Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills An Added Value to Virginia’s Career and Technical Education Programs Virginia Department of Education Office of Career and Technical Education Services © 2001

Workplace Readiness Skills • What are they? • Why are they important? • What resources are available? • What documentation is required?

What are Workplace Readiness Skills? • Skills deemed critical for success in the workplace • “Soft skills,” identified by employers, that contribute to an employee’s value, especially at the entry level • Skills that complement an employee’s occupational skills in a specific career

Virginia’s 13 Workplace Readiness Skills Categories Reading in context of the workplace Math in context of the workplace Writing in context of the workplace Speaking/listening Computer literacy Reasoning/ problem-solving/ decision-making Understanding of the “big picture” Strong work ethic Positive attitude Independence/ initiative Self-presentation skills Satisfactory attendance Participation as a team member

Why are they important? Virginia’s employers have identified workplace skills that they expect and require of their workers. The 1997 document, Virginia’s Changing Workplace: Employers Speak, identifies these skills

Why are they important? The Code of Virginia Standards of Quality requires that “the Board of Education shall establish educational objectives to implement the development of the skills that are necessary in school and preparation for life in the years beyond.”

Why are they important? The Perkins Act of 1998 specifies that CTE programs “must prepare students for entry into postsecondary education or into high skill, high wage jobs in current and emerging occupations.”

Why are they important? Because of their critical nature . . . Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills are required to be incorporated in all high school CTE courses.

What resources are available? Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills (1999) An overview document that lists the 13 skills and provides a standard and descriptions of each skill Useful with administrators, advisory councils, and academic faculty

Enhancing Workplace Readiness Skills (2001) Is designed for Virginia teachers Includes Instructional activities that support the teaching and learning of Workplace Readiness Skills Handouts for students Contains a crosswalk between the activities and Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills Should be integrated throughout a course

Examples of Activities Keep an observation journal on employee behaviors in local businesses Analyze the classified ads to see what type of workers employers are seeking Create a company, with specific attention to the types of employees you would hire

How to order these resources Printed and downloadable copies of the Workplace Readiness Skills documents are available from: CTE Resource Center 2002 Bremo Rd., Lower Level Richmond, VA 23226 orders@CTEresource.org http://CTEresource.org 804-673-3778 804-673-3798 (Fax)

V-TECS Workplace Skills Is a nationally validated product of the V-TECS consortium Is a special edition of the V-TECS DIRECT 4+ software Addresses 98 workplace skills deemed critical for every worker Should be infused throughout a course

V-Tecs Workplace Skills Addresses essential knowledge, skill, and attitudes for these 98 skills Has performance standards and instructional activities Includes more than 600 test items from which customized tests can be generated Have been crosswalked to Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills

How to order the V-TECS Workplace Skills CD Every public high school in Virginia will have a copy of this CD (Windows 98/95) Additional copies are available from CTE Resource Center 2002 Bremo Rd., Lower Level Richmond, VA 23226 orders@CTEresource.org http://CTEresource.org 804-673-3778 804-673-3798 (Fax)

Web-Based Resources Workplace Readiness Skills Task List Available on the web at http://www.CTEresource.org/VDOE/CTE/vwprstl.pdf Student Competency Record A link to the SCR is available at the top of the task list on the web Each SCR is downloadable from the web in a Word file with fill-in fields

What documentation is required? In each high school CTE course, there must be evidence that each student has attained these skills The Student Competency Record is the appropriate record for documenting attainment The SCR includes the required rating scale and can be easily duplicated for use with each student

Questions? Contact: Office of Career and Technical Education Services Virginia Department of Education 804-225-2847