Building Alaska's future: apprenticeships and school programs designed to train skilled construction workers.

In 2006, more than $2.6 billion will be spent on construction in Alaska, 13 percent more than was spent the previous year. Construction jobs are projected to grow by 4 percent. Despite the increasing number of projects available, there's still one obstacle facing the industry as a whole-finding the skilled labor to fill these construction positions, now and into the future.

"There's definitely a lot of interest from people who want to get into the construction field, but unfortunately, not everyone is qualified," explained Rebecca Logan, president of ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) Alaska, a construction trade association that provides apprenticeship opportunities for those looking to enter the industry. "Where most people fail is in the math requirement--nearly 60 percent of those who apply to our program don't meet that requirement, and you've got to have strong math skills to become an electrician, carpenter, plumber or sheet metal worker."

To combat this problem, apprenticeship programs, as well as other construction industry-sponsored programs, are not only offering basic math courses to applicants, but are promoting the learning of construction math from kindergarten on. The industry also is supporting organizations, like Alaska Works Partnership Inc., Associated General Contractors and Project GRAD, which provide a helping hand to those entering the construction field.

BECOMING AN APPRENTICE

For hundreds of years, apprenticeships have served as the way for construction workers to learn their craft. Often informal, this type of on-the-job training has evolved over the years into a more standardized style of learning that includes not only hands-on skills, but "book learning" as well.

"One of the advantages of more formalized training is that apprentices are learning the theory behind their craft," said Logan. "At the end of the apprenticeship program, students need to pass their journeymen's test, which some people struggle to do if they haven't learned the theory as well as the skills-even if they've been on the job for five or six years."

More than 800 people apply to the ABC Alaska apprenticeship program each year and they currently have 240 apprentices enrolled. "We take applications every day of the year, and every month we host orientations and interviews," said Logan. "Once the applicants go through this process, they are ranked according to their scores on the orientation and interview, and join our pool of apprentices. When an employer comes to us and requests, say, three electrical apprentices, we take them off the list and put them to work."

Unlike union-trained apprentices, who work only in union shops, ABC Alaska apprentices can work in any construction facility. "The other difference between our program and a union program is that the union gives its apprentices eight to 10 weeks off the job to learn in the classroom," said Logan. "We choose not to do that. We provide a distance-learning based course where our apprentices study all of the time and take tests every month. They stay on the job while they are learning.

"While I am biased, I don't consider one program better than the other--they are just different," she added. "Both programs turn out very high-quality apprentices."

In Alaska, approximately 85 percent of new construction apprentices trained undergo union apprenticeships. In Anchorage, Laborers' Local 341 operates the Alaska Laborers Training School, and the Laborers Apprenticeship Program in Fairbanks is offered through Laborers Local 942, which also offers specialty classes in Juneau and outlying areas. Rural apprenticeship programs, like the Building Maintenance and Repair apprenticeship, is offered through Alaska Works Partnership Inc.

"What we look for most in our apprentices is a good attitude-it's the biggest requirement," said Laborers Apprentice Coordinator Hugh Garrity of the union program that accepts applicants year-round. "We interviewed 30 people this week, and 26 the month before--and we accepted about half of them."

In addition to 4,000 hours on the job, union apprentices undergo 600 hours of classroom training, mostly in the Fairbanks and Anchorage facilities. "Occasionally we will have some students who need specialized training somewhere else," said Garrity, who recently sent eight people to a drilling program in Indiana for two weeks. "Some of our students graduate early, in maybe a year-and-a-half, and others, like some single parents we have, may take four to five years."

Though the goal of all apprenticeship programs is to enable their members to attain journeyworker status, success rates between union and nonunion programs differ. According to a report written by the independent Westat Group for the U.S. Department of Labor, on a national level, union apprenticeships graduated more apprentices than non-union programs. For the class of 1995, multi-employer union programs graduated 59 percent of their apprentices, while multi-employer nonunion programs graduated 39 percent.

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR A CONSTRUCTION CAREER

As many students learn, once they are accepted into an apprenticeship program, there is an amazing amount of work that needs to be done to reach journeyworker status. To help prepare these apprentices for that challenge, and to encourage young people to pursue a construction career, many organizations are getting involved in the education process long before students reach high school.

ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS

"About six or seven years ago, Associated General Contractors of America, or AGC, realized that they would need to do something about the upcoming work force shortage," explained Vicki Schneibel, education director for AGC of Alaska. "They began working with the schools to create programs that not only teach construction concepts, but align to national academic standards."

