The current state of workplace skills credentialing is crowded and confusing, says Martin Scaglione, president and chief operations officer of ACT’s Workforce Development Division.

 

There are “numerous accrediting and credential-issuing organizations offering tens of thousands of both credit and noncredit credentials with varying levels of third-party validation or industry recognition of their value to employers and to individuals,” he says.

 

”Breaking New Ground: Building a National Workforce Skills Credentialing System” recommends the development of a “layered” credentialing system, recognized nationally, that begins with foundational skills needed for any career, followed by more targeted occupational skills, and job-specific skills on the top layer. 

 

The report was previewed last week at a pre-conference session of the American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Workforce Development Institute in Newport Beach, Calif.

 

AACC President and CEO Walter Bumphus calls the ACT study “thoughtful and positive.”

 

“It recommends transformational change in the ways we validate the skills of our workforce to ensure that they are evidence based and effectively aligned with workplace needs,” Bumphus says. “At a time when our nation faces serious shortages of skilled workers, this study suggests a groundbreaking path forward.”

 

Community college buy-in to the idea of a new national credentialing system is vital to its success, as the report notes that community colleges “are the largest single provider of postsecondary education in the nation.” As part of its process in developing the new system, Scaglione says, ACT held a summit in early 2010 with several community college “thought leaders” to gain their insight and “identify common threads that need to be addressed.”

 

 

The report describes how trends in workforce development underscore the need for a new system:

 

• There is a need to close the “middle skills” gap. The U.S. has enough workers to fill low-skill jobs, and there are enough college graduates to fill the jobs requiring a four-year degree. But there aren’t enough qualified workers to fill the jobs requiring associate degrees or certificates. By 2014, the report says, about 45 percent of all jobs will fall in this category, but only 25 percent of the workforce will be qualified for these jobs.

 

• About 90 million Americans—roughly half the U.S. workforce—lack the education, training or language skills required to function well in the global economy or earn enough money to sustain a family.

 

• Employers are demanding more skills and education, particularly in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math), as well as such skills as problem solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork.

 

• Worker credentials are not aligned to the requirements of the economy. Research by ACT reveals a mismatch between the programs of study individuals are pursuing and the requirements of the workplace.

 

• More than 80 percent of adults are willing to pursue education and training, and 62 percent recognize the future economy will demand higher skills, but most adults do not know how to set an achievable career plan.

 

“Virtually all of the stakeholders engaged in workforce development recognize the importance of these challenges and many express serious interest in addressing them,” Scaglione says. But, “little progress will be possible until a common framework for understanding the relationship between job-related skills and on-the-job success can be established.”

 

The system envisioned in “Breaking New Ground,” would involve a majority of the private labor market from various sectors and focus on the mobility of skills, from one sector to another, and vertically (from foundational, to industry-wide, to occupational competencies) along career ladders.

 

As an example of this concept, the report describes a national skills certification system developed by the Manufacturing Institute. This system, endorsed by the National Association of Manufacturers, begins with a National Career Readiness Certificate that covers personal effectiveness, academic and workplace competencies. It is followed by increasingly more targeted occupational and job-specific skills credentials.

 

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has provided funding for a pilot study of this system at four community college sites.

 

“Breaking New Ground” proposes that any sustainable, credentialing system must have the following characteristics:

• A common language to accurately describe work-related skills.
• Portability that enables all participants to attain credentials recognized and relevant to employers throughout the nation.
• Employer-driven specifications that connect requisite skills and competencies for any position to pathways developed for preparing people for employment.
• Competencies that would apply to new workers seeking entry-level positions and incumbent workers who wish to qualify for higher levels of responsibility.
• Linkages to labor market demands to guide individuals to the fastest-growing jobs and to help regional economies measure and report local workforce quality.
• Industry standards that address the need of specific employers and accommodate industry-wide standards grounded in the real nature of the work.

 

ACT’s next step is to convene working groups of stakeholders to address issues raised in the report, Scaglione says.