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In light of the current economic downturn, thousands of Iowans are unemployed and this is the ideal time to build the skills of the workforce to compete in the knowledge-based economy so businesses and entrepreneurs can compete in a global economy. A tool for assessing the skills and knowledge of dislocated workers and students as well as identifying skills deficits in order to match individuals' transferable skills to high-demand jobs is essential in order for dislocated workers and students to increase their human capital. It is essential for individuals to make informed decisions regarding the training they need and for educational institutions to provide appropriate educational programs that are responsive to the needs of the knowledge-based economy. The purposes of this study were to compare the relationships between knowledge levels, transferable skills, and skill needs of dislocated workers in northeast Iowa to the knowledge and skill needs of area businesses, to outline and develop a model for equipping Iowa's workforce for a knowledge-based economy, and to provide a paradigm for assessment and training. The research questions guiding this study included: (a) What are the demographic characteristics of northeast Iowa's dislocated workers? (b) What are the current skills, knowledge, and competencies of dislocated workers in northeast Iowa? (c) Are there differences in the skills, knowledge, and competencies between male and female dislocated workers? (d) What are the aspirations of dislocated workers in northeast Iowa? (e) What are the skills gaps of dislocated worker regarding the knowledge-based economy? (f) What education and training programs are needed to adapt the current skills set clusters to a knowledge-based economy in northeast Iowa? This quantitative study was conducted using the theoretical frameworks of human capital, new growth, knowledge-based economy, and action research theory concepts. Further, this study analyzes the role the community college system is expected to take in workforce preparation and economic development, along with the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) One Stop Centers and the Iowa Workforce Development Research Bureau. The quantitative techniques of descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe the data set of 477 individuals---284 males and 193 females---laid off from industries in northeast Iowa. The dislocated worker data was matched with additional demographic and occupational data obtained from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET). The results indicate a high percentage of females and males intend to continue their education. The findings show a significant need for additional training for dislocated workers to be employed in emerging occupations to increase their knowledge and work activity (skills) in order to be prepared for emerging occupations in biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and information technology. The workforce analysis on regional competitive advantage supports the need for emerging occupations. The study demonstrates the need for further assessment and training for dislocated workers. It also provides a replicable model for other community colleges, One Stop workforce centers, and economic development interests and has the potential to provide an on-line tool for advising, education and recruitment. Finally, the study contributes knowledge and research valuable for One Stop workforce Centers, community colleges and economic development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Programs supported by the Carl D. Perkins Act of 2006 are required to operate under the state or national content standards, and are expected to carry out evaluation procedures that address accountability. The Indiana high school course, "Advanced Life Science: Foods" ("ALS: Foods") operates under the auspices of the Perkins Act. However, no broad based course assessments were in place to measure enrollees' performance, creating a need for standards-based assessments for "ALS: Foods". The following questions were posed for this research: (1) What are the core principles and respective performance indicators for advanced high school/introductory university-level food science? (2) To what extent do potential test items generated from the performance indicators represent each core principle and adequately sample the full content area? (3) What core principles are most important to the advanced high school/introductory university-level food science curriculum? (4) What are the initial statistical verifications for these test items? This preliminary investigation involved three phases. "Phase I" employed a Modified Delphi Method. Panel of expert from a wide variety of food science fields were the central instrument used in this research framework. This panel (the Modified Delphi Panel) of food science professionals completed five rounds of online surveys through which they (1) reached agreement on the researcher's proposed core principles for advanced high school/introductory university-level food science and (2) arranged and refined performance indicators for the core principles, and rated them as Essential, Important, or Optional. In "Phase II", for the development of a pool of potential standards-based test items, the researcher used the published version of the performance indicators for "ALS: Foods" and not the version modified by the Delphi Expert Panel in "Phase 1", because the high school instructors who participated were not aware of the changes in the wording of the existing performance indicators, and to some extent the content of the new performance indicators. These test items were screen tested with students enrolled in the "ALS: Foods" course (n = 123). Each participating teacher received a tailor-made test with test items for the performance indicators he or she had specified. The data from "Phase II" informed the researcher about the problems that might occur during the pilot-testing process, and the probable performance of the test items for the target population. In "Phase III", a second expert panel, the Test Item Review Panel [food science professionals: from nationwide food industry (n = 4), instructors from higher educational institutions situated throughout the United States (n = 5), and instructors from Indiana high school settings (n = 6)] performed content-related validation on the test items and made test specification recommendations via six online surveys. Also, enrollees in "ALS: Foods" (n = 132) participated in pilot testing of the items and comprehensive standards-based test forms. Through these processes, ten core principles (Chemical properties of foods, Physical and chemical interactions in food, Nutritional composition of foods, Food laws and regulations, Food safety, Uses of microbes in food production, Sensory analysis, Food processing and preservation, Food packaging, Biotechnology and genetically modified food) with 85 corresponding performance indicators were identified (47 of the performance indicators were classified as Essential to advanced high school/introductory food science curricula, 26 were Important, and 12 were Optional), and 158 standards-based test items from a pool 184 were approved. These test items were provided to the research funder and remain confidential. A Table of Test Specifications for a comprehensive standards-based "ALS: Foods" assessment was created based on the rating of the performance indicators (in "Phase I"), classification of the test items and the distribution of the performance indicators' topics (in "Phase III"). The Test Item Review Panel recommended that a comprehensive, end-of-course assessment be proportioned to include 65% of topics/performance indicators deemed Essential, 25% Important, and 10% Optional. For the pilot testing, the statistical analyses indicated that 54 (34.2%) of the test items had moderate to strong discrimination values that ranged from 0.30 to 0.40, while 77 (48.7%) of the test items had moderate to strong difficulty values of 0.30 lesser than or equal to p greater than or equal to 0. 70 based on the test-takers performance in this research. The main medium for the operations of the research framework was through content area experts' viewpoints. This research demonstrated that the use of content area experts' viewpoints in making decisions about curricula and assessments can be effective, especially through the Modified Delphi method, and online survey research methodology. This methodology enabled the experts to make informative decisions to establish content validity of test items, and contributes to alignment of education, business, and industry expectations. Additionally, item discrimination, item difficulty, and distractor efficiency analyses provided quantitative data to develop high quality test items. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.