 |
| Alignment |
The process of linking
workplace education efforts, and the evaluation of these efforts,
to an organization's overall business strategy. |
|
| Assessment |
The process of analyzing information to
make judgments about the skills and learning of individuals or groups.
In the context of this site, the purpose of assessment is to determine
the capacity of people to effectively work on processes that deliver
organizational value. |
|
| Balanced
Scorecard |
This is an approach to
management that develops a series of measures (or metrics) that then
form the basis for improvements in an organization. These measures
are directly related to an organization's vision, mission and strategy.
They are typically organized into four categories: financial; customer;
internal business processes; and innovation and knowledge. |
|
| Balanced Scorecard
for Skills |
A tool for measuring the effectiveness of workplace
education programs that uses a balanced scorecard approach. This tool
helps employers measure and demonstrate the relationship between their
workplace education investments, including workplace basic skills,
and measures of organizational performance. |
|
| Basic Skills |
These skills include reading, writing, speaking, listening,
and elementary math. These are the essential skills and knowledge
that all emerging, incumbent, and transitional workers need to function
effectively and safely in any workplace. These are keyed to effective
performance in a broad range of jobs, used together (integrated),
and are portable across workplaces. These are also referred to as
foundation skills. |
|
| Benchmarking |
This is a continuous,
systematic process for evaluating products, services, or work processes
of programs or organizations in order to make improvements. |
|
| Cost-Benefit
Analysis |
This is a process to compare the costs of
establishing an intervention (such as a workplace education program)
with the benefits (such as increased productivity, less waste or fewer
errors, lower absenteeism, better communication, etc.). |
|
| Evaluation |
This describes an analysis
that is done to determine the impact of workplace education programs.
This is targeted at the program level as opposed to the individual
level (where assessments of learning are done). In this website we
use Kirkpatrick's system of evaluation which ranges from satisfaction
with learning programs through to broader organizational impacts. |
|
| Foundation
Skills |
These skills include reading, writing, speaking,
listening, and elementary math. These are the essential skills and
knowledge that all emerging, incumbent, and transitional workers need
to function effectively and safely in any workplace. These are keyed
to effective performance in a broad range of jobs, used together (integrated),
and are portable across workplaces. Also referred to as basic skills. |
|
| Job-Specific
Technical Skills |
This is training that
focuses on the procedures, including the use of technology, to create
products, deliver services, or engage in business processes. It is
typically provided to workers who use technology or machinery in their
jobs. |
|
| Lagging
Indicator |
A measure of past performance (e.g. financial
results from the previous fiscal year). |
|
| Leading
Indicator |
A measure that focuses
on future performance (e.g. investments in employees, technologies,
etc.). |
|
| Malcolm
Baldridge Education Criteria for Performance Excellence |
This is a self-assessment that allows education
providers to use criteria to identify organizational strengths and
to target key opportunities for program improvement and performance
excellence. It measures a wide range of key organizational performance
indicators of learner/stakeholder outcomes, education service and
outcomes, and operations. |
|
| Metrics |
This is another name for
measures. These are the specific pieces of data that management will
attempt to change, as an indicator of the health of the organization. |
|
| Occupational
Skill Standards |
A U.S. Departments of Labor and Education
and National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) initiative to establish
a national system of voluntary occupational skill standards and occupations. |
|
| Organization
Size |
Small - fewer than 100
employees, Medium - 100-500 employees, or Large - over 500 employees. |
|
| Organizational
Approach |
In a workplace education program, this examines
basic skills within the context of workplace culture and other workplace
issues; recognizes that learning and using skills is integrated into
all aspects of an organization. |
|
| Peer
Review of Performance (360 degree feedback) |
This is a performance
appraisal system in which employees' work performance is evaluated,
at least in part, by co-workers |
|
| Performance
Standards |
These are benchmarks, or specified levels
of achievement, for expectations for educational outcomes that provide
a basis for measuring learning outcomes. |
|
| Plan-Do-Check-Act
Cycle |
A management-by-planning
process designed for continuous improvement. You devise a plan, implement
it (do), determine what is learned through this process (check), and
you act on the results. The process repeats. |
|
| Quantitative
Data |
Data that lends itself to numerical representation
and arithmetic manipulation. |
|
| Qualitative
Data |
Data that are characterized
by narrative description and interpretation; the collection and interpretation
of data is not constrained by predetermined categories or responses. |
|
| Return
on Investment (ROI) |
This is a calculation of the financial benefits
of a workplace education program in relationship to its cost. It is
usually expressed as a percentage of the original investment. |
|
| Soft Skills |
These are also referred to as employability
skills, and include personal management skills, interpersonal skills,
and leadership skills. These are qualitative skills that relate to
a person's ability to interact with customers and employees. |
|
| Stakeholders |
All those with a "stake" in the
organization's success (e.g. shareholders, managers, employees, customers,
suppliers, etc.). |
|
| Stretch
Target |
This is an organizational
goal that is difficult, but not impossible, to attain. These "stretch"
the organization to improved performance. |
|
| Target |
The specific organizational goals established
in each of the four Balanced Scorecard categories. |
|
| Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 |
This is federal legislation
designed to coordinate and streamline all components of the nation's
workforce development system, including employment, job training,
education, and vocational rehabilitation services for youth (ages
14-21), adults, and dislocated workers. |
|
| Workplace
Education |
This refers to programs that are planned
and delivered through business/education partnerships and provide
customized work-related foundation skills instruction to incumbent
workers in need of more advanced skills to maintain or advance in
their jobs. |
