Allegheny County Career Connection - East Partnership
(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Summary: Overview of the Strategy
School-based strategies
The Allegheny County Career Connection has developed and piloted a Work
Keys-partnership which includes high schools, the Community College of Allegheny
County, the University of Pittsburgh., Pennsylvania State University, and
500 local businesses.
The curricula that was developed was implemented through offering two
courses at our Community College a writing course and a mathematics
course. Teachers and high school students were offered the chance to participate
in this course simultaneously, side by side. Teachers could acquire continuing
education or graduate level credits and students could acquire college level
credits by participating in the courses.
The methods of instruction and support employed in this WorkKeys partnership
began, first, with an introduction to the extensive history of WorkKeys
analysis in the workplace. Classes began with a very clear understanding
the needs of employers in the eight WorkKeys skills: Reading for Information,
Applied Mathematics, Applied Technology, Locating Information, Listening,
Observation, Writing, and Teamwork.
Business and industry training dominated the classroom atmosphere throughout
the semester. All their writing and math assignments were directly related
to workplace tasks and needs. Their in-depth research on their career gave
the students invaluable insights to their future jobs and a breadth of understanding
of career environments and expectations. When employers addressed the students,
the students could ask informed questions and they could avoid superficial
or stereotyped assumptions about the workplace. When employers led tours,
the students knew about the company structure, business internal and external
writing applications, and company communications needs.
Every student in the Applied Writing courses wrote for a hypothetical
business or career. Letters of application and resumes, a business plan,
a marketing plan and a press release were required. There was also a final
presentation with students using Microsoft Power Point presentation software
to present their portfolios to their class members. Students in the Mathematics
course used real business and industry issues and problems to work on math
skills that would be needed in the real world, not just in an academic setting.
Throughout the Applied Writing course, students conducted library and
Internet research to explore more deeply their own career choices. Students
wrote for a hypothetical business or career and they selected topics related
to their career research. Students developed an extensive portfolio including
a resume, letter of application, business plan, press release, and marketing
plan. Students learned to form and organize business messages, to use standard
business English, to address the needs of their audience, and to be clear,
succinct, and persuasive.
The mathematics students practiced applications to a variety of business
needs, including percentages, discounts, areas, payroll, interest, and mark-ups.
More advanced mathematics introduced some elements of algebra, tax accounting,
and engineering equations. Thus students developed competencies directly
related to precise workplace needs; and were graded on promptness, meeting
deadlines, adherence to pre-defined workplace criteria, and a workplace
portfolio illustrating their newly developed competencies.
Teachers were allowed to observe students at work, how the curriculum
was implemented, and to talk with students to find out how this helped them
with their writing and math skills. With help from college level professors,
teachers were able to transfer what they were learning in the class with
students to their own classroom curriculum and teaching styles so that this
could be replicated back at their own school.
This ideal school-to-work (STW) curricula was developed by interviewing
numerous employers and, based upon their feedback of the skills they want
and need in future employees, developing job profiles for entry-level positions.
The curriculum assembled in the Work Keys Partnership is characterized primarily
by its focus on employer expected competencies and proceeds from a lower
skill level with a foundation to move to the next level. Visiting employers
documented and underscored the value of the competencies.
Work-based strategies
Classroom work was extended and built upon in several ways so that student
work was connected to and enhanced by community, work-based learning opportunities.
Employers volunteered their time to visit these classes, to talk about their
business and employment needs, and to mentor students regarding skills they
are looking for in future employees. Employers also provided on-site tours
of their businesses so that students could make the connection between what
they were learning in their class work and how it is applied in the real
world.
Connecting Activities
Developing collaborative partnerships with the College and business partners
evolved from the initial WorkKeys profiling, the workplace writing criteria
developed by ACT, the presentations made by employers to the classes, and
tours of several workplaces.
Students asked employers about summer employment or shadowing activities
at their companies. The advantages to these students were their insider's
knowledge of the jobs, polished, focused resumes, letters of application,
and personal friendships with H.R. staff at several firms. Participation
built connections with school, work, and community but also reinforced those
connections through personal interviews and field trips to experience the
workplace environment.
Teachers were able to see how they could adapt their curriculum to meet
the needs of employers and businesses, how to integrate community activities
and experiences into and outside of their classes, all the while still teaching
critical academic skills.
