P-Tech boosts in-demand skills

PROVEN RESULTS: Machinist Zack Sposato works on a machine part using a gang drill press at Vibco Inc. in Richmond. Sposato was hired by Vibco after graduating high school and undergoing an eight-week program at New England Institute of Technology. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
PROVEN RESULTS: Machinist Zack Sposato works on a machine part using a gang drill press at Vibco Inc. in Richmond. Sposato was hired by Vibco after graduating high school and undergoing an eight-week program at New England Institute of Technology. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

The perception that someone can be hired, and step seamlessly into a manufacturing job with little training is no longer accurate.

The exodus of low-skill, low-wage jobs to other countries, coupled with advances in technology, have created more demand in Rhode Island for skilled labor and professional positions within manufacturers.

For all of these reasons, several manufacturing companies are interested in participating in a new state program intended to increase the number of students graduating from high school and community college with technical credentials.

The so-called P-Tech program, or Pathways in Technology Early College High School program, will involve the Providence, Westerly and Newport public schools. Students who enroll in the initiative will receive a specialized curriculum in high school, followed by additional education through the Community College of Rhode Island, as well as mentorship and training at a Rhode Island company.

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The programs will begin in the 2016-17 school year and will focus on information technology, advanced manufacturing and cybersecurity, all identified as growth industries in the state.

Among manufacturers, early advocates include General Dynamics Electric Boat and Vibco Inc., which will work with Westerly students.

Karl Wadensten, president of Vibco, views the program as a pipeline for talent.

“We want to be part of the solution, rather than sit on the sidelines,” Wadensten said.

In the absence of a current school-based program, the company has been working on its own with five schools in the state. One newly hired machinist, for example, graduated from a local high school, then went on for eight weeks of training at New England Institute of Technology.

One of the chief benefits of P-Tech, Wadensten said, is helping to reduce the college affordability gap for students, because the state-supported program will allow participants to obtain certification or an associate degree at no cost.

The program, authorized in the fiscal 2016 budget, is based on similar initiatives in New York and Connecticut. In December, the R.I. Commerce Corporation awarded $200,000 in initial funding to the Providence, Newport and Westerly districts, which will hire assistant principals in charge of the programs.

Manufacturers will provide professional mentors to students, as well as opportunities for job shadowing and professional internships.

The advanced-manufacturing industry is interested in working with younger students to create a new-employee pipeline, explained Bill McCourt, executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturing Association.

“We’re interested in developing a workforce,” he said. “The challenge we’ve had is the amount of training that is required today. It’s not like it was 30 years ago.”

Manufacturing employees, even those in entry-level positions, are required to have formal education. “The starting point is a high school diploma. More often than not, it’s a high school diploma, plus,” he said.

What the P-Tech initiative could provide, he said, is an introduction to the manufacturing process and potential careers, beginning with students in middle school. Although the program will begin in ninth grade in Rhode Island, recruitment efforts will be directed at students in eighth grade.

For the high school juniors and seniors, the program would include partnerships with particular employers, and eventually, CCRI courses.

The idea is that within five to six years of entering high school, a student in a P-Tech program could graduate with not only a high school diploma, but also a specialized associate degree.

Enrollment in a P-Tech program will not prohibit students from branching out and entering four-year degree programs. In fact, McCourt said, it could provide a more cost-effective way for students to obtain a four-year degree. Instead of entering the University of Rhode Island as freshmen, bound for a mechanical engineering degree, students could enter the university as juniors, after receiving their associate degree at the community college level.

And manufacturing companies need employees with four-year degrees, he said.

“We’re talking about the need for accountants, engineers, salespeople, quality-assurance employees,” he said. “As well as the entry-level positions.”

For the advanced manufacturing program, CCRI will have to create a new associate degree program.

“I think it’s going to be exciting and challenging,” Westerly Superintendent Roy M. Seitsinger Jr. said of the startup years. “It’s transforming two systems that are already in place. •

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