackling” of education. During her first term, Governor Ivey set the bar for the Legislature and Alabama State Department of Education, and the Alabama State Board of Education to begin the hard work of improving Alabama’s education system to produce the educational results that Alabamians deserve.  Under Governor Ivey’s leadership, wise investments have been made to lay the foundation for excellence in literacy and numeracy.

Governor Ivey signed the Alabama Numeracy Act into law in May 2022, which places the same level of focus on mathematics that the Alabama Literacy Act placed on reading in 2019.

Alabama’s business community, through the work of the Alabama Workforce Council and other advocacy groups, have worked in conjunction with Governor Ivey to implement much-needed educational improvements.

Unfortunately, Alabama’s educational assessments, standards, and state superintendents have been altered or replaced every other year for a decade. Typically, change affects performance.  Alabama’s constant changes in leadership, assessments, and standards may have something to do with our low educational test scores. To maintain our current momentum, we must stop the standards war driven by reactionary voices that continue to push to change our standards every other year.

Continued changes in tests and standards confuse students, parents, and educators.  It also hinders our ability to determine student progress over time. It is extremely important to consistently maintain standards over a long enough period to accurately compare current performance to prior performance. Without consistency in standards and testing, confusion reigns.

We are pleased that Alabama’s 2019 Mathematics and 2021 English Language Arts courses of study were developed by Alabama’s teachers and members of business and industry.

Alabama has a new assessment system, the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP).  Hopefully, our leaders will stick with the new assessment program for a long enough period to eliminate confusion.

Consistency will allow all Alabama education stakeholders—parents, students, educators, businesses, and citizens—to understand our educational goals and test results.

Due to Governor Ivey’s strong and consistent leadership, strong standards, and an assessment system aligned to the standards, we have already seen some limited growth on the 2022 Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP), which is Alabama’s annual summative student assessment given in grades 2-8.

Every grade in K-12 saw improvement in scores on the ELA ACAP from 2021 to 2022, with the largest increase in 2^nd grade whose proficiency increased from 43% to 49%.

The National Assessment of Education Progress, commonly referred to as NAEP (pronounced “nape”), is the only educational test that compares student performance across the country. In 2022, Alabama’s 4^th grade NAEP math ranking improved from 52^nd in the nation to 40^th..  Alabama 4^th grade ranking in reading increased from 49^th  in the nation in 2019 to 39^th place in 2022.  Alabama’s ranking for 8^th grade mathematics improved from 52^nd 2019 to 47^th in 2022.  Since 1992 Alabama’s 4^th grade students have never been ranked in the top 40 nationally.

Our state’s national rankings in reading and math improved in relation to other states, but our nominal test scores were not significantly improved.  In other words, our rankings improved in relation to other states because our students’ scores did not drop from prior years as much as other states did.  That means that our students’ loss of learning was significantly lower than other state’s students.

Keeping students in school during COVID-19 is certainly one variable that helped Alabama hold its own during a dramatic national decline.

Kudos to our state’s leadership, starting with Governor Ivey, to make the tough decision to place our children’s education above the national hysteria about COVID.  Our state’s leadership worked very hard to minimize the effect of COVID on our children’s loss of learning.

Alabamians should be proud that we held our own and did not experience as much COVID-19 learning loss as other states; however, our results should not be cause for us to become complacent or rest on our laurels.

The results from this year’s ACAP and NAEP are reason to double down and saddle up for the hard work that lays before us.  We have a head start on many other states. Let’s keep going! We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a long tunnel.

The Alabama Workforce Council will continue to fall in beside Governor Ivey, Superintendent Eric Mackey, the Alabama Legislature, and the members of the Alabama State Board of Education to continue pushing for improvements in our children’s education because, as we all know—leadership matters!

Alabama’s need for aviation mechanics and technicians is soaring and a new registered apprenticeship program will begin filling that need with trained and qualified individuals.  The Alabama Office of Apprenticeship has partnered with M1 Support Services and the Alabama Aviation College to develop an apprenticeship program that combines paid work experience and classroom instruction, all while earning a portable, nationally recognized credential.

”We are proud to see  M1 Support Services developing a joint apprenticeship program to help meet the critical workforce needs for skilled aviation mechanics and technicians in the Fort Rucker area”, said Josh Laney, Director of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship.  We are very thankful to the company and the union for helping us set a high standard throughout the program’s development and we look forward to the years of growth and success ahead for everyone involved.”