The Need
The goal of this strategy is to enable high school students to have math
and writing skills necessary to achieve entry level positions in business
and industry. It also instructs teachers in the required skills needed by
their students to achieve success upon graduation. The teachers can incorporate
these learned techniques into their curriculum enabling all students to
have the benefit of increased marketable skills. The strategy was created
to address the needs of area businesses and industries to hire qualified
applicants that have the basic math and writing skills required for an entry
level position. This would eliminate the need for businesses and industries
to provide remedial training to their new employees and would prove to be
more time efficient and cost effective.
This program targets the students and teachers in the nine school districts
in the Allegheny County East Partnership. This area also includes three
special needs schools: a vocational-technical school, a school for the deaf,
and a school for special needs students. The school districts are at both
ends of the spectrum in regard to socioeconomic status. The demographics
for the nine districts include enrollments ranging from a low of 1350 students
to a high of 6135 students, totaling approximately 22,000 plus the 600 special
needs students.
Meeting the Need
The East Partnership has focused on developing writing and mathematics
skill competencies in response to informal surveys of industry and school
leaders. An example of a critical instructional technique used through WorkKeys
is the "Writing Assessment" which is used to identify precise
student writing level competence. This provides the opportunity for individualized
instruction and attention throughout. Students worked on assignments precisely
designed to take them from their current competency level to the next level.
Practice during each class on their next competency level with immediate
feedback focused their attention and energies on specific writing tasks.
These classes were considered a job and their pay became the certification
of their rise to a higher skill level.
Two of the major partners involved in designing this program were: America
College Testing (ACT) Iowa City, Iowa and Worldwide Interactive Network
(WIN) and Campus America of Kingston Tennessee, WIN. ACT was responsible
for writing the profiles for this program and interviewing over 1200 employers
nationwide to determine what skills they felt were necessary to meet the
needs for entry level positions. Upon completion of the profiles, WIN developed
the specific curricula needed to meet these profiles.
The program was implemented at the Community College of Allegheny County
(CCAC), another member of the Partnership. Instructors teaching these courses
at the CCAC supplemented the WIN curricula with materials they felt were
essential to the course. CCAC waived registration fees, provided special
classroom space, and only charged the Allegheny East Partnership for the
three undergraduate credits earned by registrants. This project was funded
by the budget provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education for implementing
STW in our area.
The Results
Students from across our STW Partnership have participated in and benefited
from this opportunity by learning the needs of businesses in writing and
math skills, as well as collaborating with peers and high school faculty
in developing competencies relevant to their pre-tested competency levels.
Working with employers and measuring results at the beginning and conclusion
of the partnership activity documents the students' competency improvements.
Most importantly, real success is seen by observing the skills and improvement
by participating students such as confidence in the process, reliance on
their own learning skills, and motivation to learn skills related to career
goals. Employers critiqued both the curriculum plan at the beginning of
the partnership and the student outcomes at the end of the semester. They
found-the curriculum relevant and the outcomes precisely related to their
needs.
Students who intended to seek employment immediately after high school
found the portfolio assignments particularly useful. One employer who reviewed
some of the portfolio commented that they were probably better than some
of his current employees could produce. Another employer said she would
be happy to interview several of these students because their skills were
exactly what she needed. Some of the students who were heading for post-secondary
education found the letters of application particularly relevant to the
college-application process. All the students found the teamwork experiences
and applications particularly helpful.
All of the students and the employers found the applied writing curriculum
assignments, criteria, and timing directly related to work-based strategies.
By the end of these courses, each student had crafted a very incisive
and intimate description of one's career. Students had visited career workplaces,
and met employers at those workplaces. Each student came to know one's future
career better, was prepared in writing to communicate with employers in
that career, and had met some employers. The courses help learners in meeting
their individual career goals. The strategy to begin teaching the lowest
level skills worked as a refresher for those who understood the material
and moved into new material as the course proceeded.
The improvements measured in the difference between the pre- and post-tests
are documented in our courses and others offered in the region. The Applied
Math course pre-test results are included, but the course is still in session.
