'::
Department of Health and Human Services

OFFICE 
INSPECTOR GENERAL

SKILLS ASSESSMENT 
JOBS 
:v' 
Richard P. Kusserow 
INSPECTOR GENERAL 
JUNE 1992  OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

The mission of the Offce of Inspector General (DIG), as mandated by Public Law 95-452 
as amended, is to protect the integrity of the Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS) programs as well as the health and welfare of beneficiaries served by those 
programs. This statutory mission is carried out through a nationwide network of audits 
investigations, and inspections conducted by three DIG operating components: the Office 
, and the Offce of 
of Audit Services, the Offce of Investigations Evaluation and 
Inspections. The OIG also informs the Secretary of HHS of program and management 
problems, and recommends courses to correct them. 
OFFICE OF AUDIT SERVICES

The OIG' s Office of Audit Services (OAS) provides all auditing services for HHS, either 
by conducting audits with its own audit resources or by overseeing audit work done by 
others. Audits examine the performance of HHS programs and/or its grantees and 
contractors in carring out their respective responsibilities and are intended to provide 
independent assessments of HHS programs and operations in order to reduce waste, abuse, 
and mismanagement and to promote economy and effciency throughout the Department. 
OFFICE OF INVESTIGATIONS 
The OIG' s Office of Investigations (01) conducts criminal, civil, and administrative 
investigations of allegations of wrongdoing in HHS programs or to HHS beneficiaries and 
of unjust enrichment by providers. The investigative efforts of 01 lead to criminal 
convictions, administrative sanctions, or civil money penalties. The 01 also oversees State 
Medicaid fraud control units which investigate and prosecute fraud and patient abuse in the 
Medicaid program.

OFFICE OF EVALUATION AND INSPECTIONS 
The DIG's Offce of Evaluation and Inspections (OEI) conducts short-term management 
and program evaluations (called inspections) that focus on issues of concern to the 
Department, the Congress, and the public. The findings and recommendations contained in 
these inspection reports generate rapid, accurate, and up-to-date information on the 
efficiency, vulnerability, and effectiveness of departmental programs. This report was 
prepared in Dallas under the direction of Regional Inspector General Ralph Tunnell and 
Deputy Regional Inspector General Chester B. Slaughter. Project staff included: 
Dallas  Headquarters 
Project Leader  Susan Hardwick 
Carol L. Cockrell, 

Elsie Chaisson 
Susan Rousseau O'Connell 
To obtain a copy of this report, call the Dallas Regional Offce at (214) 767-3310  Department of Health and Human Services

OFFICE OF

INSPECTOR GENERAL

JOBS SKILLS ASSESSMENT

''v 
( J  Richard P. Kusserow 
INSPECTOR GENERAL 
d'a  OEI-06-89-0161O  EXECUTIVE  SUMMARY 
Purpose 
The purposes of this report are to describe the assessment process and identify useful 
assessment practices in the Job Opportnities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS). 
Background 
The primar goal of the Famly Support Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-485) is to decrease 
dependency on the Aid to Famlies with Dependent Children (AFC) grant by providing 
education, training and employment opportnities for grantees though the JOBS program. 
States are required to conduct an "initial assessment" of JOBS parcipants' work readiness 
and employability. The results of this assessment are used to constrct the "employability 
plan" which specifies a permanent employment objective with goals and activities leading 
. up to that objective.

