National Lessons Learned from Energy Initiatives: Creating Industry-Approved Credentials Pacific Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy Summit June 24, 2011 Presented by Lindsey Woolsey, Keith Bird and Nancy Laprade

Our Agenda Lessons learned from U.S. Department of Labor Recovery Act High Growth and Emerging Industry Grants Role of the Convener or Coordinator in Industry Partnerships The toughest question: How do we ensure market-relevant credentials? Open Discussion

T.A. F RAMEWORK & C OACHING G UIDE

M OVING B EYOND THE N UMBERS

Washington’s Industry Skill Panels From Evaluating Industry Skill Panels: A Model Framework, by PAROS Group and Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

How is the Industry/Sector Partnership Model different from traditional workforce development models? Wholesale, not retail strategy Driven by industry and organized around their needs, not around public programs or educational offerings Customized, accurate solutions to core challenges On-going partnership that identifies challenges and develops solutions over a sustained period of time

What Conveners Do Act as the “glue” and keep momentum going Engage employers and other key stakeholders Coordinate planning, information and resources Coordinate in-depth analysis of the industry and challenges it faces Facilitate development and implementation of effective responses to core workforce challenges Mobilize the partners and provide a forum for action

What Conveners Do Not Do Chart the course of the sector partnership This is the responsibility of employers in the target industry – “business driven”

The Role of Convener: As Much Art as Science No “recipe” available Must keep your pulse on the changes in the industry (regular meetings/contact) Skilled facilitation and environmental scanning Ability to be flexible and live with ambiguity Grounding in sector concepts, goals, principles and promising practices – then adapt as necessary

The Convener Must Understand: It’s About More than Just Training First and foremost: Facilitating the identification of the core workforce challenges the industry faces (“root cause”) Identifying and naming sets of skills needed for the industry and its occupations Developing new or revised curriculum and credentials to address skill shortages Developing supports for workers undergoing training

The Convener Must Understand: It’s About More than Just Training Developing career pathways Raising awareness about career opportunities Helping employers improve HR processes Developing solutions to retention challenges Addressing institutional and regulatory obstacles Aligning local education, workforce, economic development activities

Community College as Convener… Unique Challenges – Must work at being viewed as a trusted partner – Be responsive to a variety of workforce challenges (connect to partners when necessary), even though you will focus largely on programs, curriculum, credentials, customized common training, and career pathways – Deliver solutions! It will test your responsiveness and ability to break down internal silos in the colleges (academic, workforce, student services, development education) – Include other public/not-for-profit partners as equal partners

The Evolution of the Business-Education Partnerships: Beyond “Business-Driven” “Off the shelf” course offerings Needs assessment/customized training Organizational development approach (“Trusted Partner”, but often one-on-one) Deep engagement in sector/industry partnerships Shared ownership of standards, curriculum, assessments and credentials

Power Generation Skill Panel, Washington State: “The Power Generation Skill Panel has effectively met the needs of employers, workers, and the training system through collaboration and focused work on critical issues. By meeting the demand driven skills needs of industry we are all more competitive.” --Bob Guenther, IBEW Local 77

GIVING CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE: CREATING A COMPETENCY-BASED QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK FOR POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION AND TRAINING  Increased Focus on Credentials  The Disconnect between Non-Credit and Credit Learning  The Shift to Learning Outcomes, Competencies and Standards Alignment of Competencies, Standards, and Credentials 16

“We will never be able to clean up the general mess of the American labor market without a stronger commitment to credentials and a system of common standards that supports them. A competency based credentials system reduces employer search and transaction costs, increases worker security, and can guarantee quality work and quality jobs.” Why Credentials Matter… 17 From Greener Skills: How Credentials Create Value in the Clean Energy Economy, Center on Wisconsin Strategy, 2010

Credentialing System in the United States

Lack of recognition for millions of adults who have engaged in credit worthy education and training that could lead to a postsecondary certificate or degree 20.8 million students enrolled in non credit education and training (nearly half of the 43 million postsecondary students. Approx. 13 Million in educational institutions (all types) 7.8 million enrolled in programs outside of educational institutions, including apprenticeships, formal and non-formal training provided by employers, professional associations, the military, CBOs and a variety of private vendors Current national, state and institutional-level efforts attempt to address aspects of this problem through individual programmatic articulation agreements or assessing prior learning but may not scale to the level needed The Disconnect between Non-Credit and Credit Learning 19

Disconnects… The disconnect between employers and educators  Different perspectives on the priorities of postsecondary education in preparing students for the workforce  The current credentialing system is confusing to employers, institutions, labor market service providers and students  Different skills and performance language and standards frameworks The disconnect between postsecondary education and workforce or other education partners  Occupational areas of strong labor market demand and current programs  State and local workforce development systems (One-Stop Career Centers that could provide wrap-around services to enhance student persistence and job placement)  Secondary education articulation and credentialing systems Currently too few employers are involved in assisting institutions to improve their programs or working through industry sector partnerships to develop cost-effective, relevant certificate or degree programs 20

How do we know we are teaching the competencies required of students in the workplace and in their future career pathways? How do we know students can consistently demonstrate what they have learned? Are credentials portable (industry recognized standards) across a dynamic labor market? Are students prepared with the soft skills to continuously learn and adapt to labor market and technology changes? How do we prepare students for lifelong learning (Life-wide) versus narrowly focused job training – while still teaching the specific competencies needed in the workplace? How Can We Better Answer the Key Questions? 21

Proliferation of credentials (certificates, industry recognized certifications, etc.) Inconsistent quality assurance and validation Competencies (job tasks and knowledge, skills, and abilities) not consistently defined or utilized across the workforce education environment Continued reliance on credit hours (seat time) as the metric for learning, rather than competency attainment Challenges… 22

Credentials as proxies for competencies—input rather than outcome-based credentials Lack of transparency, portability and articulation for employers, students and educators Credentials have mixed value in the labor market Lack of a career navigation framework (navigating through complex pathways with ladders/lattices and the educational choices to achieve the various levels) Challenges… 23

Creating a Competency Based Qualifications Framework: The Shift to Competencies, Standards and Credentials What is needed is a system that assesses competency to measure learning-”defines curricula outcomes-knowledge, the application of acquired knowledge, reasoning capacities and skills..and that can be assessed regardless of where and how they are learned” (Lumina)

Expand linkages between non-credit and credit learning to expand innovative efforts at the national, state, and institutional level Transform instructional delivery methods: Curricula and instruction must be aligned with expected learning outcomes and student learning styles Increase alignment and linkages between federal, state, and local public workforce systems with institutions to ensure that students choose the right programs and credentials (establish national “core” competency registry -- content interoperability) Creating a Competency Based Qualifications Framework: The Shift to Competencies, Standards and Credentials 25

Expand the role of employer engagement through expanded role of employer/education partnerships to:  Identify and certify valid industry recognized Skill Standards  Jointly establish rigorous competency/curricula and quality assurance mechanism  Identify competencies with SMEs and faculty  Develop curriculum, career pathways, assessments, and aligned credentials  Employers engage in on-going dialogue with educators to ensure credentials reflect changing skills requirements Create and implement a national competency-based qualifications framework: Focus on learning outcomes and competencies and validated industry-recognized standards to develop portable, transparent credentials Creating a Competency Based Qualifications Framework: The Shift to Competencies, Standards and Credentials 26

Any Questions?