1. Tempe Mission Palms, Tempe, AZ
Unlocking the Power of O*NET OnLine: Supporting Guided Pathways in Community Colleges
Pathways Project #4 Ensuring Students are Learning and Progressing Along the Pathway
February 2, 2017
Tempe Mission Palms, Tempe, AZ
Marianne S. Wokeck, IEBC
John Yopp, IEBC
© IEBC 2/2017

2. What We Will Address
Support Guided Pathways by making meaningful learning outcomes that are aligned with employment- based competencies
How you can engage in this work using a nationally accepted resource
Briefly practice using IEBC’s process

3. Congratulations Not an easy journey to date!
Many struggles getting to this point
We want to assist you in this journey so that your work is meaningful to you, your students, and the four-year transfer institutions your students attend, and ultimately, to the employment community

4. Setting the Context: Employer Complaints
“61% of business leaders, 63% of corporate recruiters, and 66% of higher education influentials see the level of job preparedness of recent college graduates as a real problem”—”The Prepared U Project,” Bentley University, 2014
In a 2012 survey “The Role of Higher Education in Career Development: Employer Perceptions” of 50,000 employers (executives, managers, and HR professionals) by The Chronicle of Higher Education
13% of executives said colleges were doing an excellent job in producing successful employees
31% said only a fair to poor job;
Managers, however, said only 5% were doing an excellent job and
34% were doing a fair to poor job.
Why the disconnect between higher ed and the employer community?

5. Setting the Context: Student Concerns
“61% of recent colleges graduates give themselves a grade of “C” or lower on their level of first job preparedness; 42% blame their colleges for their lack of preparedness”—” The Prepared U Project Survey: An in-depth look at millennial preparedness for today’s workforce”, Bentley University, 2014
What are students most common concerns?
“Why do we need to know this?”
“How will I use this in real life?”

6. The Need for 2- and 4-Year Colleges to Work Together Is Compelling
Workforce researchers project that between 2011 and million additional post-secondary degree graduates are needed to meet workforce demands, the majority of these jobs require a bachelor’s degree Center on Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University, 2011
During the post-recession period ( ) of the 11.5 million jobs filled, 4.6 million went to those with a bachelor’s degree and 3.1 million went to holders of an associate degree, a 1.5 million difference; only 80,000 went to those with a high school diploma—Center on Education and the Workforce, 2016
An increase in percentage of community college students transferring with junior standing in the 4-year colleges is needed to meet the greatest workforce needs
The thousands of articulation agreements between 2-and 4-year colleges recognized by national educational membership associations provide opportunities to collaborate (e.g. Association of Public and Land grant Universities [APLU], personal communication)

7. Guided Pathways Support
Community Colleges are doing well in:
Developing pathways of study
Designing the onboarding students
Student support services – counseling, tutoring, etc.
Working to keep students on track
Needing more attention: Making Guided Pathways count toward careers:
Aligning academic learning expectations to match employer competencies
Our fear—colleges will re-order the sequencing of the same old courses and call it a pathway without addressing both program and course learning outcomes that are aligned with O*NET KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities)

8. Focus on Liberal Arts to Facilitate 2-and 4-Year College Pathway Collaboration
Liberal arts courses in traditional humanities, sciences, math, and social sciences average 42 out of the 60 credit hours required for most Community College programs
“Language differences” challenge a mutual understanding of the “construct equivalences” between academic student learning outcomes (SLOs) and employer-articulated and career-required competencies (also recognized by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, personal communication)
A process, led by faculty from 2-and 4-year colleges, focuses on work that links employer-articulated to the curricula on which the required SLOs as well as the competencies necessary for careers are based and identify these “equivalences” as present, missing, or not retained to establish the most efficient pathways

9. Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and Competencies: Recognizing Relatedness
Student learning outcome (SLO): “ is defined in terms of the particular levels of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) that a student has attained at the end (or as a result) of his or her engagement in a particular set of collegiate experiences”(Ewell, 2001)
Student learning outcome (alternatively): a statement of what a student is expected to know, understand, and/or be able to demonstrate at the end of a period of leaning (Adam, 2006)
Competency: “ is the capability to apply or use a set of related knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) required to successfully perform ”critical work functions” or tasks in a defined work setting”(

10. The Occupational Information Network( O
The Occupational Information Network( O*NET): Source of Employer-Expected, Career-Specific Competencies
O*NET Online ( is the nation’s primary source of career/occupational information for hundreds of careers
It is a free downloadable system whose numerous functions provide faculty, students, employers, academic advisors, and career counselors with career-specific descriptors or leaning expectations in a constantly updated and extensive database
O*NET is developed under the sponsorship of the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration through a grant to operate the National Center for O*NET Development (North Carolina and NC State University)
O*NET is endorsed by virtually every major higher education association, professional and academic society, and specialized and regional accrediting agency in the US
The O*NET Content and O*NET-related Competency Models ( are used by IEBC to support pathways that link academic SLOs to employer-expected career competencies

