Needs Assessment

There is a need within the Parma ABLE program for improved instruction in work
readiness soft skills as well as increased awareness and communication between agencies in
order to better prepare clients for workforce demands. Through interviews with ABLE
Instructors and program leaders, Managers of local literacy and employment agencies, and
individuals at the state level who assess ABLE needs and provide responsive professional
development, this need was confirmed.
While the job market in the Cleveland area has improved with unemployment rates
decreasing from 6.7% in June 2014 to 5.6% in June 2015 there remains a shortage of skilled
employees to fill local employment needs. While the ABLE program provides educational
programs for ESOL, Basic Literacy Education and GED, its goals are more far reaching. ABLE
strives to equip individuals with literacy skills, prepare them for employment, and/or assist them
as they transition into post-secondary education. Many clients enter the ABLE program to obtain
a GED or brush up on basic literacy skills so that they can secure better employment; however,
in many cases clients lack the soft skills needed to obtain and maintain employment. In fact,
according to program data for fiscal year 2015, 539 Parma ABLE students indicated on a survey
that they entered the program to improve their skills and obtain employment. Of those 539, only
178 or 33% obtained employment during the program. This number should be higher!
In its efforts to prepare learners for post secondary school and employment, the ABLE
program requires that teachers integrate transitions or work readiness skills into each lesson. At
one point the program had transitions instructors who would visit classes to model/ teach lessons
focused on certain employment/ college readiness skills. While there were good intentions for
this program, it gave teachers the impression that transitions are isolated lessons and often

2 Problem Based Needs Assessment

resulted in students who come to class specifically for GED prep disengaging. Since then, the
transitions position has been eliminated and teachers are now required to continue this practice
on their own so that students are seeing real world applications to what they are learning.
Although transitions aims to include soft skills, often these are difficult for teachers to relate to
students and are therefore overlooked in the instructional plan.
When interviewing ABLE program instructors representing both GED/Basic literacy
skills and ESOL classes, It was clear that instructors see the value in these skills as all four
interviewees cited soft skills as one of the most important factors in obtaining a job. The
challenge for instructors lies in how to teach skills beyond resume construction and interview
tactics. One instructor in particular captured the challenge in her response, It is just so hard to
teach soft skills since we want to make our students comfortable and welcome so that they return
and we have a chance to help them succeed as well as meet program goals to continue our
funding. However, for many of our students, simply getting to class means overcoming multiple
barriers so it is difficult to address soft skills. Another instructor commented, As soon as
students feel that the instruction is veering from the content they anticipate learning in this class
(GED/ESOL) they check out and sometimes do not return to the next class. They do not want to
feel like their time is being wasted even if the in fact can benefit from the soft skills that I am
teaching. The struggle is real for teachers in regards to how to teach these skills while also
meeting instructional ESOL or GED learning targets.
Other agencies in the Cleveland area dealing with literacy and employment skills echoed
the instructor concerns by saying that integrating these soft skills authentically is one of the
major obstacles in successfully teaching work readiness soft skills. All agencies ranked soft skills
as being most important when being considered employable by local agencies. Don Graves,

manager at Ohio Means Jobs stated, We hear back from employers when our clients go to
interviews and often what is cited as the reason for not hiring is a need for improvement in soft
skills. Employers are more often than not willing teach job/industry specific skills if those
underlying soft skills are already in place. While Mr. Graves and one of the employment
specialists agreed on the need for soft skills they said the greatest challenge is how to teach them
in a way that is authentic for clients. Laureen Atkins, Manager of Workforce Development for
The Literacy Cooperative suggested, For ABLE, this would translate to integrating soft skills
into the existing curriculum in a way that meets GED/ESOL learning targets but also addresses
workplace writing, communication skills, effective teamwork, etc.
This idea of integrating soft skills into an existing curriculum was directly mentioned by
5 of 8 interviewees. There is clearly a need for soft skills to be taught in an authentic
environment where curriculum is contextualized so that learners have immediate meaning and
connections to what they are engaging in. Although is not possible for all organizations to
engage clients in a consistent, regular and authentic learning experience that is needed in order to
change habits/behaviors that have been developed over an individuals lifetime, it led one
interviewee to determine the larger problem being a lack of connections amongst organizations
to support student needs. Laureen Atkins, Manager of Workforce Development for the Literacy
Cooperative stated, Not enough of us know what each organization has to offer. She indicated
that improving connections between organizations where referrals could be made more easily to
the experts in each area would better meet student needs in multiple areas, including soft skills
for work readiness. When teachers were asked about their knowledge of local agencies that can
provide targeted training for employment, 2 of 4 were able to provide at least one referral.
Instructors were interested in learning more about community resources for their clients.

4 Problem Based Needs Assessment

Stakeholders have determined that there is a need for improvement of soft skills training
within the ABLE program and that this need should target instructors providing them the
necessary information and tools to effectively provide soft skills instruction to their student base.
An Instructional event in the form of a workshop will address key soft skills needed for work
readiness success, how to effectively integrate these skills into existing curriculum without
making them isolated lessons, and what agencies are available in the area to assist students in
more targeted work readiness instruction. This instructional event will assist instructors in
providing ABLE students more opportunities for honing these work readiness soft skills, thus
improving their marketability for employment purposes.