However, comparison of Applied Writing pre- and post-test scores indicate
28 students were in the course in the summer of 1997 and on average, began
with a skill of 2.1 and ended with 4. 333. Our course in the fall of 1998,
had 7 students finish and started with 2. 566 and ended at 4.75 with an
average improvement of 2.184. This score includes one special needs high
school student who did not meet the minimal pre-test score set by ACT, but
moved to level 3 at the end of the course. Only 1% of all individuals taking
this assessment (pre or post) on a national level are at level 5, and we
had three students reach this level.
The range of students included grades 9th through 11th and four teacher
enrollments. One teacher was a special needs instructor and one student,
a special needs student. The pre- and post-class evaluates how skills improve.
The minimum score was below measurement at pre-testing and the maximum level
5 was reached at post-testing for Writing. High school course curriculum
developed by teachers enrolled in the course show how the teacher is including
business goals, terms, and evaluations into her course. Participating businesses
have also implemented Teamwork and Listening courses at their place of business
for current employees, indicating how strongly business feels the necessity
for these skills at the work site.
This strategy ensures fulfillment of the mandates of the School-to-Work
Opportunities Act because it meets the needs of all students as well as
a unique opportunity for teachers. We have had the class with special needs,
average, and accelerated students participate with high school teachers
in the same class. It also meets business requirements as they have defined
the profiles and directed how the curricula should be built. Accepting high
school teachers into the courses accelerates the rate of disbursement of
the material and enables them to actually teach skills that are required
by today's employers.
Reflections on Our Strategy
The Work Keys Partnership has been tested nationwide and documented improvements
are visible from pre- and post-testing. In our Partnership self-confident
learners evolved from the continuing process of relating the learning task
to the work world, providing small units of instruction for drill and development,
encouraging teamwork and group problem solving opportunities, and by awarding
growth and achievement constantly.
Based on the results of this initial pilot, we would increase the tours
of related businesses and outside speakers. The Writing course toured a
publishing corporation and the Math class will tour a manufacturing company
that loses 80% of its applicants because they cannot pass the company 8th
grade math test. This part of the course reinforces the business component
and builds relationships, however more tours are needed to underscore the
importance of the need for these skills in an everyday working environment.
We lost several students from the initial class for various legitimate
reasons, but perhaps we should "Over Enroll" to compensate for
this expected attrition.
Our major concern is funding to reach a large population of learners.
The Community College dropped all student fees and we only had to cover
three-credit tuition for each enrollee, however this basically exhausted
our budget for the pilot. Future considerations may include approaching
our business partners to not only mentor students while they are in the
course, but to sponsor one or several students to enroll in the course by
paying their three credit tuition. This would provide a meaningful role
for business partners, they would see their "future employees"
in action, and would be able to see meaningful outcomes from their participation.
This opportunity worked well because of the mix of teachers and students
in one class and the concentration on learning new skills. It was not the
traditional teacher/student relationship, which promoted new insights and
understanding for both students and teachers. Teachers could see how a wide
mix of abilities in students adapted to the new material and teachers could
collaborate on how to build their own curricula. Students could share their
learning with teachers and help them to understand how integrating school
course work with community experience is critical.
Examples of Learners
Examples
The Writing course included one special needs teacher, one vocational
teacher, and high school students, including a student with a disability
and a student taking accelerated coursework. Students worked at their own
speed and moved into new material with a sound base of previous material.
They explored careers and occupations and understood the relevance to the
real world of the material. The special needs teacher is using the material
and the curriculum she developed to incorporate business concepts for her
special needs students. The special needs student in the class received
the same instruction as the teachers and accelerated students. He thrived
in this atmosphere. His pre-score was not measurable and his final score
was at level three. The accelerated student moved to the highest level and
was able to apply for an internship at the publishing company that was toured.
Recruiting
We recruited 25 students from the Youth Works Program. Students were
recommended by their teachers as "wanting to learn" and attending
class regularly. Eight students signed up and four finished the program.
Students were also recruited from the accelerated (GATE) class, three signed
up and two finished. Teachers from all nine districts were invited to participate.
Letters of support from this small but successful group indicate that the
courses were extremely helpful, a wonderful experience, and that the need
for this type of instruction for all learners cannot be underestimated.
For more information on the Allegheny County Career Connection - East
Partnership, contact:
Judith A. Kane
Allegheny County Career Connection - East Partnership
595 Beatty Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15146
(Phone) 724/325-6766
(Fax) 724/325-6799
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