Member Login

Associated Builders & Contractors of Ohio Valley (OVABC)

  • Membership
    • Who We Are
    • Member Benefits
    • Current Members >
      • Discount Programs - Business
      • Discount Programs - Employee
    • Next Gen Leaders >
      • iFLY Event 1/17/2020
  • 6 Pillars
    • Recruiting
    • Training
    • Safety
    • Communication
    • Marketing
    • Advocacy
  • Events
    • Event Calendar
    • Events
  • Resources
    • Contact
    • OVCEF
    • Your Future Career
    • ABC National
  • Membership
    • Who We Are
    • Member Benefits
    • Current Members >
      • Discount Programs - Business
      • Discount Programs - Employee
    • Next Gen Leaders >
      • iFLY Event 1/17/2020
  • 6 Pillars
    • Recruiting
    • Training
    • Safety
    • Communication
    • Marketing
    • Advocacy
  • Events
    • Event Calendar
    • Events
  • Resources
    • Contact
    • OVCEF
    • Your Future Career
    • ABC National

Job Shadowing for Teachers Makes Perfect Sense

3/27/2017

4 Comments

 
"Connecting the classroom to industry is exactly what is needed to improve our failing education system. " - John Morris, President, Ohio Valley Construction Education Foundation
Picture
     Teachers and their union officials all across the state of Ohio have officially declared that they oppose the idea of asking teachers to spend some time with local businesses as a part of their licensure requirements as recently proposed by Governor Kasich.  They find the idea completely preposterous and argue that only those who “spend time in a classroom” should come up with new ideas on how to improve our failing education system.  In some recent “op-ed” pieces, they have gone so far as to ask that parents and fellow educators “make their voices heard”.  Well, let me be the first to publicly ask parents and business leaders to let their voices be heard – this idea makes perfect sense for all the same reasons the teachers are arguing against it.  Let me thank them for making the point.

     First, let me start by pointing out that I HAVE spent time in the classroom.  I was a teacher and principal in Cincinnati Public Schools.  95% of my students were on free or reduced lunch; 35% were special needs.  We did not let our challenges stop us from student success; we embraced the business community and invited them into our classrooms.  Later, I was an Economics Professor at the University of Cincinnati.  I have also owned my own businesses.  Connecting the classroom to industry is exactly what is needed to improve our failing education system.  Many teachers have an unfortunate and complete misunderstanding of the purpose of public education.  This is not their fault – it is the way they are being taught at whatever college of education they attended.  You see Teacher’s Colleges train teachers “how to teach” very well.  What they fail to do well (or at all) is to teach subject matter content and more importantly CONTEXT.
     Connecting teachers to a local business so that they can stay connected to the world of work is critical to the true mission of schools.  Public Schools exist to prepare students for success in life, to be productive members of society, to use their god given talents to improve economic conditions, to work toward the pursuit of happiness, to be more attractive to employers.  Unfortunately, most teachers simply want the world outside of schools to stay away.  In one opposing article, a public school teacher wished that employees could be sent into schools to teach about their businesses with hands on programs.
PictureBuilding MAS Skills presentation to Northmont Middle School. Teacher comment "Great program! The kids loved it."
     The Ohio Valley Construction Education Foundation worked with a group of teachers to create a series of standards based lessons, "Building MAS Skills," that teach students the practical applications of math and science that are used every day in the world of construction.  We then recruited over 100 industry professionals to be trained by teachers on best practices for delivering the lesson.  With a full plan in place, we then sent emails and made phone calls to teachers asking for them to allow volunteers to visit their classroom.  We asked for no money; we didn’t need to increase the state budget to get this done.  Every teacher that opened their doors LOVED the lesson.  Every single student participated in the lesson and learned (100% engagement).  This was in public and private schools; high performing classrooms and ones filled with special needs students.  While the successes were many, we were dismayed that over 90% of our requests to teachers were ignored.  Many teachers, even after hearing of our lesson’s success said, “No thank you, I already have my lessons planned for this YEAR”.  This is the reality of most classrooms – teachers claim to want help; but they really want to be left alone.  A local business wants to be engaged; but is turned away.  Schools call businesses for sponsorships and donations; but rarely ask for help teaching the context of lessons.


     To think that every business and every industry is equipped to do what the construction industry has done with its model lesson plans is not practical.  What does more sense is to better train teachers about how what they teach is used in the world of work, the world outside of school, the world where their students will spend their lives, the world where they will be employed.  This can be accomplished through Governor Kasich’s idea of asking teachers to spend a week a year with a local business.  This idea is not about getting teachers to better understand business; it is about creating better community relations, better partnerships and better teaching context.  No teacher interested in improving results should oppose this idea.  Parents and business leaders need to wake up and support this idea or our schools will continue to fail us.

