DEL PESO (GRAMOS)
VARIABLE 1 VARIABLE 2 DIFERENCIA SIGNIFICATIVO 3 MESES NECROPSIA 15.8305 Pcz 0
5.1.1 Provide Assistance to Help Customers Enter Training Programs Quickly
All of the One‐Stops that we visited provided similar screening and counseling before issuing ITAs, similar monitoring of recipients’ progress while in training, and similar tracking and assistance for finding jobs after training was completed. One of the few noticeable differences
in the delivery of these services was the extent to which One‐Stops provided help to customers to avoid having to enter remediation before taking the career‐oriented courses that were most likely to improve earnings. In all cases, customers were tested and, based on the test results, were counseled about how to find programs that matched their academic skills, work experience, and interests. However, in a few cases, an attempt was also made to determine if low test scores were due to lack of recent practice in using the skills being tested or to never having mastered those skills. If it was determined that low scores were due to simply being rusty, customers were given the opportunity to use a variety of software packages that would act as short‐term refresher courses. In most cases, staff was available to give some assistance in using the software and provide extra tutoring, but most customers were able to make effective use of the software largely on their own.
These self‐paced mini‐courses were made available mainly at some One‐Stops but also at some community colleges. There was close to unanimous agreement that this additional screening and assistance substantially reduced the amount of time and funds needed to complete career‐ oriented programs, without adversely affecting on‐the‐job performance. Most often the tutorials facilitated quicker entry into programs that had already been selected, but in some cases they made it practical for customers to select more rigorous programs than they otherwise would have entered.
At several sites, a major effort was made to survey what software was available and then acquire and test some of the most promising packages. Most notably, the Pueblo One‐Stop obtained a special ARRA grant that included funds to conduct the survey and acquire software. It would be well worthwhile for all One‐Stops to obtain information from other One‐Stops that have acquired this kind of software about what works best for different individuals. USDOL also could compile this information for easy access.
5.1.2 Locate One‐Stop Career Center Staff at Community Colleges While the services provided by One‐Stops were very similar, the location of where the services were provided differed substantially. In most cases One‐Stop customers had to visit offices that were not located on college campuses to obtain various services, including applying for ITAs. In those cases, most of the customers knew of the One‐Stop’s existence because of information provided as part of the collection of UI benefits or TANF or as a result of referrals from other social service agencies. However, in several cases, One‐Stops located offices or staff on community college campuses. In these cases, a broader range of students were able to find out about the services One‐Stops offer and make use of them. Having more applicants would raise the effectiveness of training because more students would receive some valuable services that are in very short supply at community colleges, even if they did not get ITAs.
Having One‐Stop staff on campus greatly facilitated constructive interactions between ITA recipients attending a community college and One‐Stop staff. At the most basic level, it made it easy for ITA recipients to file bi‐weekly attendance reports and take care of other routine business. But far more important, it made it easy for students who may have been having problems receiving the help they needed. Another major advantage of having One‐Stop staff on campus was that they could work with college administrators to deal with problems concerning registration for classes and payments for tuition or books. One‐Stop staff also works with instructors to help them understand what paperwork they need to file and provide them with an easy way to report problems. It was widely agreed that there were major benefits to having One‐Stop staff on campus, but it also was felt that the benefits were greater the more heavily ITAs were used – and the greater the proportion of ITAs that were used at the specific community college where One‐Stop staff were located. In some cases, too few ITAs were issued for use at any one community college to justify the cost of having One‐Stop staff on campus. In addition, some One‐Stops did not have
the resources to have an office on a college campus or even place staff there part‐time. Similarly, some community colleges did not have the space to provide an office for a counselor, let alone an entire office. Nevertheless, it would be highly worthwhile for One‐Stops that do not presently have staff on a community college campus, where there is a large number of ITA recipients, to investigate if that would be possible. Even having staff visit one afternoon every other week might be of considerable value, however we did not see this type of collaboration during the site visits. 5.1.3 Improve Collaborations with Community Colleges
Developing relationships with community colleges can go well beyond having One‐Stop staff colocated at community colleges (or having community college staff routinely visit One‐Stops). It can include working together to determine what types of career‐oriented programs are needed to provide workers with the skills required by local employers to foster long‐term growth; and also to develop and recruit individuals for specialized training programs. There is general recognition that developing these relationships is highly valuable and largely depends on making the personal contacts to foster cooperation. In some cases, these relationships were initiated by One‐Stop or community college staff, but in other cases they were facilitated by broader coalitions that were convened by WIBs or by locally‐led economic development agencies. There is no question that joint development of career programs led to improving course offerings with existing funds, but in several notable cases it also led to securing grants that permitted the creation of highly innovative programs that would not otherwise have been possible. In general, these programs required a concerted effort to identify local needs, local assets, and potential funding sources, which were of value even when grants were not obtained.
The grants for innovative programs were lauded as being exceptionally effective by the trainees and by the employers that needed skill workers. We saw several examples of such programs funded with ARRA grants. For example, a program in Knoxville helped community colleges to
save the jobs of industrial engineers, and a program in Pueblo offered training at diverse sites over an exceptionally large region using semi‐trailers converted into mobile classrooms. Other programs were supported with state grants to provide training to meet highly specialized needs, such as a program to train automotive designers to design pipelines and refineries using software similar to that they were already familiar with.
We observed that when collaboration was present, the whole was substantially greater than the sum of its parts. One‐Stops and community colleges were each able to use their expertise to make major contributions. One‐Stops provided information about what types of workers were likely to want to participate in new programs, assist with recruiting those workers, and provide supportive services such as job search assistance. Community colleges provided the instructors, classrooms, and equipment needed for the training.