Federal regulations provide general guidance and few requirements for assessment 
activities, leaving the specifics of form and content to States' discretion. The regulations 
do require the "initial assessment" be based on the person s famly circumstaces, prior 
work experiences, job skills, and educational and support services needs. Assessment 
methods may include testing, interviews, counseling, and the use of self-assessment 
instrments. If a State tests for literacy, basic skills, aptitudes, and so on, the regulations 
encourage the State to use "nationally recognized, stadardized, or industr-developed"
instrments in order to avoid inappropriate placements and misspent funds. 
Methodology 
States which have "mature" programs were chosen intentionally, "mature" being defined as 
having a lengthy operating history (e.  , having had the regular Work Incentive (W)
WI 
program or  Demonstration through most of the 1980s) and a track record of offering 
a fairly comprehensive range of services. We selected five States and, with the help of 
State-level JOBS administrators, selected two sites withn each one. We conducted site 
visits in the States of Californa (San Bernardino and Yuba counties), Michigan (Bay and 
Kent counties), Massachusetts (Hampden and Worcester counties), and Nebraska (the 
Southeast Distrct and the Omaha Distrct). In the State of Florida, telephone interviews 
replaced site visits at the Ft. Meyers and Orlando Distrcts. At each site, strctued 
interviews were conducted with the local administrator, two experienced line supervisors 
and two experienced case managers or equivalents.  The Current State of JOBS Skills Assessment 
Conclusions 
Skils assessment is stil in an early phase of development. Under very general Federal 
guidelines, local welfare agencies are experimenting with diverse approaches to assessing 
the job skills of paricipants. A varety of assessment tools, events and practices are being 
used within a process on which uniform agreement as to its exact content and 
sequences is 
still lacking. Thus, it would be premature to identify specific tools and practices as the 
most effective and efficient, or the most valid and reliable. 
Some principles and useful practices are emerging. Even at this early date
, it is 
possible to make several observations about the nature of assessment in local agencies and 
to describe some of its more regularly occurrng stages and events. It is not, for example, 
an event which transpires at a single point in time. Rather, assessment is an ongoing 
process continuing throughout the parcipant's tenure in the JOBS program. Its content 
not limited to skills testing, but encompasses a varety of formal and informal activities 
and decisions. Assessment is at the hear of three major functions performed by case 
managers for the local agency: 1) identifying the parcipant's employment strengths and 
weakesses, 2) tailoring the service strategy to meet the 
parcipant's needs, and 
3) monitoring progress toward the participant's employment goal. 
More experience and research are needed. For this report, we have developed a 
description of the assessment process from data collected at ten "matue" sites. We have 
discussed assessment as several sometimes discrete, sometimes overlapping, stages or sets 
of activities: initial assessment, a preliminar labor market sort, extended assessment, the 
employabilty plan, and job readiness. We believe this descriptive report provides useful 
guidelines for practitioners in the field and wil also be useful to those formulating a 
research or evaluation agenda in the area of JOBS skills assessment. 
Departental Comments

We are appreciative of comments received from the Administration for Children and 
Famlies on the working draft of ths report.  ......................................  
. . . . . . . ..  ..  .. .. ..  .  .. .. .,. .   . ... .  .  .
 .. .  . .. .  . .. .  .. .. . . . .. ..  .  .. .  .. ..  .  .. ..   . ... .  .. ..  .  .. ..  .  .. ..  . ... .   . ... .   . ... .    ..... .    . .... .    ..... .   .  .. ..  ......  . .  
..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...   .. . . . . ...   ...   ..  ..  ..  ..  ...   ...   ...   ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  . . . . .
TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
INTRODUCTION 
THE CONTEXT OF JOBS 
INITIAL ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES 
PRELIMINARY LABOR MARKET SORT 
EXTENDED ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES 
EMPLOYABILITY 
PIA 
JOB READINESS 
APPENDIXES 
Appendix A:  Literature Sources and Interviews 
Appendix B:  Forml and Informl Tools and Practices 
Elements of Effective Assessment 
Appendix 
Appendix D:  Employabilty Plan as a Documentation Device 
Appendix E:  Determining Job Readiness 
Checklist for  INTRODUCTION

Purpose 
The purposes of this report are to describe the assessment process and identify useful 
practices in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS). 
Background 
The Federal Context for the JOBS Program 
The primar goal of the Famly Support Act is to increase famly self-suffciency and to 
decrease dependency on the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFC) grant by 
providing AFDC recipients the opportunities to upgrade their work skills or lear new 
skills as paricipants in the JOBS program. 
Title II of the Famly Support Act (Pblic Law 100-485) establishes the JOBS program 
under title IV-F of the Social Security Act.! JOBS is the operatig welfare-to-work 
program in the Deparment of Health and Human Services, replacing and expandig 
current authority for education, training, and work programs in title IV -A (AFC) and title 
IV -C (Work Incentive (WIN) program and WIN Demonstration) of the Social Security 
Act. 
States were required to implement the program by October 1 , 1990. By October 1, 1992, 
the program must be available on a statewide basis where feasible, accounting for the 
number of eligible parcipants, the condition of the local economy, and other relevant 
factors. The JOBS program in every State must include a varety of educational activities, 
job skills training, work experiences, job readiness activities, job development and job 
placement activities, as well as support services (e.  , transporttion and child care). The 
State s IV-A agency (welfare agency) has the responsibilty for the admstration, or the 
, of the JOBS program and may contract out varous 
supervision of the administration
program activities. 
In regard to assessment activities, States are required to conduct an "initial assessment" of 
JOBS parcipants' work readiness and employability. Federal regulations provide general 
guidance and few requirements for the "initial assessment " allowing States to determne 
specifics of form and content. The regulations do require the initial assessment to account 
for the paricipant's family circumstances , prior work experiences, current job skills, and 
Federal Register, October 13, 1989, Par II, DHHSIFSA, 45 CFR Par 205  et seq. .  educational and support services needs. Assessment methods may include testing,

