Youth Workforce Development

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Wonderlic is committed to providing workforce development professionals like you with solutions for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth assessment and tracking needs. We provide you the solutions that reduce your ongoing workload, from intake to follow up – maximizing your valuable time spent helping youth succeed.

Assessment Solutions

Wonderlic is the recognized leader in development, delivery and support of educational and employment assessments and surveys. We help you link high-quality basic and career skills assessments with effective services to achieve results for your programs and your youth.

• General Assessment of Instructional Needs (GAIN) GAIN is the only test designed specifically to measure the skills described in the National Reporting System’s Educational Functioning Levels (EFL). Two easy-to-administer tests measure the skills of all youth, from those with little or no knowledge of English and Math to those who score at the highest secondary level. Paired with INSIGHT, GAIN’s online reporting and tracking system, GAIN offers a high-quality, affordable, easy-to-use solution for your Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth assessment and tracking needs.

• Wonderlic Basic Skills Test (WBST) The WBST Verbal and Quantitative tests quickly and accurately measure skills required to succeed in nearly every career training program. WBST content and results are directly tied to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network (O*NET), Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) and General Educational Development Scales (GED). WBST can be used to test out-of-school youth for Workforce Investment Act performance measures for EFLs 3 and above.

• Wonderlic Interactive Skills Evaluation (WISE) Office WISE assesses your participants’ office skills before making a work experience placement or as a pre- and post-test for occupational skills training experiences. WISE provides online skills assessments that give you the true measure of a participant’s current knowledge and capabilities with specific office skills. WISE tests can be taken from any location with an Internet connection, with results reported within minutes via email.

System Management Solutions

Case Manager
From intake to follow-up, Case Manager makes it simple to input and access your youth participants’ case files. Case Manager’s online system gives you complete information about every participant’s goals, skill gains and services received, allowing you to track and share youth’s participation and progress, even across multiple providers.

Developing Individual Service Strategies Videos

Consulting Solutions

Workshops
Wonderlic Youth Workforce Consulting one and two day workshops zero in on specific topics to help youth programs provide effective activities that lead to meaningful outcomes for youth. Workshops include real-world examples, practical strategies and tools to help attendees put ideas into action. Content can be adapted to reflect your state or local policies and practices.

Workshop costs are all inclusive – includes full day of training, one trainer, material and travel costs.

• Understanding the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Youth System Program elements, performance measures, eligibility, spending requirements—for those new to the WIA youth system, it can all feel overwhelming. New administrative staff, providers, youth council members and other stakeholders will benefit from this overview of the WIA youth system’s purpose, program requirements, and performance measures.

• Understanding Youth Common Measures Common Measures in plain English - yes, it’s possible! This workshop reviews each of the three youth Common Measures, discusses implications for program design and presents a strategy balancing through tracking which youth are in each measure.

• From Assessment to Outcomes Initial and objective assessments are usually youth's first contact with local WIA programs. This workshop will provide specific strategies and tools for conducting effective initial assessments and objective assessments for WIA youth participants, including determining suitability and linking the results of the objective assessment to the Individual Service Strategy (ISS).

• Elements of a Workforce Investment Act Title I Youth Program (2 days) The information and tools on each of the 10 youth program elements required by the Workforce Investment Act to help local youth councils, administrators and service providers understand the connection between WIA and youth development and meet the requirements and intents of federal legislation and regulation. This workshop includes a complete discussion of each program element with practical tools to help youth councils, administrators and service providers fulfill their roles within the WIA youth system.

• Requests for Proposals A procurement process that integrates the principles of positive youth development and outlines specific desired program outcomes is likely to result in positive WIA performance. Requests for Proposals connects the RFP to local area long-term goals, helps youth councils and administrative entities write RFPs that solicit the best possible youth programs, and evaluates proposals to identify and select effective youth programs. Note: This workshop focuses on writing Requests for Proposals, not on proposal writing for potential vendors.

• Contracting for WIA Youth Programs Providers design programs, youth councils develop RFPs, but contracting is where the rubber hits the road. Good contracts support the development of effective youth systems that produce meaningful outcomes for youth. In this workshop, you will learn how to develop appropriate benchmarks and outcomes for contracts, as well as processes for monitoring for performance as well as compliance.

• Designing Successful Programs Many youth programs do not measure beyond youth participation and customer satisfaction with activities. Great youth programs focus on outcomes: what changes for a participant because they were in your program. This workshop features a 4-step method for design that results in programs that make a real difference for youth.

