George R. Willcox CTE Cluster Coordinator Virginia Department of Education January 2011 George Willcox:

Virginia’s Changing Workplace Research has continuously confirmed the need for workplace readiness skills for Virginia. 1997

The 1997 Research Led to the First Workplace Readiness Skills for Virginia 1.Reading 2.Mathematics 3.Writing 4.Speaking & Listening 5.Computer Literacy 6.Reasoning, Problem Solving, Decision Making 7.Understanding the Big Picture 8.Work Ethic 9.Positive Attitude 10.Independence and Initiative 11.Self-presentation 12.Satisfactory Attendance 13.Teamwork

What Has Changed Since the 1990s? The economy has evolved and so have the ways we work. “21 st Century Skills” has provided some of the most important research.

The Players  Virginia Department of Education  Demographics and Workforce Group of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, University of Virginia  Career and Technical Education Consortium of States (CTECS)  Virginia’s CTE Resource Center Demographics & Workforce Group, University of Virginia

The Process for Updating Workplace Readiness Skills List Reviewed current list Researched current skills literature, including more than 30 education and workplace studies Reviewed WRS plans in other states, including New Jersey, Ohio, and Texas Identified gaps in current list, based on research Collected and analyzed employer comments Created new skills list

Final Workplace Readiness Skills List Personal Qualities & People Skills Positive Work Ethic Integrity Teamwork Self-Representation Diversity Awareness Conflict Resolution Creativity & Resourcefulness Professional Knowledge & Skills Speaking & Listening Reading & Writing Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Health & Safety Organizations, Systems, & Climates Lifelong Learning Job Acquisition & Advancement Time, Task, & Resource Management Mathematics Customer Service Technology Knowledge & Skills Job-Specific Technologies Information Technology Internet Use & Security Telecommunications

The New List Is Finished. Now What?  Introduced to the CTE Advisory Committee and CTE administrators across the state, April 2010  Converted skills list into appropriate format for Virginia’s CTE curriculum, Spring 2010 (Skills become “tasks” with task definitions to amplify and describe the skills.)  Researched and developed instructional resources to complement all WRS tasks, Spring 2010  Introduced in a Verso message, June 1, 2010, for implementation 2010 – 2011

Implementing the New WRS in the Classroom: What This Means for Teachers  The 21 skills now appear as the first 21 tasks in every CTE course in Verso.  These skills are marked “essential” and must be taught.  Just like your course-specific tasks, each WRS has a task definition and related SOL.  Each task number is linked to a variety of instructional resources that have been combined from many sources.

Use and Infuse Crosswalk your course tasks/competencies to the new WRS  Look for tasks where you might already be covering a WRS.  For example, you may already be teaching a task similar to “Explore career and college options for life- long learning.” If so, you are most likely addressing WRS # 13 and 14.  When you teach and evaluate a student’s performance on this course-specific task, you may also be able to document his or her performance on these two WRS.

If you are not already teaching all of the WRS somewhere in your course... Use the many WRS resources we have provided for you within your course framework, including  background information  instructional activities  lesson plans  Web sites.

Evaluating Student Performance Just as in the task list, the New WRS also appear in the student competency record as the first 21 tasks. The New WRS will soon have a new industry credential.  They are all marked “essential” and must be taught and rated.  A new WRS is being developed now and will be ready for use in the spring semester  It will stand alone as a certification (the current version has to be combined with another test to count, IC3).

In Summary... The New Workplace Readiness Skills for the Commonwealth  are well researched  are up to date  are reflective of Virginia employer needs  are incorporated into all CTE courses  come with many teaching resources  will have a new industry credential.

Questions? Peggy Watson, Center Administrator CTE Resource Center Note: Special thanks to the CTE Resource Center for assistance in preparing this presentation.

Questions? Virginia Department of Education Lolita B. Hall, CTE Director , B. Anne Rowe, CTE Coordinator , George R. Willcox, CTE Coordinator , Gordon Creasy, Credentialing Specialist ,