​PA Career Ready Skills Introduction
Background, Research, and Practice

(Final July 2018)

Introduction

In response to research and advocacy from the field, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is providing guidance to educators on how to address career ready skills in the context of teaching and learning for all students. The Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills (PA CRS) are aligned with, but do not duplicate, Pennsylvania's Career Education and Work (CEW) Standards and are consistent with the intent of the Future Ready PA Index. The PA CRS situate learning progressions to support the development of student competence in the following three domains: self-awareness and self-management, establishing and maintaining relationships, and social problem solving. Such domains clarify the types of employability skills a well-prepared workforce needs to demonstrate. For example, working in teams, solving problems, and communicating effectively are among the principal skills that employers seek in their future hires¹. Preference for these skill sets are not just valued at the national level: locally, Pennsylvania's executive-level leaders in education, business, workforce, and community development advocate for high school graduates to hold these skills, as well as technical skills, to be well prepared for the demands of the 21st century workforce. Thus, this guidance document is designed to further situate the need for PA CRS, define the PA CRS, and feature the utility of the PA CRS Toolkit to offer educators a framework by which to integrate employability skills instruction across the academic content areas.

Background

Pennsylvania's economic future depends on having a well-educated and skilled workforce that is prepared to meet both the current and projected demands of a global, knowledge-based, 21st century economy. It is imperative that Pennsylvania students, at all educational levels, have access to high-quality academic and technical education. Also important is the opportunity for students to identify aptitudes, develop employability skills, and explore career pathways that align with their vocational interests. These priorities reinforce Pennsylvania's commitment to ensure that all residents of the commonwealth benefit from schools that teach, jobs that pay, and government that works. This commitment positions departments serving Pennsylvania's child and youth to work together to prepare all high schools graduates to hold the academic, technical, and soft skills necessary to be college and career ready.

Research

Soft skills, also frequently referred to as 21st century skills, differ slightly from organization to organization. Most entities agree that academic and technical skills are not enough for successful employment. According to a 2013 survey commissioned by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), 87 percent of teachers believe a larger focus on social emotional development would improve workforce readiness.² The result is an ongoing gap between the technical or academic skills students acquire in school and additional skills needed to successfully enter the workforce and perform on the job. Similarly, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) identifies academics, technical, and employability skills as crucial to success in the workplace. ACTE notes that of the three skill areas, employability skills of an adaptive nature are critical elements: collaboration, communication, flexibility, problem solving, initiative, and critical thinking. Employers identify these skills as most important for job success in the 21st century economy^3].

Schools should recognize the importance of employability skills and work to ensure that all students are equipped with skills upon graduation to assume their roles in today's workforce. In fact, the ability to work in teams, solve problems, and communicate effectively are among the principal skills employers consistently report as desirable in their future hires.⁴ Such principal skills are described by a varying array of terminologies, such as social and emotional learning (SEL)^5], employability skills, and foundations for young adult success.⁶ Nevertheless, in a 2017 National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook survey, more than 7 in 10 employers report that they seek employees who demonstrate strong teamwork, problem solving, and communication skills⁷.

In addition to preparing students for today's workforce, the PA CRS provide for better school engagement and adjustment. Two separate studies regarding the positive impact of social and personal skills programs were conducted by the Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning (CASEL). The first study, conducted in 2013, focused on 270,034 kindergarten through high school students and found that students who were consistently exposed to evidence-based SEL programs and practices, which were integrated into their classrooms and reflected in their school culture, reflected an 11 percentile gain in achievement.⁸ In July 2017, six years after the initial meta-analysis, a new longitudinal, meta-analysis was published. The newer study analyzed results from 82 different SEL interventions that were used with more than 97,000 students from kindergarten to high school⁹. The effects of these interventions were assessed six months to 18 years after the programs ended. The research showed that 3.5 years after the last intervention, the academic performance of students exposed to social emotional learning (SEL) programs was an average of 13 percentile points higher, based on the eight studies that measured academic performance, than peers not otherwise exposed to SEL programs. In the same study, it was found that during other follow-up periods conduct problems, emotional distress, and drug use were all significantly lower for students exposed to SEL programs while the development of social and emotional skills and positive attitudes toward self, others, and school was higher.

A key challenge for 21st-century schools involves serving culturally diverse students with varied abilities and motivations for learning.¹⁰ While many teachers instinctively know that social and emotional skills are important, historically schools have been primarily focused on teaching academic content such as reading, math, science, and history, and less intentional about supporting the social and emotional skills that are so important to learning and life success. It cannot be assumed that all students come to school with the career readiness skills that employers seek. The PA CRS are designed to provide a direct pathway to employability for all students as well as a map for our educators to intentionally model, teach, and reinforce these skills.

