New skills training center in Arizona Saturday, November 06, 2004 A new workforce initiative in Arizona is off on the right track. It will be offering skill assessments to workers. These assessments are a critical component to an effective workforce system. Indeed, the center is called a skills training and business development center. As one of the professionals notes: "Skills assessment is seen as a crucial part of workforce development and one of the keys to attracting and retaining industry in an area. It's good for the productivity and efficiency of a company and, eventually, job creation." Read more. Skill assessments matter, because of the language and performance gaps between schools and workplaces. Employers and educators have a difficult time communicating. And the standard certifications offered by schools -- particularly a high school diploma -- no longer mean much in the workplace. As many of you know, a hefty percentage of today's high school graduates are unable to pass the basic screening tests required by many employers. More important to employers are the actual skill levels of potential employees. That's why you see states like Kentucky moving to work skills certifications, like the Kentucky Employability Certificate. Learn more. This movement toward a skills-based education and workforce system started with the Labor Secretary's Commission on Achieving Neccessary Skills (SCANS Commission) in the early 1990's. The reports of the SCANS Commission ("What Work Requires of Schools" and "Learning a Living") clearly indicate that workers need certain basic literacy, numeracy, interpersonal and technical skills to earn a middle class wage. Learn more (A side note: ACT, the college testing people, took the work of the SCANS Commission an converted it into Work Keys. Learn more.) Most important SCANS provides the language of skills to bridge the communications gaps among educators, employers and employees. To get up to speed on these issues, read Teaching the New Basic Skills by Murname and Levy. (Published in 1996, its an excellent starting point for most EDPros. If you move quickly, you can buy it used on Amazon for under a buck.) posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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