Message from the Director

Workforce development has recently become one of the most frequently used—and perhaps misused—terms. The term was in prominent display this past October at the Enterprise Ohio Network annual conference. The term was also part of discussions at the Central Ohio ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) Expo, attended by HRD professionals. Even at a Ministry of Labor-sponsored conference in Korea in November, several individuals used the term in their discussions with me. Finally, many managers of small- and-medium sized manufacturing companies here in Ohio have adopted the term when discussing competitiveness issues.

Clearly, workforce development appeals to professionals in many fields, including career and technical education, human resource development, and economic development. Part of the attraction may be that the term can be understood easily, even if the understanding may not be clear or consistent across groups. I also surmise that, at first glance, workforce development appeals because it carries a more strategic and perhaps a more action-oriented connotation. Workforce development suggests a process, rather than a relatively static entity, such as human resources.

Here at CETE, workforce development has become the major focus of our mission statement. Part of our underlying goal is to help clarify the meaning of the term. Josh Hawley, an assistant professor of Workforce Development and Education, and I have defined workforce development as the coordination of public and private sector policies and programs that provide individuals with the opportunity for a sustainable livelihood and help organizations achieve exemplary goals, consistent with the societal context. Admittedly, that definition is a mouthful, but it's a beginning to our understanding. We have also delineated four broad societal issues of workforce development:

1. How individuals prepare to enter/reenter the workforce
2. How individuals and organizations undertake formal, informal, and nonformal learning opportunities to improve organizational performance
3. How communities, organizations, and individuals adapt to changes that affect workforce competitiveness
4. How communities and individuals undergo transitions related to workforce participation

In the end, workforce development is an emerging concept and its understanding a work in progress. Perhaps like the famous baseball umpire, Dutch Rennert, who when trying to describe a called strike in terms of the relationship between the location of a pitched ball and home plate, simply stated in frustration, "I just know it when I see it."

Ronald L. Jacobs
Director

Events

Building Better Opportunities for Youth Conference
April 11-13, 2006
The Hilton Columbus at Easton Town Center
Building Better Opportunities for Youth is Ohio's premier youth development conference, featuring nationally known presenters, exciting keynotes, up-to-the-minute legislative and policy updates, and a special track for youth, ages 14-21.

Building Better Opportunities for Youth is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Office of Workforce Development, Bureau of Workforce Services.

Registration will open February 1, 2006.
Visit http://www.learningworkconnection.org for more information as the conference approaches.

DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) Institute
January 16-20, 2006, 8am-5pm, h
Hosted by CETE/OSU in Columbus, OH
Registration Fee: $1,295

SCID (Systematic Curriculum and Instructional Development) Workshop
January 23-27, 2006, 8am-5pm
Hosted by CETE/OSU, Columbus, OH
Registration Fee: $1,095

DACUM Institute
March 13-17, 2006, 8am-5pm
Hosted by CETE/OSU, Columbus, OH
Registration Fee: $1,295

SCID Workshop
March 20-24, 2006, 8am-5pm
Hosted by CETE/OSU, Columbus, OH
Registration Fee: $1,095

For information: Robert Norton, norton.1@osu.edu
Debbie Weaver, weaver.22@osu.edu
http://www.dacumohiostate.com

Test Construction Workshop
March 8-10, 2006
Presented by CETE Assessment and Evaluation Services, CETE, Columbus, OH; $750

For more information contact Kathy Summerfield, summerfield.1@osu.edu or 614/688-4000.

Become a Workforce Education Leader

Applications are now being accepted for the 2006-2007 Preparing Workforce Education Leaders program. This one-year program aims to develop a cadre of leaders who have the knowledge and skills necessary to lead change and improve the quality of workforce education programs. For more information about this national leadership program, go to http://www.workforceleaders.org.

DACUM Hits the Highway

Since August 2003, CETE has conducted 39 DACUM Workshops for PENNDOT, the Department of Transportation in Pennslyvannia, via a subcontract with Gannett Flemming, Inc. Twenty of the analyses have been for Highway Design Positions and 19 have been for Highway Construction Engineering positions. In state, these analyses are called PAWS (Position Analysis Workbooks). The process being used is nearly the same as for a regular DACUM Workshop. The analyses have multiple uses. The workbooks are a tool that employees can use to guide their own professional development, develop cross-training experiences, or prepare for promotional opportunities. The supervisor or mentor can use it as a guide to provide appropriate learning experiences for subordinates.

The analyses and booklets can also be used in the following specific ways:

Interviewing Job Candidates. With the PAW, potential job candidates have an opportunity to assess their own suitability for the position. The PAW can also help the interviewer to structure job interview questions that are relevant to the required job knowledge and skills.

Orienting New Employees. The PAW details the job duties and the tasks that make up those duties. It is a detailed road map for a new employee to learn the job as it really is performed by the expert workers.

Planning Training and Developmental Activities. Using the Self-Assessment provided, employees can discuss with their supervisor the available options for learning new skills and knowledge.

Preparing for Promotion. Employees can compare their PAW to that of other positions to determine what additional competencies they will need if they seek promotion to another position.

Developing a Learning Plan. Employees and their supervisors can develop an action-oriented training plan with specific dates indicated, thus making a firm commitment to improve their competency.

Improving Training. These PAWS provide up-to-date guidance as to what knowledge, skills, and worker behaviors are required for success in the various positions. The training provided is bound to improve in quality given such information on which to base their education and training programs.

