WorkKeys-Unlock-Employment-Door
Co-Presenters:
Dr. Sharon Mullen, Principal Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center
Jale Ramsey, Education Support Services Coordinator Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center
There is no issue more important to Virginians with Disabilities than having the right to work, earn a good wage and live in the community with other citizens
In recent months the Labor Department reported that the nation’s unemployment rate was at 9.3% but for people with disabilities the rate was 16.9%
Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center is continuously seeking strategies to give our clients an edge in today’s competitive job market
One strategy that we believe does this is giving our clients the opportunity to achieve at least the Bronze Level Career Readiness
Certificate while they are at WWRC
How many are familiar with the following terms:
WorkKeys?
Career Readiness Certificate?
Aztec Learning System?
WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop and retain a highperformance workforce
Http://www.act.org/workeys/
Job Profiling: Identifies the skills required for a job
Assessment: Shows the current skill levels of students or job applicants
Training: Helps individuals and employers correct skill gaps
Http://www.act.org/workeys/
More than 18,000 job titles, ranging from white-collar professional to blue-collar technical positions have been profiled by WorkKeys-authorized job profilers. Extensive research has been done on these jobs to identify the essential skills and skill levels for employee selection, hiring, and training.
• Assist employers in knowing and understanding the qualifications needed for the jobs they have available and matching applicant skills to those jobs.
• Assist employees in helping them to attain jobs that match their skills.
In order to determine if a career seeker possesses those profiled skills at the desired levels, a set of valid and reliable assessments were developed
◦ Assessments are 100% compliant with:
Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO)
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
◦ The assessments test workplace skills by using situations and scenarios that occur in the workplace
◦ Questions are less academic and more problem-solving situations that occur everyday in the workplace
With the job profile in hand, the employer now knows what skills are needed for a certain position
Http://www.crc.virginia.gov/Home/About
The are several assessments in the WorkKeys
Testing Program, but the ones we will be talking about today are:
Career Readiness Certificate Assessments
◦ Reading for Information
◦ Locating Information
◦ Applied Math
The key to talent development
◦ KeyTrain Curriculum
◦ Career Ready 101
◦ Aztec Learning System
We are all after the same solution: Identify skills needed for the job, assess a career seeker’s skill level and provide the training needed to close any gaps
Employers – A complete solution for employee selection and development
Career Seekers – The first step to prepare for education, training, or a career
Educators – Helps to ensure that individuals are ready for work – and for life
Http://www.act.org/workeys/
To hire qualified workers
To compare worker’s skill level with job requirements
To reduce turnover rates
To lower the cost of remedial training and lost efficiency
To increase return on investment for training dollars
To strengthen America’s overall workforce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri9gI7_d
KJg&feature=related
By verifying to employers that the career seeker has the basic job skills to fill that position even if they possess only a high school diploma or GED
By verifying that the career seeker can handle tasks that are common and vital in today’s workplaces such as finding information, reading instructions and directions, and working with figures
To identify and address any gaps that may exist between skills required in today’s workplace and those exhibited by students
To address the basics of reading, applied mathematics and locating information that are essential to living independently and securing employment
An assessment based credential that is:
◦ A component of Governor Warner’s (D) Education for a
Lifetime Initiative
◦ Endorsed by Governors Kaine (D) and McDonnell (R)
◦ A national standard based upon 21 st Century Job Skills
◦ A portable credential that validates employment skills for employers
◦ Aligns with the Virginia Workforce Council Initiative
Virginia businesses now compete in a global marketplace
To do this, they must hire the most capable and productive employees
Businesses must be sure that their hiring criteria are valid instruments for assessing workplace skills
Individuals who seek employment must effectively communicate to employers the skills they have to offer
The CRC serves both the needs of the employer and career seekers
Http://www.crc.virginia.gov/Home/About
http://www.crc.virginia.gov/
Bronze Level
Silver Level
Gold Level
Platinum Level
WorkKeys provides good training programs such as KeyTrain, however, we were looking for a more flexible format to customize learning and assessment, based on the individual needs of our diverse population
The Aztec Learning System proved to do just that for us
An educational software program designed to teach real life academic and workforce skills
◦ Interactive
◦ Age appropriate
◦ Pre-tests, provides remediation, and post-tests
◦ Keeps data on individual students for educational decision making.