11. An Example: Using a HealthCare Professions Pathway
Used O*NET and the O*NET-based Allied Health Competency Model in the development of the pilot “West Texas Curriculum to Career Choices (CtCC) SmartPathways”
Formed and facilitated collaborative partnership with academic faculty from 3 educational segments, working back through their core curricula to identify SLOs that align with ONE’s employer based competencies
Participants:
Texas Tech University
Odessa Community College
Ector County Independent School District

12. O*NET Content Model

13. Use of O*NET OnLine and the Content Model to Support Pathway Development
O*NET OnLine website:
Search “Find Occupations”
Search “Industry”
Select an occupation/career from the “Industry’ menu
An example: “ Health Care and Social Assistance”
Select one of the “Bright Outlook” careers
An example: Dental Hygienist
Click on to view all of the employee characteristics and career requirements in the O*NET Content Model

14. Allied Health Competency Model
Aligning academic course and program student learning outcomes (SLOs) with O*NET-based competencies and the academic tier of the Allied Health Competency Model

15. Use of the O*NET-based Competency Models to Support Pathway Development
Career OneStop Competency Model website: “Latest Industry Models”
Select: “Health: Fundamentals of Health Care”
Click red link “Download the industry model and worksheets in several formats”
Select “PDF Document”
Scroll down to view the competencies in each tier that define the career selected
This model was used to align SLOs to career /occupation competencies in the IEBC process approach

16. Example: How Does IEBC Support Guided Pathways?
Used O*NET and the O*NET-based Allied Health Competency Model in the development of the pilot “West Texas Curriculum to Career Choices (CtCC) SmartPathways”
Formed and facilitated collaborative partnership with academic faculty from 3 educational segments, working back through their core curricula to identify SLOs that align with employer-based competencies
Participants:
Texas Tech University
Odessa Community College
Ector County Independent School District

17. Steps in the IEBC Process With Allied Health as Example
Faculty determination and IEBC analysis of occupation-specific entrance and exit learning expectations for each segment that correspond to the O*NET Allied Health Competency Model
Identification of alignment, misalignment, or absence of level, course, major, or program-specific student learning outcomes (SLOs) with occupation/career–specific competencies
Development of strategies for closing the identified gaps with curricular or course adjustment and/or reinforcement, replenishment, or remediation of time –related lost competencies

19. Why Does O*NET OnLine Work for Solving a Significant Problem with Pathways of Study?
Features:
The National Occupation Network
Comprehensive and credible
Well thought out
Frequently updated
Non-partisan
“KSAs” in language faculty can understand and use

20. Your Turn Pick a Pathway
Start by determining one potential occupation in the Pathway
Go to onetonline.org the occupation in the search bar
Locate the occupation’s KSAs
Review the KSAs to determine if they are reasonable
What disciplines might these KSAs relate to student learning outcomes (use IEBC template provided)?
Develop next steps with your team about how you might engage the faculty in this process

21. Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
In Summary: O*NET as Tool for Bridging Student Learning Outcomes and Occupation-Specific Competencies
O*NET
Competency
Model
Tier 2
Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)
Guided Pathways

22. CtCC SmartPathways Outcomes
First time collaboration of college faculty with K-12 faculty regarding Identification of learning outcomes and competencies through the entire educational pathways
Creation by the community college of a new interdisciplinary course for all incoming Allied Health program students based on the highest rated O*NET-based competencies
Extension by the college of the CtCC SmartPathways model to career degree programs in business and management and the social sciences
The Anticipated Expansion of CtCC SmartPathways into Other Occupational Clusters of O*NET is Evidence of the Flexibility of the Model’s Collaborative Process and Guiding Documents

23. Questions
What thoughts do you have about the alignment of SLOs and career-determined competencies
In the subject you teach?
In the program you direct?
For the students at your institution?
What do you find most challenging about this work?
What do you find most helpful about this work
Who would you identify as your allies in doing this work?

24. IEBC 501(C)3 Nonprofit Decades-long history of working across the US
Specializes in data use, faculty engagement, and data tools
Based in San Diego with staff located across the US
Member of the California Pathways Advisory Committee
Working with Achieving the Dream since its inception
Developer of Curriculum to Career Choices (CtCC) SmartPathways
Contact Info:
Phone:
Marianne S. Wokeck,
John Yopp,

25. IEBC’s Access to Sources of Information and Input on Linking Careers to Employer-Expected, Career-Specific Competences to Serve the Pathway Movement
Frequent meetings and consultations with the Director and Research Staff of the Center for Education and the Workforce, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Meetings and continuing access to the principal researchers at the national Center for O*NET Development, North Carolina
Meeting, input from, and continuing access to the leaders in the Employment and Training Administration of the US Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.
Meetings and continued input from national educational membership associations, Washington, D.C.