Legislature(2007 - 2008)BUTROVICH 205
04/02/2007 08:00 AM Senate SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Vocational Transitional Skills Program Roll-out | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
April 2, 2007
8:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gary Stevens, Chair
Senator Charlie Huggins, Vice Chair
Senator Donny Olson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Bettye Davis
Senator Gary Wilken
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Overview: Vocational Transitional Skills Program
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
Roger Sampson, Commissioner
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED)
Anchorage, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented overview
Click Bishop, Commissioner
Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Juneau, AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Participated in overview
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR GARY STEVENS called the Senate Special Committee on
Education meeting to order at 8:04:35 AM. Present at the call to
order were Senators Olson, Huggins, and Chair Stevens.
^VOCATIONAL TRANSITIONAL SKILLS PROGRAM ROLL-OUT
ROGER SAMPSON, Commissioner for the Department of Education and
Early Development (DEED), said that the department has been
looking for a way to emphasize work-ready skills in K-12
education. He explained the differences between work-ready and
college-ready skills, and how they're divided into foundational
skills, technical skills, and soft skills.
8:07:25 AM
He said that currently school education is based on textbooks
and theory, which leads to non-practicality of skills for many
youth; the context of workplaces and postsecondary training
situations needs to be considered. The job skills assessment
program that he was presenting, WorkKeys, would provide a way to
assess skills, profile jobs, and educate and train students,
helping to fix the gap between school and post-secondary
education readiness.
He explained that WorkKeys assesses students' capabilities for
particular jobs on a scale of one to seven, based on their
capabilities in three areas: applied mathematics, reading for
information, and locating information. He then explained how the
scoring system would rate a potential employee or student for a
particular job. A curriculum has been developed to target
specific skills associated to certain jobs. The skills are
aligned with Alaskan standards, and there are management tools
for teachers and administration included; the program is
proficiency-based, so students don't advance just because
they've finished a level of the course.
8:14:47 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if Commissioner Sampson would consider the
program to be standards-based.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON replied that he would. He added that the
programs are available online or in hard copy, and there are
informative assessments included. He then showed a slide to
demonstrate how the system would evaluate students for certain
jobs including nurses' assistants and orderlies. Many employers
don't have enough of an employee pool from which to choose.
8:17:33 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if Commissioner Sampson had any statistics
on workers' compensation.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON replied that he did have some information
provided by current program users like the MidAmerica Pipeline
Company, who use the program to solve employment issues.
8:18:21 AM
CLICK BISHOP, Commissioner for the Department of Labor and
Workforce Development (DLWD), said that he didn't have such
information with him.
SENATOR HUGGINS said that he would assume that successful people
in the workplace would be one of the highlights of the program.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON explained how a diagnostic test could be
performed on a middle school student to determine what kinds of
jobs would be appropriate for him or her; it will encourage
students to reach a higher level of evaluation so as to be
qualified for more different jobs.
8:20:38 AM
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that people tend to say that kids
don't know anything, and so the high school qualifying exit exam
was created to have a benchmark. However, people are still
opining that kids don't learn enough, so this program will teach
them to learn how to apply their knowledge in a more practical
way.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if determination of motivation is
accounted for in the model.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON replied that that is part of the program,
in a broad way. It shows to kids that there's a huge number of
professions available for them to aspire to.
8:22:25 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP added that in visiting many schools, he's
seen that once a student looks at the thousands of opportunities
available, they really see what the results of hard work in
school can be.
CHAIR STEVENS said that the program seems to mesh well with the
fact that many people will have multiple careers in their
lifetime.
8:23:55 AM
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that on average people change careers
14 times by the age of 38. The last section of the program
addresses this issue question; better hiring results in lower
job turnover.
8:24:49 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP emphasized that decreased training time and
costs are hugely important to businesses.
SENATOR HUGGINS said that the program is similar to the European
schooling model, and that in his opinion many people make career
decisions based on examples they see in life and not on a book
system.
COMMISSIONER BISHOP said that he has met a lot of school-age
youth who don't know what they want to do yet.
CHAIR STEVENS said that maybe the program would help a lot of
youth determine a career path.
SENATOR HUGGINS said that he thinks this program would be more
effective in addressing truancy than truancy officers.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that programs like WorkKeys have been
reducing employee turnover, overtime, training costs, and
improving profit. He used the example of MidAmerica to show the
benefits of the program, and said that the business world
supports this national standardized curriculum. So far, no state
has implemented this program at the K-12 level, but those that
have used it at secondary schools have seen increased exit exam
levels, SAT and ACT scores have improved, and graduation and
attendance rates have improved.