◦ Addresses diverse learning styles and literacy levels
Series Aligned to WorkKeys
Assessments
This product helps our students build the fundamental competencies for certification through WorkKeys
WWRC has tested 516 students since
September 25, 2008!!
436 WWRC students have earned a Career
Readiness Certificate.
85% Pass Rate!
75%
rehabilitation rate for WWRC students who have a Career Readiness certificate!!!
26
The CRC process is available to our students in the Life Skills Transitional
Program (LSTP) and Vocational
Training Services.
Each student’s achievement level is tested using the Test of
Adult Basic Education (TABE)
Students utilize the Aztec Learning System to pre-test, remediate, and post-test work force related academic skills.
Students are selected to sit for the WorkKeys test based upon
TABE results, results from the Aztec pre-test and post-tests, performance on paper and pencil WorkKeys test preparation, and CRC Lab Coordinator’s observation of student focus and ability to perform independently within specified time frames.
WorkKeys test
Further Remediation as needed
Re-tested as needed
Career Readiness Certification
WWRC has recently added additional resources to give our students additional preparation and confidence in taking
WorkKeys tests (paper and pencil prep)
Are You Smarter Than …
…a Jobseeker Who Has Not
Earned a Career Readiness
Certificate?
Lessons Learned…
People who possess varying disabilities can be successful in earning a
Career Readiness
Certificate.
93% 92% 84%
77%
47%
Pass rate for each disability category
Why are students with disabilities successful in earning a CRC?
Computer Based Testing Model - our students are of the technology generation – they are not as efficient with taking paper and pencil testing as they are with computer based testing.
◦ Most students attending/graduating from HS have SOL testing experience via computer.
Efficient Test Preparation - the students test prep consists of
Aztec Software for approximately six weeks, and then paper and pencil prep for the last 1-2 weeks.
Instant Reporting - through using a computer based testing model we are able to access instant reports for our students and immediately begin remediation work based upon the scored report and the student’s immediate self evaluation on what things were most difficult for them.
Cannot accommodate reading the test aloud with the computer based model. But, can provide an extended time accommodation for testing with computer based testing.
Although we primarily use computer based testing, we can and will use paper and pencil testing if needed to accommodate for individual student need.
Read Aloud Accommodation may be helpful in math, but not in Reading for Information or Locating Information.
Test score improvement based upon data driven decision making!
Utilizing testing data from WorkKeys since 2009 and merging that data with TABE testing results, we now know that approximately
90% of the students who have successfully earned at least a Bronze
Career Readiness Certificate had a 5 th grade level equivalency in
Reading on the TABE test.
Flesch Kincaid Reading Level analysis on the sample questions we examined in today’s testing experience indicated that the testing question content was at a mid 6 th grade reading level. This is based upon questions taken from our Workplace Skills Career Readiness
Preparation Resources, not analysis of WorkKeys testing questions.
Reading for Information –this is the test that our student demonstrated the most success with. (33 questions/55 minutes)
Locating Information – we give this as the second test because it is the test our students experienced the least success with. (38 questions/55 minutes)
Applied Math- we give this last because it appeared to be the 2 nd most difficult test for our students. (33 questions/55 minutes)
You can adjust your remediation and testing practices by the time you have available with your students. You might want to think about instructing for each content area, then follow up with testing in each content area.
We are limited to 6-7 week test prep and testing time frame. So, we need to do preparation and testing on 3 content areas at a time to allow for re-testing while the student is at WWRC.
Sharon MullenWWRC Principal sharon.mullen@wwrc.virginia.gov
Jale RamseyEducation Support Services Coordinator jale.ramsey@wwrc.virginia.gov
