Project Directors:
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This project will consist of two related case studies, one in accounting and one in aviation. The accounting case study will be carried out under the direction of Thomas Bailey at Teachers College, while the aviation case study will be the responsibility of Gary Hoachlander at MPR Associates. Each of these case studies is described below.
An expanded system of industry skill standards is one feature of the
School-to-Work initiative that sets it apart from previous school reform
models. Although there is widespread support for skill standards, there are
many practical and implementation issues that have not been resolved.
The United States already has an extensive system of professional education
providers that includes these skill standards and certification systems as well
as widespread employer participation. The goal of this project is to study one
case of professional education--the training and certification of
accountants--in search of lessons for the School-to-Work model concerning skill
standards and employer participation.
Studying professional training and certification in an occupation such as
accounting will provide guidance in resolving many of the previously mentioned
implementation issues as they relate to current STW initiatives.
This project will help to support and inform a companion project in this theme
area, Developing a Typology of Skill Standards Models (Project
RVI.1).
No public domain materials will be produced in 1995.
The audience for this project will be the diverse group of individuals,
educators (researchers and academics as well as practitioners), trade and
professional associations, employers, unions, and policymakers, and
governmental regulatory and oversight agencies involved in the skill standards
movement. We will utilize our initial findings in group discussions consisting
of the above-mentioned participants to disclose any applications for
professional training experiences in current efforts involving skill standards,
certification, work-based education, and the broader context of STW reform.
The general dissemination plans for this project will also be developed as part
of the broader strategy of dissemination for the collection of NCRVE skill
standards projects now under development. This strategy may include a
conference on skill standards to be held at the end of 1995.
GOALS 2000 calls for establishing a National Skill Standards Board to
oversee the development of national standards for American industry. The first
task of the National Skill Standards Board will be to develop a framework for
building a national system, including guidelines for the types of standards
that are needed and how they might be implemented.
Ironically, much of the development effort has proceeded thus far on the
mistaken assumption that America has no experience with industry standards.
Indeed, one of the best examples of national standards developed in partnership
between industry and government is the U.S. aviation industry. Over the past
50 years, a comprehensive and detailed set of standards have emerged for
pilots, air traffic controllers, airframe and power mechanics, and others.
This experience, uniquely American, provides a rich history, which, if
carefully mined, could yield important insights into the development of a
national system of industry skill standards.
The primary purpose of this study is to use findings from the study of a major
American industry with a long history of public/private development of skill
standards to generalize about the kind of national system that would best suit
a wide range of economic activity. Thus, the project is not about aviation per
se, but, rather, the relevance of the development and use of standards in
aviation to a more general system of national industry standards. We are
especially interested in distinguishing the public and private purposes served
by skill standards, the degree of occupational specificity that is appropriate,
the kinds of standards needed, and ongoing processes for ensuring that
standards are relevant, fair, and able to be assessed reliably and
consistently.
This project will help to support and inform a companion project in this theme
area, Developing a Typology of Skill Standards Models (Project
RVI.1).
The study will produce an interim report in December 1995.
The audience for this project is primarily state and national policymakers
concerned with the development of industry skill standards. The Project
Director is available to work with the National Skill Standards Board, as the
agenda of that group begins to take shape during the coming years. The
project's deliverables will be distributed to this board, as well as to related
state-level groups working on industry skill standards. The results of the
study should also be of interest to those working on various aspects of
"alternative" assessment, especially performance testing, which has long been
the cornerstone of certification in aviation. The Project Director will also
participate in NCRVE-sponsored conferences on skill standards and make
presentations at relevant sessions of national organizations, including AVA,
AERA, and related groups.
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