Employer perceptions of the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate Pilot Program

Abstract

The Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate program was piloted in Wisconsin high schools during the spring semester of the 1999-2000 school year. The Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate Program was designed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as a means to evaluate the employability skills of students as demonstrated at their work sites and through school-based projects. The target population that the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate was designed to serve, as those students who are in a school-supervised work-based learning program, but not participating in a state certified Cooperative Education (Co-op) or Youth Apprenticeship program. The Monroe School District piloted the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate program locally with students enrolled in the Business Education and Home Economics Related Occupations (HERO) Co-op programs which were not state certified. Because employer participation is critical to the success of a work-based program such as the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate, Monroe School District felt there was a need to formally assess employer opinions of the pilot. Specifically, it was important to determine if employers felt the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate program student evaluation form was user friendly; if the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate program standards were achievable by students; what training employers needed to ensure successful completion of the Wisconsin Employability Skill Standards by their future student employees; and what potential value the employers felt the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate program could provide them in employee recruitment, screening, training, and evaluation. Through interpretation of the research data, recommendations were made to develop local teacher-coordinator training, local mentor training, and a local program marketing plan. In addition, results were made available to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for consideration when making improvements to the state delivered program standards and materials for the Wisconsin Employability Skills Certificate program.