Picture
Ohio Valley Construction Education Foundation - We bring a fun, engaging activity with community volunteers into the classroom to introduce the importance of math and science in the world of construction.  CLICK HERE for more information about the Building MAS Skills program

4 Comments

Associated Builders & Contractors:  Lead the Industry in Safety and Collection of Best Practices

11/4/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
The statistical evidence collected from the Safety Training Evaluation Program (STEP) provides the construction industry with vital insight into how certain elements of a safety program, when used correctly, can help transform a company from average to world-class safety performance. The six primary leading indicators that were used in the research can be considered six of the “core” leading indicators in use by many construction firms today. Therefore, they provide an excellent starting point for further investigation to determine the nuts and bolts of a truly world-class safety program for use by ABC members as the association strives to achieve its’ long-range strategic safety goal.

From the analysis conducted, we can confidently state that the “model” world-class safety program contains the following elements:

1)    A new-hire safety orientation between 200-250 minutes in length that, in addition to the “traditional” safety topics (company policies and procedures, 29 CFR 1926 compliance requirements, PPE use, etc.), incorporates a cultural indoctrination led by the highest levels of senior leadership to reinforce that safety is a core value and above all else in the decision-making process

2)    A site-specific safety orientation process regardless of company size or work type designed not only to introduce employees to specific requirements, hazards and work schedules on the site, but also to reinforce the culture and core values established during the new-hire orientation

3)    Toolbox talks or other short-duration, topic-specific safety training conducted, at a minimum, on a weekly basis for all employees but, ideally, on a daily basis in order to reinforce safe operating procedures and concepts among all employees

4)    Near-miss/near-hit tracking that includes a clear definition of what constitutes a near-miss/hit, education for all employees on how to conduct near-miss observations and encouragement/incentive to report them, and a root cause analysis method that is applied to each near-miss/near-hit case in order to determine cause and future abatement/elimination processes

5)    Site safety committees that meet regularly, whose makeup is representative of the jobsite and who is empowered to provide feedback to management on safety policies and procedures in an open exchange of ideas

6)    A substance abuse program with clearly-defined testing procedures and consequences, distributed to all employees and regularly revisited to ensure that all applicable local, state and federal statues are followed



Picture
Click here to read the:  ABC STEP Safety Performance Report
To this end, ABC has created model resources for its’ members and the construction industry to use in implementing these elements. In addition to the STEP program and its’ 20 Key Components, which provide an implementation roadmap for companies to build an advanced safety and health program, ABC has created the STEP Plus Safety Excellence Academy (Safety Academy).

The Safety Academy provides an in-depth examination of the three pillars of a world-class safety program: leadership commitment to a zero-incident workplace, cultural transformation where every member of the organization, from CEO to laborer, understands and lives safety as their core value, and the systems and processes—such as the six outlined above—that are needed to ensure a functional, high-performing safety program.

ABC has also established the Safety Best Practices Portal (www.abc.org/safetybestpractices) – an evolving collection of best practices created and refined by ABC, its’ 70 chapters, members and strategic partners that provides the resources outlined in the STEP 20 Key Components of a World-Class Safety Program.

These resources, as well as others offered by Mid America OSHA (www.midamericaosha.org) are critical in helping companies develop a safety and health program that produces the only acceptable results—zero incidents. More importantly, they help establish the culture and commitment required to see that program development through to that result, and beyond. The data analysis within this report clearly shows that culture and commitment, when combined with leading indicator use, results in far lower lagging indicator performance than those companies without that same commitment.

As construction industry professionals, we all have a moral obligation to protect ourselves and each other, to ensure that anyone who sets foot on our jobsites does so in the safest manner possible. Through this analysis, and by identifying the elements that lead to improved safety performance, we can achieve our ultimate goal—to send every single construction employee home in the same—or better—condition than which they arrived, every day.
0 Comments

    Author - John Morris, President

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    August 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Best Practices
    Building MAS Skills
    Careers
    Cincinnati Public Schools
    Construction
    Construction Users Roundtable
    Construction Workforce
    Education
    Election
    Governor Kasich
    Levy
    Ohio Valley Construction Education Foundation
    Politics
    Safety
    Skilled Trades
    Vote
    We Build The USA

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn
    View my profile on LinkedIn
© COPYRIGHT 2021
​Ohio Valley Associated Builders and Contractors

33 Greenwood Lane, Springboro, OH 45066
Phone: 1.800.686.6440 | Webmaster
Picture