I MPLEMENTING THE E MPLOYABILITY S KILLS F RAMEWORK IN THE A DULT B ASIC E DUCATION C LASSROOM LINCS WEBINAR December 3, 2014, 3 – 4:15 pm EST The work reported herein by RTI International was supported by the U.S. Department of Education, award number EDVAE10O0102
Webinar Overview • Welcome and Introductions • Employability Skills Framework Demonstration • Connections to the College and Career Readiness Standards • Implementation Strategies and Resources
Presenters • Heidi Silver-Pacuilla, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education • Meredith Liben, StandardsWork Literacy Lead • Kaye Forgione, StandardsWork Mathematics Coach • Bob Witchger, North Carolina Community College System • Frank Scuiletti, North Carolina Community College System
Website Demonstration Employability Skills Framework
What is the Employability Skills Framework Website? • One-stop resource for information on employability skills for instructors, administrators, employers, students, and more – Purpose: support the instruction and assessment of employability skills – Definition: general skills that are necessary for success in the labor market at all employment levels and in all sectors
Key Site Content • Interactive skills framework • Crosswalk with academic and technical skills • Criteria and tool for selecting an assessment • Innovative examples of employability skills instruction • Audience-based landing pages
http://cte.ed.gov/employabilityskills
Coming Soon!
Connections to the ABE CCR Standards
Three Components of College and Career Readiness Source: What Is "Career Ready"? Association for Career Technical Education, 2010
Crosswalk with Academic and Technical Skills
College and Career Readiness Standards for Adult Education http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/CCRStandardsAdultEd.pdf
Meredith Liben StandardsWork Literacy Lead How are Employability Skills Represented by the CCR Literacy Standards?
Why College and Career Readiness Literacy Standards for Adults? “Students entering the workforce are discovering that they need critical knowledge and skills that are used on a regular basis. They recognize that pursuing a career pathway that pays enough to support a family and provides genuine potential for advancement hinges on being able to perform the complex tasks identified by [the CCSS] as critical for postsecondary success. Leading economists who have examined labor market projections note that key college and career ready knowledge and skills are closely linked to being able to get the training necessary to earn a living wage in high-growth industries (Carnevale and Desrochers 2002, 2003). It is crucial, then, that adult education programs provide students the opportunity to acquire these skills to pursue their long-term career aspirations and goals .” (From page 2 of the CCR for Adult Ed)
Surveys Consistently Reveal the Same Finding • Employers endorse several educational practices as potentially helpful in preparing college students for workplace success (Hart Research Assoc., 2013) • These include practices that require students to – conduct research and use evidence-based analysis; – gain in-depth knowledge in the major and analytic, problem solving, and communication skills; and – apply their learning in real-world settings.
Research Supports the Importance of Key Literacy Skills That Demonstrate Work Readiness “The vast majority (89 percent) of [high school] teachers surveyed by ACT reported that their students are either "well" or "very well" prepared for college-level work in their subject area after leaving their courses. In contrast, only around one-fourth (26%) of college instructors reported that their incoming students are either "well" or "very well" prepared for first-year credit-bearing courses in their subject area. These percentages are virtually unchanged from those in ACT's 2009 curriculum survey” [and all the years ACT has been conducting this survey]. (2012 ACT National Curriculum Survey)
How Do the CCR Standards for Literacy Reflect Employability Skills? • The CCR literacy standards are aligned with the knowledge and literacy skills required for workplace (and higher ed) success. The central emphasis is on – Reading informational text and text of a complexity that reflects the workplace and higher ed (Text Complexity) – Gathering, evaluating, and presenting evidence (Evidence) – Reading to gain knowledge and learn (Building Knowledge)
How Does the Employability Skills Framework Align with the CCR Standards for Literacy? • Communication skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by communicating effectively with others in multiple formats. They include: – Communicates verbally – Listens actively – Comprehends written material – Conveys information in writing – Observes carefully
How Do the CCR Standards for Literacy Reflect Applied Academic Skills? Verbs from the CCR Information use skills • CCR Reading Anchor 7: Enable employees to successfully perform work. Included: – Integrate • Locates information – Evaluate • Organizes information • CCR Writing Anchors 7, 8, 9: • Uses information – Gather (sources), • Analyzes information – Conduct (research), • Communicates information – Evaluate, – Assess, – Synthesize, – Answer (the research question)
How Does the CCR’s Emphasis on Text Complexity Reflect Employability Skills? From the Framework • Thinks critically • Solves problems • Thinks creatively • Reasons • Makes sound decisions • Plans and organizes • Uses reading skills
How Does the CCR’s Emphasis on Evidence Reflect Employability Skills? From the Framework • Reasons • Makes sound decisions • Observes carefully
How Does the CCR’s Emphasis on Building Knowledge Reflect Employability Skills? From the Framework Systems thinking skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by understanding relationships among the components of a system. They include: • Understands and uses systems • Monitors systems • Improves systems Technology use skills enable employees to successfully perform work tasks by applying information technology appropriately and effectively.
How Do the CCR’s Speaking and Listening Standards Reflect Employability Skills? CCR Employability Framework • S/L 1: Prepare for and participate • Communicates verbally effectively in a range of conversations • Listens actively and collaborations with diverse • Respects individual differences partners , building on others’ ideas • Interpersonal skills include the and expressing their own clearly and ability to collaborate as a member persuasively. of a team or work independently, as appropriate; communicate • S/L 6: Adapt speech to a variety of effectively; maintain a positive contexts and communicative tasks attitude; and contribute to the overarching goals of the workplace. • Communicating effectively with others in multiple formats
How Do the CCR’s Language Standards Reflect Employability Skills? CCR Employability Framework • Language Anchor 3: Apply knowledge Communicating effectively with of language to understand how others in multiple formats (speaking, language functions in different writing, listening); contexts, to make effective choices • Thinks critically for meaning or style, and to • Thinks creatively comprehend more fully when reading • Adapts and shows flexibility or listening. • Works independently • Language Anchor 6 : Acquire and use • Demonstrates a willingness to accurately a range of general learn academic and domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college- and career-readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge
Kaye Forgione StandardsWork Mathematics Coach How Can Employability Skills Be Integrated into Instruction Based on the CCR Standards for Mathematics?
Why Employability Skills? “Increasingly, the computer will do the computation….[but] thinking about the problem, developing the problem, understanding the problem, looking at it from all sides, deciding what important information is relevant to the problem…is the harder part… You can’t do that without an understanding of the computation.” – Manufacturing and distribution executive (Achieve, 2004)
Research Supports the Importance of Employability Skills • Research by Achieve, Inc. provides evidence of what employers require of employees – Input from employers, especially front-line managers – Collections of workplace tasks • Research shows convergence around the core knowledge and skills that both employers and post- secondary institutions need • Mathematics at Work brochures provide examples of how mathematics is used in a variety of workplace settings
How do the CCR Standards for Mathematics Reflect Employability Skills? • The CCR standards are aligned with the mathematics knowledge and skills required for workplace success – Procedural skills and fluencies – Conceptual understanding – Application – Standards for Mathematical Practice
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