Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id fA9CFo028198; Fri, 9 Nov 2001 07:15:50 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 07:15:50 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <cf.e4ffe67.291d229b@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: SondraGay@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:1920] Re: student certification X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: AOL 6.0 for Windows US sub 10539 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_cf.e4ffe67.291d229b_boundary" Status: O Content-Length: 6586 Lines: 74 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A pre-GED Certificate of Work Readiness has been on EFF's list of assessment products-to-be-developed for some time. State Directors of Adult Education have told us a mid-level certificate is a priority for them, and from our work with the skill standards voluntary partnerships, the National Skill Standards Board, and state workforce development systems, it is clear that a work readiness focus is the most practical. What will it take to produce such a certificate? At the local level programs can create their own certificates or "Career Passports," like Canton City Schools has done, to communicate to prospective employers something about the range of work-related performances an employer can expect from a particular student. As we said in EFF Content Standards (The Blue Book, p. 86-7), in cases like these, where to "the goal is to prepare particular students for employment in a local labor market, it is the student's actual performance on the job that gives value to the credential. If students cannot perform in ways a program credential implies, the credential loses value, the program loses credibility, and students that graduate from the program with the credential no longer have an assured passport to a career. The tight circle of accountability in such cases, based o relationships within a community, means that it is in everyone's interest -- student, program, employer -- for the credential to have face validity, so everyone works to make sure that the credential is an accurate representation of what the student knows and is able to do." To create a work readiness certificate that has meaning and value as a portable certificate for the student and for broader accountability purposes will take more time. We have the EFF Worker Role Map. And as most of you know, the EFF Assessment Consortium is working with Maine, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington to build performance continua and performance assessment measures for each of the EFF Standards. When these continua have been validated (some in 2002, all by 2003) we will be in a position to create "performance profiles" associated with work in different industries (like the "customer service" profile we are building through our partnership with the Sales and Services Voluntary Partnership) and to create a certificate based on a more "generic" work readiness profile. We have projected 2003-2005 as the timeframe for the piloting and validation of an EFF Work Readiness Certificate. We know there is a real need for such a certificate, and in the past few months we have been investigating whether it might be possible to move this timetable up. We'll keep this discussion list posted on our progress. In the meantime, please let us hear about what you are doing in your local "laboratories" and how it is working. The strength of EFF comes from how well we listen and learn from you. Your stories of successes (and problems confronted) will help us produce a stronger certificate, more responsive to real needs in the field. Sondra
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