interviews, counseling, and the use of self-assessment instruments  If a State tests for

literacy, basic skills, aptitudes, etc., the regulations encourage the State to use "nationally

recognized, standardized, or industr-developed" instrments before placing JOBS

paricipants in order to avoid inappropriate placements and misspent funds. No time 
period for completing the assessment is specified except that it must be done "
withn a 
reasonable time frame prior to paricipation (in the JOBS program). ,,2 
The regulations also require the creation of an "employabilty plan" based on the data 
collected from initial assessment 
for 
activities. The employability plan is the action  plan 
the parcipant. It must state a permanent employment objective or outcome, describe the 
activities the paricipant wil complete (e.  , complete high school, go though nurse aide 
training), and specify any support services to be provided. It must also account for the 
participant's preferences and needs to the extent allowed by available resources and local 
job opportunities. The regulations encourage, but do not require, States to include a 
schedule of activities necessar to achieve employment by a specified date. 
Scope 
For ths report, we focus on overall assessment practices inside the local agency and do not 
review specific assessment activities and tools in the education, job training, and the 
individual or group job search component. 
Methodology 
Learning About Assessment 
Given the tremendous flexibility in the Federal regulations, we anticipated that States and 
localties would be faily diverse in conceptualizing, settng up and managing the 
assessment of participants' job skills. In order for us to fill in the conceptual gap between 
the broad policy statements in the regulations and the actual implementation of assessment 
in local agencies, we performed four tasks. 
First, we reviewed current literature on welfare-to-work programs, federally supported 
training programs, assessment-related activities in these programs, and literature on skills 
3 Relative to the JOBS program
testing. , we began to understad assessment as: 
Federal Register ibid.  p. 42178. 
3 See APPENDIX A for a list of sources.  an ongoing process rather than intermittent event; 
a complex process, comprised of formal and informal aspects , involving all levels 
of agency staff; 
the core activities in thee major functions performed by JOBS case managers: 
1) identifying the paricipant's employment strengths and weakesses, 2) taloring 
the service strategy to meet the parcipant's needs, and 3) monitoring progress 
toward the employment goal; 
influenced by factors internal and external to JOBS. Assessment is a subsystem 
within other systems - JOBS program, local IV-A agency, local community, the 
State, and the Federal government. 
From this task a working definition of assessment developed. We view assessment as 
much more than "skills testing" (generally considered to be a formal event in which one or 
more standardized or teacher-constrcted tests are administered), and more than an initial 
interview with a case manager who collects baseline information on the paricipant. Both 
of these events are included in a broader concept of  the formal and informal 
assessment: 
evaluative processes, decisions and events occurring within the agency from the 
partiipant' s entrance into the JOBS program to herlhis exit from the program. 
Second, we talked with some program and assessment experts inside and outside the 
Federal government to verify our initial impressions about assessment and to discuss their 
s We 
ideas, viewpoints and experiences. asked these experts to identify what they consider 
as essential elements of effective or useful assessment, paricularly in the context of 
welfare-to-work programs.

Third, from the literature review and the discussions with experts we developed an 
inventory of what the experts regard as essential elements of effective assessment. 
Finally, we used this inventory to help us identify useful assessment practices. 
Sample Selectin and Data Collection 
Since the focus of this report is describing assessment and identifying useful assessment 
practices, we decided to choose States having "mature" welfare-to-work programs. 
Mature" is defined as having a lengthy operating history (e.g., having had 
WI 
Demonstration or regular  thoughout most of the 1980s) and a track record of 
offering fairly comprehensive services. We reasoned that focusing on States which had 
4 See APPENDIX B for an explanation of fonnal and infonnal assessment tools and practices vis-a
vis the

