A Work Keys Pilot Project: Identification of Foundation Skills for Social Workers.

Recent reports by government agencies show concern regarding the extent to which American workers lack the workplace skills necessary to meet the challenges of today's workplace. The Work Keys system, a program developed by American College Testing (ACT) to help improve the job skills of the workforce, is described. A pilot project is being conducted with the Department of Human Services (DHS) of a Midwestern state to examine the extent to which Work Keys provides data which can be used to address the human resources needs for three classifications of social workers. The job analysis component of the Work Keys system has been used to study all three jobs and establish skill standards. The assessment component of the system will be used to examine the extent to which a sample of incumbents meets the skill levels set by subject matter experts. Data collected from a variety of sites in the United States are used to demonstrate the types of comparisons that can be made among job profiles and individual assessment data. Finally, a series of recommendations are given regarding how the Work Keys system can be used to address the human resources needs of the three social worker classifications studied in this pilot project. Contains three tables and nine figures. (Author)