Seminar -- Final Paper

Using assessments to understand workforce demand

Tyler Nearing
ECT 4930
Professor Faessel
December 6th, 2014

Finding the best ways to utilize assessments is an intrical part of career and
technical education. Ranging from academic assessments, to industry certification
exams, if you are in any way involved in the CTE field, you will inevitably encounter one
form of assessment or another (most likely numerous different forms.) Publishing and
analyzing workforce demand data is important for numerous reasons for employers and

employees alike; its surprising to note that when doing in depth research on workforce
demand, very little comes up besides a few single vague sources, generally outdated.
Because of the level of importance I place on this aspect of CTE, in this paper I will
continue the conversation on the topic and emphasize its relevance on a broader scale.

Assessments and how to best utilize assessments are two hot topics when it
comes to Career and Technical Education. Due to the lack of resources available, and
lack of precedents set, accountability and assessment are rather understudied. One of
the most important types of assessments that can be benefit employers and employees
in a large way is called a workforce needs assessment. A workforce needs assessment
compiles workforce information taken primarily from government sources such as the
census and the U.S. DOL (department of labor.) By performing a workforce needs
assessment, academic and vocational institutions can cater their programs to fit the
demand of the workforce. Understanding the needs of the workforce is especially
important to degree/certificate seeking students, as it allows them to more closely align
with higher pay/increased demand jobs. It is reported that under half of all CTE
programs utilize a workforce needs assessment; many CTE programs use secondary
data or anecdotes in lieu of a primary workforce needs assessment. This is a major
disservice to the students enrolled in these programs; with the increasingly competitive
modern economy, its becoming largely important to be more specialized in whichever
field you become skilled in. Long gone are the days where a simple business degree
would enable you to pursuit a majority of high level white collar job positions.

A workforce needs assessment seeks to examine the future characteristics of

work and the human resources needed with the focus at an organizational, industry, or
societal level (Mojsilovi, & Connors, 2010.) Utilizing workforce needs assessment is a
crucial component of any Career and Technical Education program. In performing such
an assessment accurately, future members of the workforce are more prepared for real
life job prospects. Career and technical education programs are able to analyze
demand for specific career clusters, pay scales, unemployment, and other key aspects
gauging a careers viability. Its clear that performing a workforce needs assessment has
numerous benefits, and we already have much of the data scattered about, so why
arent more CTE programs performing them?

For one, compiling such a vast amount of information is resource intensive and
requires a great infrastructure to do so. Another reason is that, until now, most people
deemed a project of such a large magnitude as mostly unnecessary. The job market is
becoming much more specialized. The most common workforce needs assessment
technique used, according to the study: The Use of Workforce Assessment as a
Component of Career and Technical Education Program Evaluation are simply advisory
committees (90%.) Analyzing the results of the study, its clear that a majority of
institutions/programs support conducting need based assessments. I think a major
issue isnt a lack of effort on the program or departments side, its simply a lack of
resource availability. There isnt sufficient resources available in the form of state/federal
workforce information database, or other searchable databases. A large percentage of
the ATE programs studied in the article used anecdotes as their primary form of
workforce needs assessment. Though anecdotes and secondary sources may have

been semi effective in the past, its clear theres a need for widespread information
support reporting on workforce needs. Filling a need is a basic concept which can be
utilized quite effectively in our modern workforce if presented in an efficient manner.

As a future educator, I will be pushing for state/federal workforce needs

databases and other labor needs information. It is important that educators are able to
access workforce trends/demands so that they may in turn serve their students to the
best of their abilities. Adapting the curriculum to best suit the students is part of being an
educator, and if widespread support were to be available for national workforce needs
databases, many would benefit. Times are changing, its inevitable; we must do what
human beings do best -- adapt. In todays modern, highly specialized economy,
generalized positions are becoming few are far between. It is important for us as a
country to utilize our human resources in the most efficient way possible. We must take
a basic concept (Workforce demand assessment,) and apply it to every academic and
technical instituation across the country. In doing so, the institutions benefit, the
employers/businesses benefit, the employees/laborers benefit, and finally, the country
benefits (from decreased labor inefficiencies.) Lets get with the times!

References

Bartlett, K., Schleif, N., & Bowen, M. (2011). The Use of Workforce Assessment
as a Component of Career and Technical Education Program Evaluation. Career and
Technical Education Research, 105118

Grason, H., Kavanagh, L., Dooley, S., Partelow, J., Sharkey, A., Bradley, K., & Handler,
A. (2008). Findings from an Assessment of State Title V Workforce Development
Needs.Maternal and Child Health Journal, 7-20.

Morgan, P., Strand de Oliveira, J., & Short, N. (2011). Physician Assistants And Nurse
Practitioners: A Missing Component In State Workforce Assessments. Journal of
Interprofessional Care, 1-6.

Elsdon, R. (2010). Building workforce strength creating value through workforce and
career development. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger.

Teljeur, C., Thomas, S., O'kelly, F., & O'dowd, T. (2010). General practitioner workforce
planning: Assessment of four policy directions. BMC Health Services Research, 148-148.