In Alaska, this includes the "build up" program in elementary schools, during which a volunteer contractor commits seven to 10 hours of his or her time to go into the classroom to support the curriculum. "Kids are doing math and building things, and there's a lot of learning going on," said Schneibel of the program designed to keep construction careers in the forefront of children's minds. "In middle school, we continue this program with more hands-on, or contextual learning, which adheres to the national academic standards for math, language arts, science and social studies."

In high school, students are exposed to even more construction learning through the NCCER (National Center for Construction Education and Research) core curriculum made up of eight modules that include safety, construction math, hand tools, power tools, blueprint reading, employability, communication and more. In 2006, this curriculum was placed in 15 rural school districts, four urban school districts, two postsecondary facilities and two correctional facilities, for a total of 94 classrooms across the state. "We see this curriculum as another way for teachers to demonstrate what they are already teaching," said Schneibel. "It's self-serving in that it focuses on careers in construction, but it also helps to meet an academic need."

In addition to introducing construction concepts into schools in the early grades, AGC Alaska is also going to be opening the state's first Construction Career Academy this fall. "We're extremely excited by the commitment we've seen from the industry to provide a team of contractor volunteers who will work with the academic teacher to convert their curriculum into a construction curriculum," said Schneibel of the Academy that will take place at Wasilla High School. In 2008, the Academy will move into the new Career Center being built in Wasilla and expand to include more academic teachers and construction classes.

"This spring, the University of Alaska Anchorage will also graduate its first group of students with a construction management degree," added Schneibel. "On the horizon, we see students who have graduated from the Academy either going into apprenticeships or going on to the University."

PROJECT GRAD

Encouraging students to go on to trade or technical schools or to apply to college is also the goal of Project GRAD, an outreach program that provides professional development clinics, scholarships and other incentives for young Alaskans to pursue this type of training. Located in Homer, Alaska, Project GRAD began working with seven schools in the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in 2003.

"Though the program was originally geared to encourage students to go to college, in Alaska, there are a diverse amount of skills that require more technical training," said Heather Pancratz, executive director, Project GRAD. "Our students can use the scholarship money we provide to go to AVTEC or other training programs."

Students sign up to participate in the program as freshmen, and must attend two summer programs as well as agree to enroll in college or technical school within a year of graduation. Working with a number of partners, including Marathon Oil, Chevron, Peak Oil, Homer Electric Association and numerous Native corporations, Project GRAD also works to introduce concepts, including applicable mathematics, into the schools at an earlier age.

"These partnerships raise the bar--there is a discussion on an annual basis about where these students are and what they need," said Pancratz of the program that supports children in grades K-16. "An obvious piece of this is making sure that students are getting 'competitive math'--if they are introduced to applicable math concepts as early as kindergarten, hopefully, by high school, they will be ready for algebra."

"We're also exposing these students to opportunities that they wouldn't have before," added Pancratz. "Some of these students from remote villages have no idea what is out there. They have strong work ethics, but have never realized that a career in technology or construction could be an option for them."

ALASKA WORKS PARTNERSHIP INC.

Alaska Works Partnership Inc. also is helping rural Alaskans, as well as women and veterans, to realize opportunities in the construction field. "The main program we offer is Apprenticeship Outreach, which is designed to help applicants, especially those in rural areas, gain entry into apprenticeship programs," said Mike Andrews, director, Alaska Works Partnership Inc. Through Apprenticeship Outreach, applicants can get more information on the construction trades, learn interview skills and find referrals to specific programs.

Alaska Works also sponsors the Helmets to Hardhats program, which is designed to help veterans or military members apply to construction programs or receive additional training. The Women in the Trades program offers women the opportunity to explore different construction trades, as well as to apply for apprenticeships after undergoing the four-week course.

"Three years ago, we started the Construction Academy as a way to solve the problem of high schools not offering vocational education in the construction field," said Andrews of another program provided by the Partnership. "It is an intensive, two-week course of study that provides students with pre-employment skills to help them find jobs or to become trade apprentices."

In the last few years, apprentices in the Partnership's own apprenticeship program for Building Maintenance and Repair have built more than 250 homes in Alaska. "It's the largest apprenticeship program in rural Alaska," said Andrews, of the program that teaches people to build, remodel and maintain facilities.

With all of these opportunities available, there is a good chance that as the construction industry grows, so will the number of skilled workers who will help build Alaska's future.