Stasz, C., & Brewer, D. J. (1999). Academic Skills at Work: Two Perspectives (MDS-1193). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.

What Is Skill, and How Do We Measure It?

The very definition of "academic skill" is debatable. Attewell (1990) discusses four different conceptions of skill, two of which are particularly central to this discussion.[1] Briefly, the positivist perspective treats skill as an attribute that is amenable to quantitative measurement and has objective character independent of the observer. In assessing skill, positivists may treat it as a measurable attribute of a person--as in a test of verbal or quantitative skills--or as an attribute of a job or task--as in a job analysis. Academic skills are largely viewed as measurable properties of individuals, as evidenced by the preponderance of testing in schools to indicate that students have learned or achieved some skill level. Testing done in a work setting has a similar objective: To measure whether a person has the skills believed necessary for a particular job. Task or job analyses are used to determine what skills are required in order to develop those entry tests or to help sort job incumbents. In general, positivists take the view that individuals and jobs can be adequately characterized by defining a discrete set of skills (either in the person or required in the job) and then matching individuals to jobs based on skill profiles for each (Darrah, 1992). The positivist view is evident, for example, in research that measures the relationship between academic skills and wages (e.g., Murnane, Willett, & Levy, 1995) and more generally in the widely adopted notion of human capital (Becker, 1962). Chapter 4 discusses these type of studies in more detail.

An alternative to positivism is found in ethnomethodological or situative perspectives (e.g., Greeno, 1998; Resnick, 1991; Rogoff & Charajay, 1995; Scribner, 1984). The situative perspective shifts the focus from individuals to interactive systems or social settings that are larger than the behavior and cognitive processes of a single person. The social setting in which cognitive activity takes place is an integral part of that activity and not simply the surrounding context for it. The knowledge, attitudes, or abilities needed for a certain job can be understood only within that particular working context--that is, from the perspective of the individuals in the social setting. The context can include other actors, the task at hand, the organization of the work, the physical or symbolic systems that comprise the job, and so on. Numerous studies have examined skills in specific occupations from this perspective.[2]

Neither the positivist nor situatative perspectives alone are adequate for answering the range of questions concerning academic skill requirements and work (Berryman, 1993). Ethnographic studies provide rich examples of skills at work that can be useful to education practitioners, but they are limited in generalizability and typically do not measure productivity or other outcomes. Limitations in the positivist approach are outlined further in Chapter 4.

Research from these different perspectives can yield contradictory implications for practice or policy. Studies of changes in labor market returns to different education levels, for example, show an increasing payoff in terms of a college education during the 1980s, caused by changes in both skill supply and demand (Murnane & Levy, 1996). In these studies, "education" is a proxy for "academic skill"--higher levels of skill are better.

In contrast, ethnographic studies of work, which actually observe what people do on the job, have found that while formal knowledge--acquired in school--plays a role in job performance, it is often much less important than "working knowledge"--knowledge and skill derived from experience. Studies of technicians with different credentials, for example, show that the ability to detect errors in medical procedures is unrelated to level of credential (Scarselletta, 1997). Thus, although the credentials a technician holds are tied to his or her wages, wages are not necessarily a valid indicator of performance on the job.[3]

[1]Also see Spenner (1990), Vallas (1990), and Darrah (1992) for further discussion about defining and measuring skill and skill requirements.

[2]For example, hairdressers (Billett, 1996); secretaries (Hart-Landsberg, Braunger, Reder, & Cross, 1992); product assemblers and wholesale drivers (Scribner, 1984); traffic-signal technicians, construction and survey inspectors, home health aides, and licensed vocational nurses (Stasz et al., 1996); circuit board assemblers (Kleifgen & Frenz-Belken, 1996); CNC machiners (Martin & Beach, 1992); and various technical jobs (Barley & Orr, 1997).

[3]Economists have acknowledged the role of on-the-job training, but it is difficult to measure the true extent to which skills are acquired on the job in any systematic way (see Barron, Berger, & Black, 1997). Further, in the long run, in a competitive market, job performance must be reflected in wages.

Stasz, C., & Brewer, D. J. (1999). Academic Skills at Work: Two Perspectives (MDS-1193). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California.