JOBS program. 
5 For a list of interviewees
, see APPENDIX A. 
6 See APPENDIX C for a listing of the elements of effective assessment.  already laid the groundwork for the JOBS program would enable us to immediately benefit 
from their experiences in integrating assessment into the program. 
In a previous Office of Inspector General study on JOBS implementation practices, the 
mature" criterion was used to select a purposive sample of eight States, diverse in their 
program strctures, demographic factors, economic conditions and geographical location. 
We selected five States from ths eight-State sample. 
In each selected State, we asked the JOBS administrator to select two local welfare 
agencies (each in a different county) which had a lengthy operating history and excelled in 
most or all JOBS program activities, especially assessment. We conducted site visits in 
the States of California (San Bernardino and Yuba counties), Michigan (Bay and Kent 
counties), Massachusetts (Hampden and Worcester counties), and Nebraska (the Southeast 
District and the Omaha Distrct). In the State of Florida, telephone contact replaced site 
visits at the Ft. Meyers and Orlando district offices. 
At each site, we conducted strctured interviews with the local administrator, two 
experienced line supervisors, and two experienced case managers or equivalents. Data 
collection activities occurred in September and October of 1990. 
We also reviewed copies of available State and site-specific policies, technical assistance 
and procedures guides regarding assessment; formal and informal interagency agreements 
governing the provision of assessment services; current JOBS program component and 
paricipant flow chars; any studies or formal evaluations of the assessment system; and 
participation/outcome data. 
7 "
Working Toward JOBS," OEI-12-90-00960, June 1990.  THE CONTEXT OF JOBS

The nature and extent of assessment activities inside the agency are influenced by a varety 
of factors internal and external to the agency. The interaction within 
and between internal 
and external factors creates a complex, dynamic environment for the JOBS program and 
the assessment process. 
The External Environment 
Federal laws, regulations and guidelines set the stage for the JOBS program and 
assessment activities. Another set of factors  the health of State, regional and local 
economies, and the politics surrounding welfare programs and their funding  constitutes 
the infrastructure of the external environment. Availability, coordination and delivery of 
education, employment and job training services at the State and local levels are other 
factors influencing the nature and extent of the JOBS program and assessment activities. 
Local and Regional Economic Conditions Form the Infrastructure 
As States and local agencies continue implementing the JOBS program and assessment 
activities, some external factors are more likely to affect decision-makng than other 
factors. Because of the very nature of the program, local and regional economic 
conditions greatly influence the degree of its success. The strategies employed to manage 
these sets of conditions var from one local agency to another. For example, given the 
economic conditions of seasonal work and limited diversity in community or regional 
industres, a local agency might choose the strategy of implementing a more "streamined" 
JOBS program and assessment process (i.  , very limited use of formal assessment 
activities and staff time). In a few Florida locales, the majority of JOBS parcipants are 
diected into jobs supporting the seasonal tourism industr, e.  , food service, maitenance 
and repair, domestic service, clerical and sales jobs. 
Another example of economic conditions influencing decisions about the JOBS program 
and the extent of assessment activities is the case of Yuba 
County, Californa. The county 
has among the highest unemployment (=14%) and povert (=16%) rates in the State. 
Although seasonal agrcultural work is available, there are also available positions from 
year-round employers in retail sales, service industres and government. Rather than focus 
on seasonal jobs, the administrator has chosen the strategy of increasing the 
competitiveness of JOBS paricipants for the scarce, above-minimum-wage jobs in the 
area. For this welfare agency, the strategy has had the effect of emphasizing the 
importce of the assessment process in detecting the skill proficiencies and deficiencies of 
paricipants, identifying and dealing with barers to employment, and tracking progress as 
paricipants prepare for employment. The agency s commitment to this parcular strategy  , " , "
of dealing with rather adverse economic conditions is reflected in the allocation of two 
staff positions devoted to formal assessment of JOBS paricipants. 
Federal and Stae Commitment and Financial Support Are Crucial 
Along with economic circumstances, the degree of Federal and State commtment and 
to-work programs also strongly affects the JOBS program and 
financial support for welfare-
skills assessment. Theoretically, the JOBS program has immense potential for helping 
individuals overcome barers generated by poverty and for giving communities incentives 
to offer opportunities. Providing job training and educational opportunities to welfare 
recipients now in order to recoup the investment later in the form of more productive 
taxpaying citizens makes sense to nearly everyone. But the investment in a new program 
with such an ambitious goal has to be fairly sizable in the fIrst few years in order to 
receive significant returns in the future.  The Federal governent and most State and 
local governments are currently in a cycle of fiscal belt-tightening which is likely to last 
for years.  Thus, if JOBS is to realize its potential, efficient use of limted resources and 
a long-term commitment to the program at all levels of governent are necessar. 
At the State level, Californa s GAIN and Massachusetts' ET Choices, prototypes for 
JOBS, are examples of two "mature" welfare-to-work programs which have received a high 
degree of commitment and financial support from their State legislatures years before 
JOBS was created. In contrast, some States' legislatures have treated welfare-to-work 
programs with neglect and minimal funding. The priorities of State-level decision makers 
often are mirrored at the local level in the willngness of local businesses, and education 
and training facilities to accommodate welfare recipients as new employees, students and 
trainees. 
The Internal Environment 
The quality and extent of assessment activities are also affected by a varety of factors 
inside the local agency. These include budget constraints, the degree of staf commtment 
to implement JOBS and effective assessment, having case management and specialed 
JOBS units, and access to an information storage, retreval and processing system. 
Agency Commitment to JOBS Is Importnt 
Among all the agency staffs we interviewed, we found a commendably high degree of 
8 Connors
, Kathleen A.  The Gathering Storm: Welfare in a Depressed Economy,  Public Welfare, Winter 
1991; Sherwood, Kay E. and David A. Long, "JOBS Implementation in an Uncenain Environment  Public 
Welfare, Winter 1991. 
9 Hass, Lawrence J. 
Spreading the Pain  National Journal, June 22, 1991.  commitment to JOBS and to the use of every community 
resource in meeting the goals 
and challenges of the program. The administrators, supervisors and case managers who 
were also supervisors or caseworkers during the now defunct WI program (most of our 
interviewees) viewed the JOBS program as a substative change for the better. All of 
them had witnessed positive changes in paricipants' lives as a result of the program 
which, in turn, strengthened their commitment. However, they were concerned that the 
JOBS program and their work with recipients were being thwared by shrnkng budgets 
for support services (e.  , child care and transporttion) and other contracted services, and 
by heavy caseloads (the average is =100 JOBS clients per case manager), resulting in less 
time to spend with each paricipant. 
Case Management and Specialized JOBS Units Strengthen Program Performance 
Staff concerns about tight budgets and heavy caseloads seemed to be mitigated somewhat 
by two staff arangements working in tandem: a specialized JOBS unit and case 
management. Not all the agencies we visited had organized a special JOBS unit, and not 
all had case management. In agencies which had both, the arangement seemed to promote 
consistency in JOBS policy and procedures, case managers who were efficient information 
and community services specialists, and consistency and continuity of paricipants' contacts 
with the agency.

