In 1981, a collaborative council of business leaders (DEC, Sanders, Hitcherer), non-profit organizations (United Way, New Hampshire Charitable Fund), colleges (Dartmouth College, University of New Hampshire, Antioch), the New Hampshire Department of Education, and school districts (Nashua, Milford, Keene) met to discuss the Carnegie Commission report, A Nation at Risk. In the summer of 1982, the council sponsored 18 teachers to decide what skills are vitally important for students to have at the end of school to be successful. The teachers also described the kind of classroom necessary to develop these skills. At the same time, the council also sponsored representative council members to meet and decide what skills are lacking in the work force that impede individual and organizational suc