AleWorkReadinessCredential
From LiteracyTentWiki
Via the NIFL Workplace list, see a pdf version of a 12-15-05 letter sent by Alan B. Lesure, President of Learning Resources Inc.(LRI), to Greg Weltz, Office of Youth Services at the US Dept. of Labor. Key excerpts:
"Employer involvement/buy-in/commitment at the community level is the sine qua non for an employability certificate. Any effort to introduce a credential that fails to have local employers establish or confirm local competencies and competence levels is quickly seen as locally irrelevant."
Further down in the letter:
"LRI has begun to partner with CASAS to document what people know and can do on the job in areas of soft and academic skills. Our belief - and the input received from employers who have used our assessment technology millions of times - is that:
• An effective certificate provides good and credible information as to what people know and can do. Organizations can often compensate if an individual does not have a particular skill set - but they must know what these competencies are. Employers may hire individuals because they value the skills that have been demonstrated, even if the applicant failed to demonstrate competence in all areas.
• Failing to credential an individual who may have failed to demonstrate competence in one or a few selected areas covered by a broad certificate is wasteful and may create an unnecessary employment barrier for an otherwise employable individual.
• Different jobs require different skills and skill levels. Indeed, the same job title in one organization may require relatively low levels of certain skills, while a higher level of performance may be required by the same job in a different firm.
• A one-size certificate does not fit all because it does not respond to local, regional or national realities. Certificates work best when they exist in an environment that provides changing and current information about local employers' needs. Skills required this year by an organization might not match those needed next year. Certificates, like employers' requirements, must be responsive to changing conditions."
The rest of the letter provides a framework for developing a certificate within a community.
1. What skills/knowledge/abilities are credentialed or certified? 2. How were they determined? 3. What has been its acceptance among various groups-employers, workers, unions, educators? 4. What process does the potential candidate have to complete to receive credential?
