Governor Phil Bredesen wants to hear what the state’s high school graduates need to know as they enter the workforce.

Today Bredesen met with more than 20 Nashville executives. He asked what skills they think Tennessee’s high school graduates lack.

Bredesen raised the topic after finding that many of the students who do well on state exams still cannot pass national tests.

In addition to academic skills such as writing, math and science, business leaders say not enough young employees know how to behave on the job, respond to constructive criticism, or work in a team.

Lana Seivers, state Secretary of Education, says work ethic can’t be measured by a standardized test. Rather, it is a skill that needs to be incorporated in curriculums as early as Kindergarten.

“If we’ve given them those strong standards, if we’ve rewarded them and let them see that there are consequences for good and for bad, then all these things do kind of come back into play later.”

Bredesen has already held similar meetings in other cities. The input gathered from these meetings will be used to raise the state’s academic standards, then build new tests based on those goals.

Bredesen hopes to finish the new tests by Spring of 2009.