A Data Processing System Saves Time and Effort for All Agency Staff 
Adequate data collection and information synthesis appeared to be vital for identifying, 
documenting and managing parcipants' employment barers and strengths. We noted 
that most local agencies in our sample had installed data processing systems to help case 
managers and supervisors organize the bulk of the information about parcipants. 
Agencies with more basic systems could produce "caned" reports (e.  , quarerly reports 
which have a fixed format  the same varables and the same data manpulations for 
every report), while agencies with more sophisticated (and more expensive) systems could 
produce reports talored to fit the parcular needs of different staf members. 
A user-friendly, readily available data processing system seemed to be a valuable tool for 
saving case managers, supervisors and administrators significant time and effort in 
compiling and aggregating data about parcipants. It also greatly assisted in monitoring 
parcipants' progress through JOBS components and activities, cutting down on the "paper 
shuffle. "  INITIAL ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Typically, within the week after the JOBS orientation session, the parcipant met with the 
assessment. Using a mixture of formal and informal 
case manager to begin the  initial 
tools and practices, the case manager collected and examined a body of data about the 
participant in order to judge the extent of "
job readiness." This included assessing 
whether the paricipant had adequate basic education skills (especially language and math 
skills) to satisfy potential employers' requirements; the extent to which the parcipant's 
vocational interests and aptitudes, employment history, work experiences and current skills 
matched labor market demand; whether likely jobs would adequately support the 
parcipant's family; whether the paricipant had appropriate work attitudes and behavior; 
and the type and extent of support services needed. 
Case Managers Perform Critical Tasks 
We found the case manager s principal tasks during the initial assessment were 1) to 
identify and document barers to employability, as well as the individual' s parcular 
strengths, 2) to decide which barers can be managed withn the strctures of agency 
resources and the individual's life circumstances, and 3) to create a workable strategy of 
agency service delivery and parcipation by the individual. Withn the operational 
framework of these principal tasks, the case managers performed several ongoing roles as 
needed, such as: 
CASE MANAGER' S ROLES VIS- VIS THE PARTICIPANT DURG THE INITL ASSESSMENT 
Establishing a "parership" with the parcipant, and ensuring the individual knows the rules

of the parership, i.  , the rights and the responsibilities of parcipation in the program;

