Improving Workforce Readiness Skills Among Community College Adult Learners Through New Technologies:

Sara Haviland,Gernissia Cherfrere,Vinetha Belur,David Klieger,Steven Robbins

doi:10.18060/23884

Sara Haviland, Gernissia Cherfrere + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.18060/23884

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Journal: Metropolitan Universities	Publication Date: Feb 15, 2021
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Educational Testing Service

Abstract

Employers report struggles to find work-ready candidates who possess a desired combination of job-specific technical, general math and reading, and social and behavioral skills. Community colleges are ideally situated to address these shortages, delivering a trained local labor force and often collaborating directly with employers and regional development boards to ensure the employability of their students and the economic vitality of their regions. One tactic to address these shortages is to introduce trainings geared directly toward soft and basic skill development. This paper presents case studies of two schools that use technology-enhanced trainings to incorporate work-readiness skill trainings in career technical education programs that are (1) flexible and learner-centric due to technology-enhanced delivery, and (2) use evidence-based assessment and intervention strategies to promote soft skill and literacy expectations. The trainings were provided by a non-profit education research and measurement company, which served as developer and research partner for the community colleges. Results demonstrate adult learner satisfaction and commitment with these blended learning and mobile technology solutions. Factors that facilitate training success, which include securing student buy-in and developing collaborative partnerships, are discussed.

Highlights

In the United States and globally, in cities and the regions they anchor, the knowledge and skills that employers, workforce preparation programs, and postsecondary institutions require have changed
This paper presents two community colleges serving urban students that recently worked with a partner institution (Educational Testing Service, or ETS, a non-profit educational organization) to pilot novel, technology-supported and evidence-based approaches to instilling critical competencies in adult learners
The two school pilots are approached as case studies, which were designed to determine efficacy and identify best practices for imparting essential skills to community college learners

Summary

Introduction

In the United States and globally, in cities and the regions they anchor, the knowledge and skills that employers, workforce preparation programs, and postsecondary institutions require have changed. The second gap is a lack of proficiency across a broad array of behavioral competencies, which have been demonstrated to be instrumental to workplace success (Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006; Deming, 2017; National Research Council, 2011). These competencies sometimes have been referred to as “non-cognitive skills,” “socio-emotional skills,” “21st century skills,” “work readiness skills,” “soft skills,” or “employability skills” (see Campion et al, 2011; Parry, 1996).

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