Tennessee Employer Finds a Local Talent Pipeline With High School Dual Enrollment Work-Based Courses

In Tennessee, a group of high schools, colleges, and employers tested the dual enrollment work-based course (DE-WBC) model throughout the state on over 600 high school students. These courses, supported by JFF in collaboration with the Tennessee Department of Education and with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, enabled high school students to simultaneously experience college-level courses, gain college credit, and practice workplace skills.

Franklin County Schools deepened their partnership with Nissan Decherd as part of their dual enrollment work-based courses in Machine Tool and Industrial Maintenance Automation. This model goes beyond the traditional industry advisory council structure by prioritizing close, ongoing communication between educators and employers to align curriculum, coordinate student placements, and provide meaningful feedback to students.

Nissan Decherd devoted a staff member, Chasity Fouch, as the work-based learning coordinator for the plant. What are the benefits of this role for the Franklin County school district?

Suzanne Mitchell, CTE Director for Franklin County Schools: Having Chasity Fouch as the work-based learning coordinator at Nissan Decherd allowed us to take a close look at Tennessee’s work-based learning requirements and TCAT Shelbyville’s Industrial Maintenance Automation curriculum together, and we were able to align them more intentionally. Previously, these two things were working independently and there was very little cohesion. But having Chasity working with us from the industry side helped to change that. Chasity would have students working on a specific skill during their placements, like wiring for example, because she was aware that they were learning about that in class. They integrated the skills and the knowledge the students were working on at TCAT, and Chasity always worked to find a fit for those skills as a part of their work-based placement at Nissan. 

And Nissan’s overall approach to work-based learning has really benefited our students because they’re committed to getting students in the right place. They use the YouScience assessment to determine what a student’s strengths and aptitudes are and what they’re interested in. This directly influences where they’re placed at Nissan, and they ensure that students are ready for these placements by giving them additional training in their training center ahead of their placement. 

Students are also assigned to a mentor on the Nissan floor as a part of their work-based portion of the course, and this gives them an opportunity to start building their network within the industry. And because of the closer alignment with the TCAT curriculum, mentors are taking each student’s experience a level deeper because they have an awareness of where students are in their training at TCAT. This helps them to mentor and guide students in their work at the appropriate level and to not give them work assignments that would be too advanced or too easy for them. This keeps both the mentors and the students from becoming frustrated because of different expectations, and the students are more engaged in their work.

What is the benefit of having high school students working onsite at Nissan Decherd?

Chasity Fouch, Nissan Decherd work-based learning coordinator: Creating a workforce pipeline locally has been a great asset. Some of our workforce is getting older and nearing retirement, so we have appreciated having the younger generation coming in. Through this program, there are some students who have been working at Nissan Decherd for two years, and we’ve seen how much they can grow. Some students came in at an entry level, but then as they moved through the TCAT program, they were able to do more complex and advanced work. Having them come work onsite has helped to stamp out some common stereotypes about teenagers. Our staff see that these students are willing to work hard, they bring a fresh perspective to what we do at Nissan Decherd, and they’re not afraid of technology because it’s not new to them. Our employees see firsthand that these are young, creative minds who are a real asset to our company. This program has also promoted a culture of mentorship and leadership among existing staff because of the mentorship component with students. Mentors offer students guidance and support for their work responsibilities, but they also help students to stay on track with their academic requirements in the TCAT program.

You developed a co-grading rubric to be used by Nissan staff for the work-based portion of Franklin County’s dual enrollment work-based courses. Can you describe how you approached the creation of this rubric and how you got it approved by the course instructor at TCAT?

Suzanne Mitchell: This was new territory for us, and it was a collaborative effort. In the past, employer feedback for students in work-based learning mostly stayed at a really high level, like what a student was good at and whether they were having any problems at the work site. We wanted to be sure Nissan had a way to give deeper feedback to students in the dual enrollment work-based course, and we had two priorities: we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, and we didn’t want the rubric to be a heavy lift for mentors at Nissan.

We wanted to create a rubric that was universal across levels of the TCAT program the student might be in. Because no matter what level students are in the program, TCAT has a set of 10 worker characteristics they focus on. We looked at those workplace characteristics along with TDOE’s Student Skills Assessment that employers can use for students in work-based learning, and we blended the two. This kept the rubric criteria at a level where it could be used with all students in the course, no matter where they were in the TCAT program or where they were placed at Nissan. We didn’t want to get too specific with the skills they were working on, because then each mentor or department would have to create their own rubric, and we knew that could get messy. So we created a separate skills self-assessment that students would complete with their mentor to capture the various skills and tasks they observed and directly worked on. Both tools are submitted every 9 weeks. These two tools used together create a great feedback loop between Nissan, the TCAT instructor, our high schools, and the students.

See the Franklin County co-grading rubric.

Since students were placed with a manufacturing employer, there were initially some limitations because of child labor laws. How did you navigate this issue with the employer? What solutions did you find?

Suzanne Mitchell: Nissan has a great training center. This is where an initial training and orientation takes place, but Nissan employees and our students can also be trained in various skills in a safe setting in the training center. There are multiple stations within this center, like pneumatics, hydraulics, robotics, machining, and welding. So this is an asset, but historically our students would stay in Nissan’s training center for the duration of their work-based learning placement and do something like take an engine apart and put it back together.

Chasity took the lead in changing this and was focused on getting them out on the floor at Nissan rather than staying in the training center. She invited a Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development contact to come out and tour the plant and have discussions about the possibility of bringing minors out on the floor. He clarified if Nissan has trained students appropriately and it’s documented, they can perform a number of tasks on the manufacturing floor. The training was already in place in their training center, so this was easy. We then had several meetings with their legal department, and Nissan made the decision to hire students as employees so that they would be covered by their workers’ compensation insurance. Students now get a full experience of what it’s like to have a job in manufacturing and how STEM is embedded.

What is one piece of advice you would give to other schools who are interested in implementing this course model?

Suzanne Mitchell: Adults across sectors need to stay in very close communication with one another for this model to work well. We hear over and over about the skills gap from employers. We have industry advisory councils, and we talk about this frequently. But with Chasity’s knowledge of what the needs and priorities are at Nissan combined with the TCAT instructor’s knowledge of the curriculum and what’s going on in his class – they were able to work together more closely to intentionally align work-based learning standards with the course syllabus. Both were willing to take the time to bring those two things together, and it led to students being more successful at Nissan Decherd because of the priority to put them in the right place at the right time. It really came down to adults being in closer communication with one another. This course model enabled us to go beyond the typical advisory council structure to make the student experience more specific and intentional, and to meaningfully work toward closing that skills gap.