• Summer Employment Opportunities Linked With Academic and Occupational Skills Summer employment opportunities linked to academic and occupational skills, or SEO, is a single WIA program element that must be made available to youth participants. It is not “the WIA summer youth program,” but one of many program elements that may take place in the summer. In this workshop, participants will learn key questions that answer whether a program fits the intent of SEO and how to link academic and occupational skills with work experience.

• Recruiting and Retaining Out-of-School Youth Out-of-school youth are one of the key populations served under WIA. This workshop provides information and tools to help local youth councils, WIA administrators, case managers, and service providers serve out-of-school youth. Topics covered include strategies for conducting outreach, recruiting, and engaging out-of-school youth.

• Effective Follow-Up Strategies Youth follow-up services are more than post-exit data collection. In this workshop, find out how to keep youth engaged during the twelve months after exit so that you can help them be stable and successful in their transition to employment, education or further training.

• Implementing the Federal Shared Youth Vision In response to the final report of the House Task Force Report on Disadvantaged Youth, the federal government began a multi-agency initiative to develop more effective strategies to serve targeted youth populations, prioritizing services to youth who face some of the greatest challenges to success. This workshop explains the four pillars of the Shared Youth Vision, provides practical ways to implement the vision at the local level and tips for state and local interagency teams.

• Understanding and Measuring Work Readiness Summer employment programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act require that programs measure gains in work readiness for participants. In addition to ARRA-funded programs, work readiness is a vital part of any program that trains young people for success in employment. But what is work readiness, how does it connect to work experience, and how can you measure it? This workshop offers strategies for identifying reasonable work readiness outcomes that result from work experience and presents several models for measuring work readiness that result in meaningful, useful data.

Comprehensive System Assessment

Wonderlic’s Youth Workforce Solutions’ comprehensive system assessments reviews all program aspects of your state or local WIA youth system, including:

• System and program outcomes
• Use of evidence-based practices
• WIA performance
• Administrative processes
• System structure, including customer flow and provision of program elements
• Review of objective assessment and individual service strategy processes
• Analysis of participation rates, including target populations for the federal Shared Youth Vision
• Community youth analysis, including education and economic factors for youth population at large

System assessments include on-site visits, stakeholder interviews, reviews of performance data, local requests for proposals and contracts, reviews of local administrative forms, and analysis of additional community data sources.

System assessments are completely customizable to meet your individual needs.

You will receive a complete report that includes a summary of your system, areas of strength, areas of concern, and recommendations. You may also choose to have a Wonderlic consultant present the results to your local youth council, workforce investment board, or other group.

Wonderlic System Assessment Solutions are designed to help you create a youth workforce system that meets the needs of youth and employers while complying with federal, state and local requirements.

System Design Services

System Assessment
Wonderlic’s system assessment services help you improve your youth workforce development system to focus on building an effective system that provides quality services to youth while resulting in positive performance for your programs and area.

Local Comprehensive System Analysis

Wonderlic works with you to analyze every part of your youth system, including:

• Participant demographic analysis
• Customer flow
• Effectiveness of youth services
• Achievement of outcomes for youth and programs
• Local youth policy
• WIA compliance
• Procurement processes
• WIA performance

Through onsite service and distance communication, we help you identify your areas of strength and challenge, providing detailed recommendations for achieving a high-quality system that produces meaningful outcomes for youth.

State Comprehensive System Analysis

Our state-level system analysis focuses on the high-level processes and policies that affect the success of your local areas. Each analysis is customized based on the unique needs of your state.

We can assist you with:

• Identifying best practices among local programs
• Vetting root causes of performance issues
• Reviewing state youth policies and suggesting areas for policy development
• Drafting youth policy
• Making recommendations for technical assistance

Wonderlic will provide you with a detailed report on any aspect of the system you select including detailed recommendations. We can also help you prepare talking points and presentation materials targeted for specific needs and audiences.

Local System Development

Our system development services will provide you with expert facilitation, identifying focused, local outcomes. Procuring programs that contribute to those identified outcomes will result in a seamless, unified system that makes a genuine impact on the youth in your community.

Wonderlic’s local system development services include:

• Onsite facilitated sessions to identify local needs, resources and challenges
• Surveys and other instruments to capture customer satisfaction and community perception of your system and programs
• Facilitated sessions to identify local system goals and outcomes
• Assistance in developing RFPs and contracts
• Assistance in developing a model for youth services that ensures that each youth receives individualized services

To learn more about Wonderlic solutions for Workforce Investment Act (WIA) youth assessment and tracking needs, contact us today.