Practice

In 2015, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) formed an Internal Career Readiness Committee (ICRC) as part of its effort to ensure all students are college and career ready. The ICRC was tasked with providing recommendations to the department on how to address workforce readiness. After conducting a comprehensive review of the literature, the ICRC established a focus group comprised of stakeholders from across the commonwealth representing executive-level leaders in education, business, workforce, and community-development. Informed by the findings of the review of literature, the stakeholder group generated numerous recommendations for the department, including the following that emerged as priorities.

• Embed career education and workforce development across all aspects of PK-12 education.
• Strengthen and expand employability skill development.

Such recommendations serve as a reminder to educators that there is a space for employability skill development to prepare learners for adult living and the workforce. Moreover, the stakeholder recommendations are substantiated by the advisement of national business and industry partners. For example, in its 2014 research brief, the National Network of Business and Industry Associates (NNBIA) identified four broad areas that frame a model for organizing the fundamental skills that potential employers believe are necessary for individuals to be ready to succeed in any career path in any industry: personal skills, people skills, applied knowledge; and workplace skills¹¹.

Educational Priorities

In addition to research and practice, Pennsylvania's Consolidated State Plan for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) underscores the importance of career-ready pathways to success. Highlighting the importance that all students "…have access to a world-class education that prepares them for college, career, and life," two identified ESSA goals in the consolidated plan directly support the application of the PA CRS across the content areas.

• Students are engaged, healthy, safe, and prepared to succeed in school, work, and life.
• Students need to feel safe, respected, and have their social-emotional needs met so they can learn and grow.

The Future Ready PA Index informs Pennsylvania's Consolidated State Plan for ESSA while establishing comprehensive information about school success. The Future Ready PA Index includes a Career Readiness Indicator. This Indicator addresses a school's efforts to ensure that all students, at the earliest ages, have access to career exploration and preparation activities that are standards-aligned and evidence-based. The Career Readiness Indicator requires local educational agencies to establish career plans and portfolios for all learners that are designed to help students identify pathways and opportunities for postsecondary success.

In addition, interests regarding employability skills are reflected in the following priorities of the commonwealth, which serve to frame action for career readiness skill development.

• Chapter 4: Career Ready Skills are aligned to Pennsylvania's Academic Standards, Chapter 4 of Pennsylvania's school code, including the Career Education and Work Standards (See Appendix C).
  

• Early Childhood Education: The Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood provide specific information on the skills children should be developing in their early years, as well as examples of activities adults can employ to promote the develop of such skills. The social emotional development and approaches to learning domains are directly aligned to the PA CRS. (See: SEL Early Learning Standards)
  

• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA): WIOA provides a framework for governors and states to make changes to their workforce systems. The act sets parameters for the workforce system. It enables the commonwealth to align workforce priorities across multiple partners, training providers, employers and others to ensure we are creating a skilled workforce. (See: WIOA/Overview)
  

• Pennsylvania Employment First: The Pennsylvania Employment First executive order reinforces efforts to increase the hiring of Pennsylvanians with a disability based on the principle that Pennsylvanians with a disability comprise a largely untapped labor pool, and that workers with a disability add value to the workplace. (See: Employment First)

• Local Career Advisory Committee: The main purpose of a local advisory committee is to strengthen the career and technical education program of a school or college. The committee provides valuable advice to the program; plans, implements, or supports activities to aid the program; and helps to promote the program in the community. (See: Local Career Advisory)
  

• Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board: This board is the governor's principal private-sector policy advisor on building a strong workforce development system aligned with state education policies and economic development goals. Its members are appointed by the governor and represent a cross-section of business executives, labor officials, education leaders, economic development practitioners and local elected officials. (See: Workforce-Development)

• Pennsylvania's State Performance Plan for The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: The accountability requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 mandates that each state is to determine the extent to which students are achieving transition outcomes (Indicator 14) and the development of effective secondary transition programming for students with disabilities including: coordinated student, family, and agency involvement; implementation of activities and services for students ages 14-21; and writing coordinated, measurable, annual individualized education program goals that will reasonably enable students ages 14 and above to meet their postsecondary outcomes (Indicator 13) (See: SPP&IDEA).

The Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills

The PA Career Ready Skills illustrate the requisite skills that promote success in school, the workplace, and life. Such skills include goal setting, self-managing behavior, building positive relationships, communicating clearly, and resolving conflicts effectively. As noted earlier, research indicates that programs and policies designed to promote employability skill development among children and youth result in students' improved academic achievement, resiliency, and improved behavior and mental health. The long-term cost benefit for the application of employability skills is documented in the literature^[12].