Research Note

by Joshua D. Hawley

CETE, in conjunction with the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, has been conducting a statewide assessment of Career and Technical Education in New Jersey since 2004. This assessment focuses on answering a number of important questions with New Jersey's current education system:

• What is the breadth and extent of current vocational-technical enrollments in New Jersey high schools?
• What kinds of schools offer educational programs through the vocational-technical system?
• How does career counseling get done in New Jersey high schools?
• How do high school students perceive the strengths and weaknesses of vocational schooling?

The study is multidimensional, focusing on both collecting quantitative data from a sample of over 200 schools in New Jersey, as well as qualitative data, collected through in-depth site visits with a smaller group of schools. The research focused on school-based personnel, employers, and both vocational enrollees as well as students from general high schools.

At CETE the project is being led by Dr. Joshua Hawley, Dr. Chris Zirkle, and Dr. Jim Pinchak.

If you have questions about the study and CETE's role, please contact Dr. Hawley at hawley.32@osu.edu or 614/247-6226

Products to Improve Your Academic Integration

Helping Students Connect Academics to the Workplace: An Implementation Guide for Student Worksite Learning Experience—TWEX-02, $17.50

This Guide provides step-by-step suggestions for developing opportunities for students to learn how academics are used in the workplace. It will help educators in securing worksites and preparing students to obtain meaningful experiences in businesses, industry, community-based organizations, and government agencies, whether students are bound for further education or immediate entry into the workforce upon high school graduation.

Helping Teachers Connect Academics to the Workplace: An Implementation Guide for Teacher Worksite Externships—TWEX-01, $17.50

This Guide helps individuals or teams of educators prepare for and make worksite visits. Externship participants focus on how academics are used on the job. Step-by-step suggestions will help educators select participants, structure externships, develop implementation plans, secure externship sites, determine agendas, evaluate, conduct follow-up activities with business partners, modify curriculum and implement integrated instructional strategies.

Worksite Mentoring Guidebook: Practical Help for Planning and Implementing Quality Worksite Learning Experiences—TWEX-04

This Guidebook serves as a practical resource for those involved in locating mentors and those who are participating as mentors. Key focus areas include obtaining support from company leaders; recruiting, training, and supporting worksite mentors; and planning and implementing quality worksite learning experience plans.

Making Connections Curriculum Ideabooks

This series of looseleaf resources presents an overview of applied academics and direction for integrating academic and vocational/tech prep curricula through activities for the classroom and laboratory that use academics within an authentic workplace context. Curriculum Ideabooks address the following occupational clusters:

Industrial & Engineering Systems—TWEX-03, $35
Business and Management—TWEX-05, $35
Health Services—TWEX-06, $35
Human Resources—TWEX-07, $35
Environmental & Agricultural Systems—TWEX-08, $35

Using Skill Standards for Vocational-Technical Education Curriculum Development—IN383, $8.50

This paper offers guidelines for determining the usefulness of national and state skill standards. It shows how to use standards-based scenarios for instruction.

Implement an Integrated Academic and Vocational Education Curriculum—102PT, $11.95

Part of the Preparing Better Teachers for Tomorrow (PBTT) series, this module aids teachers and teachers-in-training through the process of integrating curriculum.

Improve Your Integrated Academic and Vocational Education Curriculum—103PT, $8.95

Part of the Preparing Better Teachers for Tomorrow (PBTT) series, this module provides help for teachers and teachers-in-training to improve units of instruction that they have developed and taught.

Prepare to Integrate Academic and Vocational Curriculum—101PT, $8.95

Part of the Preparing Better Teachers for Tomorrow (PBTT) series, this module will prepare teachers and teachers-in-training to integrate curriculum by providing them with information, insights, and activities.

Targets for Learning: Applied Mathematics—TLAM, $40

Encourages learners to effectively apply mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills to work-related problems. This resource guide is for both math and nonmath teachers and industry trainers seeking strategies for preparing learners to solve math-related problems in the workplace.

Targets for Learning: Applied Technology—TLAT, $40

Prepares all learners to be problem solvers with workplace technology, not just those studying in technical areas, by helping improve their process skills. This resource guide provides nonscience teachers/trainers with strategies to help learners develop and practice skills to more effectively apply basic technological principles found in the workplace.

Targets for Learning: Locating Information—TLLI, $40

Focuses on the skills needed to interpret and apply information from a wide range of workplace graphics including diagrams, graphics, charts, and instrument gauges. This resource guide is for teachers and industry trainers in all subject areas seeking strategies to prepare people to read and interpret workplace graphics.

Targets for Learning: Reading for Information—TLRI, $40

Helps learners develop the skills required to read and understand the kinds of documents used in the workplace and to apply the information they contain in the context of workplace applications. This resource guide provides strategies to prepare learners in secondary, postsecondary, and adult training situations to apply reading skills to real-life situations.

Prices do not include shipping and handling. Shipping costs are figured at 10% of total order. Priority shipments charged at actual costs plus $10 handling. Call for quantity discount information (614/292-4277).

CETE’s online ordering system is available at http://cete.org/publications.asp. You can search by title, series, subseries, subject, author, or description or browse catalogs on special topics.

Send mail orders to Publications, Center on Education and Training for Employment, 1900 Kenny Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1090.

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