FYI     Please read on - - - -
Donna
djgbrian at utk.edu


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>Update: CASAS Workforce Skills Certification System

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>May 2006

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>The CASAS Workforce Skills Certification System (WSCS) provides a 

>comprehensive set of tools for states, communities and industry groups to 

>create standardized workforce readiness credentials. Over the past year, 

>CASAS has been working on several fronts to refine WSCS to respond to the 

>evolving needs of these stakeholders, as well as the WIA Common Measures. 

>A National Consortium WSCS Work Group formed last summer to inform the 

>process and their input is reflected in the developments highlighted 

>below. Your input is welcome and we invite your participation in 

>discussions at the 2006 CASAS Summer Institute and monthly conference call 

>meetings of the WSCS Work Group. Please see details below.

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>Pilot Projects:  A number of states have initiated Workforce Skills 

>Certification pilot projects. In Connecticut, Workforce Investment Boards 

>and local adult education programs are developing strategies to implement 

>WSCS. The Connecticut State Department of Education has issued an RFP 

>focused on the needs of young adult learners that incorporates WSCS. In 

>March, CT SDE sponsored a statewide WSCS training attended by adult 

>educators and WIB Youth managers.

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>In Oregon, the Portland-area Workforce Investment Board is also exploring 

>ways to incorporate CASAS and LRI soft skills assessments (see below) in a 

>workforce skills certificate. The Oregon Department of Community Colleges 

>and Workforce Development has initiated statewide discussions with 

>employers on workforce skills certificates.

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>In Washington, South Seattle Community College is collaborating with 

>employers to develop a Certificate of Workforce Effectiveness using CASAS 

>and LRI soft skills assessments. The college will present a workshop on 

>this project at the Summer Institute.

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>In Singapore, the Singapore Workforce Development Authority s Career 

>Readiness Certificate (CRC) has progressed beyond pilot stage. Upon 

>obtaining the required Statement of Attainments (SOAs) in the Workplace 

>Literacy Series, Workplace Numeracy series as well as the Workplace Skills 

>Series, participants are awarded a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC). The 

>CRC is a national qualification under the Singapore Workforce Skills 

>Qualification (WSQ) system. It recognizes participants' achievements in 

>attaining foundational and generic employability skills.

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>Certification of an individual's Workplace Literacy (Reading and 

>Listening) and Workplace Numeracy competence is compulsory towards 

>achieving the CRC. An expanded version of the system including an 

>additional training module and computer adaptive testing (CAT) technology 

>was launched on April 1, 2006. For additional information go to 

><https://xng.casas.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://wsq.wda.gov.sg/GenericSkills/>http://wsq.wda.gov.sg/GenericSkills/.

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>Soft Skills Assessment: Over the past year, CASAS has engaged in extensive 

>discussions with Learning Resources, Inc. (LRI) on integrating soft skills 

>assessment into the WSCS. LRI s Workforce Readiness Systems measures soft 

>skills required for entry-level employment, including decision making, 

>customer service, self-management and other personal qualities. Pilot 

>projects are currently underway in Oregon and Washington to assess the 

>compatibility of CASAS and LRI assessments in a workforce skills 

>certificate. Assessment developer Cabot Jaffrey and LRI President Alan 

>Lesure will present a workshop at the Summer Institute. On Thursday, June 

>15th, they will join CASAS and South Seattle Community College for lunch. 

>States interested in developing pilot projects incorporating both CASAS 

>and LRI assessments are welcome to join the group. If you would like to 

>attend this lunch, please rsvp with Jane Egüez at 

><mailto:jeguez at casas.org>jeguez at casas.org.

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>Technology Assessment: CASAS is exploring the adaptation of a technology 

>assessment developed by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium 

>(CDLC) for integration into WSCS. The CDLC assessment measures basic 

>computer, email and internet skills and received favorable reviews from 

>members of CASAS and the WSCS work group. CDLC has expressed willingness 

>to work with CASAS to modify the assessment for WSCS and has granted 

>permission for a CASAS technical analysis. Thanks to Ajit Gopalakrishnan 

>of the Connecticut Department of Education for facilitating this process.

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>Marketing: CASAS developed an informational brochure focusing on WSCS and 

>WIA Common Measures. The brochure has been distributed among WSCS Work 

>Group members and at national conferences, including: the National 

>Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP) conference, the 

>NAWDP Youth Development Symposium, COABE, and the California Workforce 

>Association conference.

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>Summer Institute WSCS Strand:  WSCS will be a major focus at the Summer 

>Institute. We are pleased to announce that Evan Rosenberg, of the U.S. 

>Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, will be 

>attending the Institute. Mr. Rosenberg is responsible for the 

>implementation of WIA Youth Common Measures at DOL ETA and will speak to 

>workforce skills certificates and literacy/numeracy issues. Below is a 

>partial list of WSCS-related events:

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>·         Tuesday, June 13th

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>o        WSCS Implementation Training, Part A: Certification Assessment 

>Battery (CAB), with Lori Strumpf of Strumpf Associates

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>·         Wednesday, June 14th

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>o        WSCS Implementation Training, Part B: Certification Assessment 

>Portfolio (CAP), with Lori Strumpf

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>o        WSCS Work Group meeting, 4:45 p.m., following the training

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>o        Workshop on WIA Title I and II Common Measures, with Evan 

>Rosenberg of U.S. DOL ETA and Connecticut State Department of Education

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>·         Thursday, June 15th

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>o        Workshop on LRI soft skills assessment, with LRI and AlignMark

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>o        Workshop on workforce skills certification pilot program, with 

>South Seattle Community College

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>o        Workshop on WSCS and youth strategies, with CASAS and the Adult 

>Training and Development Network

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>o        Networking lunch to discuss soft skills assessment with LRI and 

>South Seattle Community College

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>WSCS Work Group Conference Call: The WSCS Work Group will hold a 

>conference call this week on Thursday, May 11th at 1:00 p.m. PDT / 4:00 

>p.m. EDT. If you are interested in participating, please contact Melissa 

>Dayton at <mailto:mdayton at casas.org>mdayton at casas.org to obtain the 

>conference call access code.

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