Tech Directions - January 2009 - (Page 7) direct from washington Anne C. Lewis anneclewis@earthlink.net Preparedness Skills The “nation’s report card,” otherwise known as reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), probably will include evidence on preparedness for the workplace among 12th graders within two years. The NAEP governing board, however, doesn’t know exactly how to do it. At its December quarterly meeting, it accepted a report recommending the kinds of studies that will be needed to determine academic readiness in math and reading by high school seniors, whether Anne Lewis, one of the country’s most respected writers on education policy, works in the Washington, DC, area. they are going to college or the workplace. The technical panel that prepared the report called for an overall research strategy that features several major themes. It would use several types of study designs for each postsecondary area to create a comprehensive foundation for NAEP preparedness reporting; it would emphasize that NAEP focuses on academic skills and not readiness, which involves nonacademic skills such as time management; and it would ensure that future NAEP Report Cards explain how NAEP preparedness reports relate to other measures of preparedness and state policy initiatives. Workforce “preparedness” will refer to the reading and math skills needed to qualify for placement in a job-training program including apprenticeships, on-the-job training, vocational institutes, and certification programs. College preparedness would refer to the reading and math skills needed to qualify for entrylevel credit courses at a four-year campus. According to an article in Education Week, the studies that the governing board might support would compare the content of NAEP with workplace placement exams such as WorkKeys or look at data from CTE programs on their standards for placing students in regular, and not remedial, courses. Others groups that are focusing on state policies for high school reform are getting more specific in addressing assessment of career-related skills. Achieve, Inc., and The Education Trust insist that work-ready skills for jobs with a family-supporting wage are the same as college-ready skills. While employers may find it hard to articulate the knowledge and skills www.techdirections.com WASHINGTON 7 http://www.cup.edu/go http://www.cup.edu/go http://www.techdirections.com
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