At the successful completion of the program, students will have a nationally recognized credential and a pathway to a high-wage and high-demand job.  The paid, on-the-job training that they receive through the apprenticeship program sets them up for success while providing a pipeline of qualified workers for M1 Support Services.

A signing ceremony was recently held for the apprentices and M1 Support Services at Enterprise Community College.

On July 14, 2022, Governor Ivey  shared that Alabama is making substantial progress toward reaching her postsecondary attainment goal. Also known as Governor Ivey’s Success Plus plan, the attainment goal aims to add 500,000 individuals with postsecondary credentials to the state’s workforce by 2025. The governor is proud to report that since launching the plan in 2018, Alabama has added 214,922 credentials, according to the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC). The progress report shows that Alabama’s workforce is skilling up and well on its way to meet the goal of the Success Plus plan.

“Here in Alabama, we are laser-focused on bringing good-paying jobs to the state, and very importantly, we want to ensure we are providing opportunities for Alabamians to be the most equipped for those jobs,” said Governor Ivey. “I am proud of our progress and predict we are well on our way to surpassing the goal of adding 500,000 additional credentialed individuals to our workforce by 2025.”

Governor Ivey, collaborating with AlabamaWorks! and the Alabama Workforce Council, partnered with Credential Engine and the CREC to measure the progress.

“I am extremely proud of the work the Alabama Workforce Council has done in advancing Governor Ivey’s Success Plus initiative and helping Alabamians earn post-secondary credentials that will set them up for success,” said Alabama Workforce Council Chair Tim McCartney. “It is evident we have more work to do to carry this goal to completion, but we are on the right path and have the right leadership with Governor Ivey at the helm.”

The progress report shows that since 2018, Alabama has made progress toward the Success Plus goal of adding 500,000 credentialed adults ages 16 to 64 to the workforce by 2025. Of the more than 200,000 added credentialed individuals, 137,848 newly credentialed individuals were in the 16 to 24 age group, and 38,240 were in the 25 to 64 age group. Governor Ivey is a national leader on workforce development efforts. As she speaks to company officials in this country and around the globe, she consistently touts the state of Alabama’s strong workforce.

“Alabama’s current and future economic growth depends on a highly skilled workforce. That’s why I am so proud of the progress we are making in increasing our postsecondary education attainment goal,” said Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield. “We are on track to meet our goal, which will result in more Alabamians in the workforce.”

The information included in the Success Plus plan progress report provides a clearer picture of the credential landscape and statewide progress toward the attainment goal. The report also advances transparency and connectivity across credentialing systems.

Beyond grouping by age, another focus was measuring credential attainment by region. Of the progress made since 2018, 44,469 credentials were attained in region 1; 12,045 in region 2; 24,956 in region 3; 38,441 in region 4; 33,155 in region 5; 17,791 in region 6; and 44,065 in region 7.

Broken down by credential, from 2018 to 2021, 145,194 first degrees were attained from public and private postsecondary schools; 33,059 first certificates were attained from public and private postsecondary schools; 1,430 people attained licenses as their first credential; 34,552 attained a certification; and 668 people completed an apprenticeship.

“Success Plus has required focused efforts across multiple state agencies, the private sector and community-based organizations,” said AIDT Executive Director and Deputy Commerce Secretary Ed Castile. “I am proud of the progress we have made thus far, and I am even more excited about the progress we will make between now and 2025.”

Through Governor Ivey’s leadership and focus on carving a path for Alabamians to be highly skilled and successful, the state is well on its way to achieving her Success Plus goal.

The demand for nurses is at an all-time high and the number of open nursing positions in the healthcare field is growing rapidly.  Mapping nursing career paths, providing learning and training while also a living wage to students is the newest strategy to deliver qualified nurses into the workforce.

The Alabama Office of Apprenticeship has partnered with the Alabama Board of Nursing and the Alabama Community College System to develop the state’s first nursing registered apprenticeship program.

What does a nursing apprenticeship program in Alabama mean? It means that students accepted into their local community college’s practical or registered nursing apprenticeship program get classroom instruction and on-the-job learning but at the same time, they are earning progressive wages.  Students will actually work as a hospital employee, earning pay for program clinical and practicum hours.  After successful completion of the program and the passage of the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination), the student transitions to full-time employment at the hospital where they were an apprentice.

Josh Laney, Director of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship, said “the opportunity for nurse apprentices to earn while they learn, to continue applying skills learned in class in a real work environment, and to extend the time spent working with their preceptors, will positively impact the nursing industry’s critical needs for recruitment and retention of highly prepared nurses.”

