On April 29th, the North Country Workforce Investment Board brought together more than 80 education, business and community leaders in Lake Placid for the Connecting: Business, Education and Community Forum.

The forum was the inspiration of Joey Varin, human resources manager at Georgia Pacific and president of the Northern Adirondack Central School Board. The genesis for the forum was a meeting of the Clinton, Essex, Washington and Warren (CEWW) School Board Association. During a discussion on how to develop strategies to enhance the engagement of public schools in community development efforts, Varin talked about the need to include the private sector in the discussion. Subsequently, the North Country Workforce Investment Board, of which Varin is a member, organized and funded the forum to initiate that discussion.

The forum's organizers expected the conversations to focus on a call for more rigorous academic performance by high-school students. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. A survey distributed prior to the forum contained the question: "How prepared do you think the region's high-school graduates are to enter the workforce?"

The responses indicated that far more businesses believed that high-school students were either unprepared to enter the workforce than did educators. A real "ah ha" opportunity that wasn't wasted.

The discussion quickly turned to the attributes businesses looked for in high-school graduates that would make them prepared to enter the workforce. The answer was somewhat surprising. It turned out that businesses didn't necessarily want more rigorous academic or job-specific occupational skills ("hard skills"). Yes, math and reading skills are important, and employers agreed that the ideal high-school graduate "kicked butt" in the classroom, but also had "soft skills."

Employers said that they can teach most entry-level occupational skills, what they need are employees who "show up, show up on time, and show up ready to work."

So, exactly what are hard skills and soft skills? Hard skills are specific skills such as expertise in Microsoft Office, welding or auto mechanics. They represent the minimum skills to do a job. They are tangible and easy to measure.

Soft skills are those personal attributes that enhance an individual's job performance. For example, teamwork, active listening, situational judgment, problem solving, and conflict resolution. Unlike hard skills, they are typically harder to quantify and measure.

As one employer said, "Hard skills help you to get a job; soft skills help you to keep a job."

In today's competitive global marketplace, developing and nurturing these critical soft skills are equally important to teaching the three Rs. But how to teach them effectively, that's the question.

Enter CV TEC's Michele Armani, who made a brief presentation about the National Workreadiness Credential (NWRC). Conceived by policymakers from four states (Florida, New Jersey, New York and Washington), the National Institute for Literacy, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other national business leaders, the NWRC is the first nationally valid work-readiness certification that addresses nine foundation skills (including reading and math) employers agree are critical to competent entry-level work. Locally, NWRC is a partnership among CV-TEC, TDC, The North Country Chamber of Commerce, the Workforce Investment Board and OneWorkSource.

The NWRC quickly dominated the forum. Not surprisingly, many businesses knew little of the NWRC. More surprising was that an equal number of educators knew as little. And therein lies the problem. Why didn't they know?

Employers don't know because there has never been a concerted marketing effort to employers explaining what the NWRC is and, more importantly, how they can use it to streamline their hiring processes and reduce turnover. Educators don't know because the NWRC is a standalone program separate from all other school curriculum. It is reminiscent of the school-to-work program that successfully proved that work-based learning is effective.

However, when the funding for school-to-work disappeared, so did the program. Nationally, very few schools incorporated school-to-work curriculum into their schools. But that's the way of the world these days. An effective program often disappears when funding is cut or a program champion moves. It will be tragic if we allow that to happen to the NWRC.

We need to expand the NWRC to schools throughout the region. The earlier young people learn the importance of soft skills, the better. Currently, the NWRC has limited reach, mostly to GED students and to selected occupational-skills training programs. The curriculum and the examination are rigorous; not everyone passes.

CV TEC deserves credit for bringing the soft-skills issue to the forefront and for their work in introducing it locally. But CV TEC cannot do it alone. We need to train a cadre of local teachers who can take the NWRC back to their schools and incorporate its core components into their curriculum. We need to ensure that we institutionalize the NWRC in our schools and our businesses. Yes, the NWRC works with current employees, too.

And that isn't just my recommendation; it's the recommendation of forum participants.

An encouraging sign was that as the forum ended, educators and employers inundated Armani with requests to learn more about NWRC. Even better is that through the generosity of the The Development Corporation and the vision of Superintendent Jake Short, NWRC will be a pilot project at Plattsburgh High School this fall where teachers will learn how to incorporate NWRC into their curriculum.

At the end of the day, forum participants agreed that ensuring that students met both the requirements of post-secondary education and employer expectations in order to compete for high-skill, high-wage jobs was critical to the success of our regional economy.

Most impressive was the lack of finger pointing. Participants recognized the importance of what they were discussing and chose to "fix the problem, not fix the blame".

As Father Gregory Jensen wrote, "Criticism is easy. Significantly harder is to find common ground in the midst of disagreement." The Connecting: Business, Education, and Community Forum may be a start to finding that common ground.

Paul Grasso is the executive director of the North Country Workforce Investment Board, the county's designated workforce development planning agency, and the North Country Workforce Partnership Inc. He has more than 20 years experience developing workforce programs in both the United States and Europe.