The PA CRS provide a target for instruction for all educators, stakeholders, families, and communities. The skills alone do not comprise a curriculum; nor are the skills meant to be approached as an isolated instructional content area. The PA CRS should be promoted, infused, and modeled in every aspect of a student's day.

The PA CRS are one of many keys that educators, families, and community members can use to unlock a learner's pathway to becoming a productive citizen. In fact, it is the vision of the Pennsylvania Department of Education that all learners will be prepared for meaningful engagement in postsecondary education, in workforce training, and in exploring career pathways. Thus, the more the PA CRS are integrated into daily practice, the more opportunities a learner has for developing competence in the adaptive skills that can support her/his pathway to employability.

The PA CRS complement existing standards and practices, including the Career Education and Work Standards. These skills are also reflected within the PA Academic Standards. A full crosswalk to these alignments is listed in Appendix C.

The Pre-Kindergarten – 12th grade continuum frames the skills into three categories:

• Self-Awareness and Self-Management - skills to understand and manage behavior, including the abilities to set goals, recognize feelings, and respond effectively to challenges.

• Establishing and Maintaining Relationships - skills that support healthy relationships, including awareness and respect of diversity, and the abilities to communicate and resolve conflicts effectively.

• Social Problem Solving - skills that support students to understand social norms, make responsible choices, and engage effectively in diverse contexts.

The PA CRS are consistent with the Common Employability Skills - Foundation for Success in the Workplace: The Skills All Employees Need, No Matter Where They Work, a model established by The National Network of Business and Industry Associates (NNBIA)¹³. NNBIA's model of common employability skills is intended to provide educators an industry-defined road map to evaluate educational programming within the context of critical workplace skills. Within the PA CRS framework (see The Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills Continuum), the NNBIA's common employability skills are mapped against each of the three categories framing the career ready skills.

Conclusion

Educating for employability is a commitment valued by stakeholder groups across the commonwealth. The PA CRS were developed through collaborative efforts of departments and agencies that serve Pennsylvania's children and youth. By design, the PA CRS reflect priorities to ensure that youth are career ready and prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century workforce. The skills complement instructional opportunities to support learners' engagement in career exploration and preparation, consistent with the intent of the Future Ready PA Index and the Career Readiness Indicator. The PA CRS represent an intentional continuum of learning spanning pre-kindergarten through graduation. The alignment to the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards, the Pennsylvania Academic Standards, and Danielson's Framework for Teaching reflects intentionality in terms of a cohesive vision for employability skill development. Well situated by research in the areas of social emotional learning and workforce development, the PA CRS have been vetted by internal and external partners. External partners included the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and Harvard University, with supports available through The National Governor's Associations' Social and Intellectual Habits Technical Assistance Grant.

Research and technical assistance centers addressing social emotional learning and workforce development posit that such learning takes place across all environments—including the school, home, and community. To support implementation of CRS, PDE offers a toolkit for educators. The toolkit not only frames the PA CRS relationship with learning standards; it also provides examples of how to apply the skills across a variety of instructional settings. The sample activities contained in the toolkit provide opportunities to integrate practices that can be modified to meet the needs of the learners.

¹ Building Workforce Skills in Afterschool. Issue Brief No. 70. November 2017

² John Bridgeland, Mary Bruce, and Arya Hariharan, The Missing Piece: A National Teacher Survey on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Empower Children and Transform Schools (PDF), Civic Enterprises with Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2013.

³ Association for Career & Technical Education (2010). What is 'Career Ready?' Alexandria, VA.

⁴ Department of Education. (n.d.) Employability Skills Framework.

⁵ CASEL. (2017). Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Competencies. (PDF)

⁶ National Association of Colleges and Employers. (2017). Employers Seek Teamwork, Problem-Solving Skills on Resumes.

⁷ The Conference Board, Inc., the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resource Management. (2006). Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers' Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce. (PDF)

⁸ Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D. & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1): 405–432

⁹ Oberle, E., Durlak, J., Weissberg, R. (2017). Promoting Positive Youth Development through School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Interventions: A Meta-Analysis of Follow-Up Effects. Child Development, Vol. 88, Issue 4.

¹⁰ Learning First Alliance. (2001). Every child learning: Safe and supportive schools. Washington, DC.

¹¹ National Network of Business and Industry Associations. "Common Employability Skills—A Foundation for Success in the Workplace: The Skills All Employees Need, No Matter Where They Work." (PDF) 2014. Accessed February 10, 2018.

¹² Belfield, C., Bowden, B., Klapp, A., Shand, R., Zander, S. (2015). The Economic Value of Social and Emotional Learning. New York: Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education.

¹³ National Network of Business and Industry Associations. "Common Employability Skills—A Foundation for Success in the Workplace: The Skills All Employees Need, No Matter Where They Work." (PDF) 2014.