8:30:37 AM
He said that employers have made it clear what they want to see
in potential employees, and Alaska needs to look into different
ways to prepare its graduates; this element of the program is
not as developed as other areas.
SENATOR HUGGINS said that the program reminds him of an Alaskan
youth academy, which was initially comprised of kids who were
bright but directionless. In later years, the kids in the
program wanted to find a system to give them direction.
8:32:30 AM
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON explained that the WorkKeys program offers
a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) that allows an individual
to document his or her skills, and it provides a measuring tool
for employers. He said that education can be tied to life
outside of and beyond school through the CRC, which is
nationally recognized. Schools are frustrated with trying to
remediate students who leave high school unprepared; the program
is a national training tool that provides a means of measuring
skills across the board.
He explained that incentives for a good program outcome need to
be made available through job shadowing, internships, reduced
training fees, and vouchers for post-secondary education. He
gave an example of how schools and businesses are interested in
using this program, and showed an example of how a CRC would
benefit a prospective employee.
8:37:23 AM
He explained how the program is really just another curriculum
idea, but that it's nationally recognized and easily measurable.
He proposed that the state adopt a regulation to do a placement
test with young students, and explained how the scale of the
scoring system works. The program could be used by a teacher in
a variety of ways, even with young students; if they see reasons
to increase their scores, they will try to do so. Requiring this
certificate will go a long way in getting students to try to
improve their performance.
He suggested that the CRCs will attract many students who would
otherwise fail in the later years of high school. The program
would allow emphasis in technical skills early on for youth who
are otherwise uninterested in academia; it can be managed the
first few years through the Department of Education and Early
Development (DEED), if individual districts choose not to do so.
No new staff will need to be hired.
8:42:46 AM
CHAIR STEVENS thanked Commissioner Sampson and asked how the
WorkKeys program will improve education, and what sort of
category the program fits into.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that the program is being promoted by
the private sector as a way to teach kids the proper skills for
the positions for which they're hiring. Districts using this
curriculum have seen improvements not only in the technical
aspects of education but in general study as well. Many teachers
don't see the practicality of technical skills, so WorkKeys will
provide instructional guidance for that area. He explained that
there are only two companies that have provided this sort of
program in the US so far, and it's relatively inexpensive.
8:46:30 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS said that while the program makes sense, many
students do go to college, and he asked how the program will be
kept from following the model of other educational systems.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON replied that subjects can be taught in two
different ways; teaching the skill, and teaching ability of
applying the skill. Most schools in the country just teach
knowledge, and not application and analysis.
8:48:16 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if any school principal could decide to
use the program, or if an entire district must decide together.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON replied that any student would have access
to the program whether their school utilized it or not. It would
be more effective with a school-wide base, but it can be done on
one's own.
SENATOR HUGGINS asked if school districts will want to do this
program, or if they might not be able to afford it.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that ideally no one new will have to
be hired to do this program, and hopefully schools will see the
usefulness of WorkKeys and will at least offer students access.
He gave an example of a district that used the program and
explained how useful the concept could be in giving a student
direction.
8:51:50 AM
CHAIR STEVENS asked for the Board of Education's opinion of the
program.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that the board is prepared to move
forward with the program, and that there's no devaluing in the
program regarding collegiate versus technical application.
Commissioner Bishop is working on securing funding for buying
the licensing and training, and regulation development is
underway.
8:53:27 AM
CHAIR STEVENS said that the program may be out of date in a
certain period of time, and asked how this can be avoided.
8:54:09 AM
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that the job index is updated every
five years, and the program is mostly about transition, not
necessarily specific job training; the skills taught are core
skills that will be applicable for a lifetime.
CHAIR STEVENS said that the program is exciting, and asked where
support will need to come from.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that he sees the program as a way for
the DLWD and DEED to work together, and that the model needs to
be moved forward without immediately asking for funding; the
licensing and processing can be done without a financial
commitment this fiscal year, and only minimal support in the
future.
8:56:34 AM
COMMISSIONER BISHOP commented that this program is the first
step in an important process.
CHAIR STEVENS agreed that the program will have a big impact on
Alaskan schools.
COMMISSIONER SAMPSON said that the truancy issue would be better
resolved by a program such as WorkKeys, where the officers could
spend time talking to kids about job possibilities. If the CRC
could be made motivating and stimulating to youth, it would help
more remain in school and graduate.
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair Stevens adjourned the meeting at 8:58:47 AM.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|