The rules from the administrative code go into effect on March 17, 2022.  The initial cohort of nursing apprentices will launch this summer, and it will be open to other interested employers and training providers in the fall.

The new nursing apprenticeship program is just one way that the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship is working to remove barriers to entry for students wanting to enter high-demand occupations while also helping to meet Governor Ivey’s Success Plus Goal of adding 500,000 credentialed workers to the workforce by 2025.

MONTGOMERY, Ala – Workforce is a hot topic in 2021with no shortage of discussions about labor force participation rates, employee retention, and labor shortages.  It comes as no surprise that data on these topics is in high demand, and the Alabama Workforce Council is pleased to release a set of workforce profiles that give a snapshot of key data points on the state of Alabama’s workforce and workforce ecosystem.

Under the leadership of Governor Kay Ivey, Alabama set the ambitious attainment goal of adding 500,000 credentialed Alabamians to the labor force, surpassing the national labor force participation rate and returning to pre-pandemic employment levels. Reaching these goals requires understanding the differences across Alabama’s seven workforce regions and expanding place-based strategies that serve the education and workforce needs of our communities and provide a foundation for achieving the state’s attainment goal.

Creating opportunities and empowering students for success begins with a thorough knowledge of the current workforce landscape as well as factors that impact access to education and employment.  These profiles were originally developed through an Equity Leadership Acceleration Grant from the Lumina Foundation, the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, and Equivolve Consulting, in partnership with the Alabama Workforce Council and the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation.  They have been updated to include a comprehensive statewide view as well as a focus on the labor force participation rate.

The profiles provide a foundation for collaboration, shared resources, and enhanced communication among stakeholders in order to achieve the state’s attainment goal.  To view the statewide and regional profiles visit www.alabamaworks.com/regionalprofiles.

Right now is the best time to pursue a career in transportation or distribution, a trend only forecasted to increase.  To keep pace with demand and create a pipeline of qualified employees the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship (AOA) has worked with industry partners Billy Barnes Enterprises and Reid State Technical College to establish the first competency-based Commercial Driver Registered Apprenticeship (RA) program in the state and commemorated it with a signing day for new apprentices.

Registered apprenticeships are nationally recognized and proven training models that allow participants to “earn while they learn.”  This program represents a concerted effort in building and developing viable talent pipelines and encouraging Alabama job seekers to enter these life-changing career pathways.

“The demand for commercial drivers will only continue to grow. Apprenticeships like this help provide a pathway for job seekers to stable, high-quality career opportunities,” stated Josh Laney, Director of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship. “The creation of these meaningful training and employment opportunities, in partnership with champion employers like Billy Barnes Enterprises, is a benefit to the individual apprentices, the local economy, and Alabama as a whole.”

Governor Kay Ivey’s Success Plus goal calls for the addition of 500,000 highly skilled workers to the workforce by 2025 to meet the needs of industry and help Alabamians advance into high-demand, high-wage occupations.  This innovative program will meet the needs of employers and employees while growing Alabama’s robust transportation industry.

“The Alabama Trucking Association Foundation is proud of the partnership forged with our community colleges and high schools to bring this program to life,” stated Tim Frazier. “We have high hopes that this model apprenticeship program can be replicated throughout the state and will accelerate many new talented individuals to start a career in Alabama Trucking.”

COVID-19 has had a profound impact on millions of people around the world and has changed the landscape of every industry while highlighting challenges in the workforce. AlabamaWorks! is bringing together workforce partners across the state to discuss innovative ways to advance workforce in the post-pandemic era.

On September 21-22 thought leaders, educators, workforce developers, human resources professionals, chambers of commerce, non-profit agencies, and many others will navigate a virtual platform to hear keynote speakers, attend panel discussions and participate in breakout sessions covering current workforce policy initiatives, innovative solutions, and best practices.

Keynote speakers include Josh Davies, CEO of the Center for Work Ethic Development, and Dr. Richard Pimentel, disability advocate and one of the driving forces behind the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Governor Kay Ivey will close out the conference with an address on the current state of the workforce in Alabama and the presentation of the 2021 AlabamaWorks! Innovator Awards to innovative people and programs in the state.

As an added bonus, the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services is able to offer professional development credits for SHRM-CP® or SHRM-SCP® with the Society of Human Resource Management.

The event is free to attend.  A detailed agenda, additional information on professional development credits, and registration is available at www.alabamaworks.com/register.