Measurement of Workforce Readiness: Review of Theoretical Frameworks

The cry of American management for workers with greater skills has spawned many commissions, task forces and studies, including five studies reviewed in this report: * What Work Requires of Schools (Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills); *Workplace Basics: The Essential Skills Employers Want (American Society for Training and Development); * Michigan Employability Skills Employer Survey (W. Mehrens, Michigan State University); * Basic and Expanded Basic Skills (New York State Education Department); and * High Schools and the Changing Workplace: The Employers’ View (National Academy of Sciences). The authors provide a synthesis and comparison of the five reports and describe a 14-step, methodological approach to measuring workforce readiness skills.