The Challenge

TeamBuilders Academy (TBA) is a Prince George’s Community College Workforce Development Program that offers cohort-based accelerated adult career training. The challenge the academy was facing dealt specifically with pre- and post-workforce literacy assessment. TBA needed to evaluate its program not only to determine if it was achieving its missions and goals but to determine if it was enhancing and developing participants’ employability competency skills, particularly in reading and math.

The Solution

The CASAS Employability Competency Skill (ECS) Appraisal is one of the assessments the TBA used to determine if individuals have the minimum reading and math literacy required for TBA admission. After individual(s) have been accepted into the TBA, they take a CASAS ECS pretest to determine specific workforce literacy skill deficiencies. Based on the pretest results, participants go through an Instructional phase of approximately 150 hours. Finally, the ECS post-tests determine overall learning gains.

The Outcome

The Outcome is that the TBA has a unique program training model designed to be nationally benchmarked and supporting achievement of gains measured against a CASAS ECS Appraisal, pretest, and post-test. Furthermore, participants who achieve the highest ECS levels can earn a Workforce Skill Certification, through CASAS, which is indeed an added benefit specifically for the unemployed, underserved, and under-skilled population that TBA serves.

For more information

Prince George's Community College
Team Builders Academy
https://www.pgcc.edu/teambuilders/