Giving the parcipant as much control as possible over decisions afecting herlhs life;

Building the parcipant s self-confidence and urging herlhm to make the most of the

opportunities offered by the program;

Makng the paricipant aware of the skills and employabilty strengths shele aleady has;

Discussing employment possibilties with the parcipant while considerig the parcipant

expressed vocational interests and labor market demands;

Encouraging the paricipant to set employment goals which are realstic, i.e., appropriate to

the parcipant s abilities and famly financial responsibilties;

Requesting the parcipant to investigate specific vocational choices before deciding on

education and/or work training goals and activities in the parcipant s employabilty plan;

Working with the parcipant to determne support services;

Creating the employability plan with the parcipant in the spirt of the JOBS parership.

In performng these tasks, the case manager built crucial rapport with parcipants, helping 
to anchor their commtment to the program and motivating them to complete it.  Identifying Barriers to Employment Is Central to the Initil Assessment 
The case manager s first major task in the assessment process was identifying and 
documenting barrers to employability. The JOBS program targets AFDC grantees, aged 
16 to 59, who historically have had diffculty gaining employment. Included are those 
with a history of welfare receipt, parents under the age of 24 without a high school 
diploma or without current work experience, and adult famly members whose youngest 
dependent is within two years of being ineligible for AFDC. These recipients generally 
experience multiple barers to employment involving varous combinations of individual 
and community-level problems as summarzed below. 
BARRRS TO EMPLOYABILIT 
Lack of  education and  communication skills (including language barers) to meet employers

requirements;

Lack of  training  CUlTent or transferable iob skills  work experience, or work maturity skills

meet employers' requirements;

Self-esteem problems, lack of  self-confidence in the abilty to lear and adapt to new situations;

public transporttion in the community; 
Lack of access to safe and affordable 

Lack of a pennanent address and/or lack of adequate housing 
, safe and affordable community 
Lack of adequate, safe and affordable  child care in the community; 
Acute and chronic  physical and menta health problems due to inadequate nutrtion, drg 
addiction, stress, lack of access to adequate health care in the community, etc. 
crinal 
criminal iustice system and having a  record; 
Problems with the 

Discrimination by employers, health care facilities, landlords and others in the community on 
crinal 
the basis of being poor, old, female, black or Hispanic, disabled, having a  record; 
Famly circumstaces such as the presence of violence and abuse in the home, chaotic or crisis-
oriented famly life, lack of parenting skills and knowledge, lack of chid support from absent 
parents, carng for special-needs children, or sick or disabled adults in the home. 
Because some barrers are so deeply-rooted in the community, famly or individual, they 
have more severe, enduring consequences for the long-term employabilty of the poor. 
Barers such as years of substandard public education, the presence of violence and abuse 
in the home, chronic health problems, and carng for an incapacitated child or adult in the 
home decrease a person s chances for maintaining employment. For these tenacious 
barers, the JOBS program is not a panacea, although it can ameliorate the effects of some 
barers in the lives of individuals though its cumulative impact. For the less difficult 
barers, JOBS does offer assistance and opportunities to diminish their effects.  Target Groups Has Intended and 
Tailoring Service Strategies for Special 
Unintended Benefits 
The case manager s second and third tasks, determning affordable and workable service 
strategies, can be diffcult for paricipants with multiple barers. In some instaces, these 
tasks have been made less arduous by recognizing that distinct groups of AFDC grantees 
each have their own cluster of barers requiring a fairly predictable aray 
of services. 
Young parents are an apt ilustration. Because of their inexperience in the world of work 
parenting and adult relationships, the strategy for young parents (under the age of 24) 
typically involves a combination of the following services. 
SERVICE STRATEGY FOR YOUNG PARENT 
Assistace in obtaining child support from absent parents;

Treatment for a drg or alcohol addiction, if needed;

Finishing the high school degree;

Vocational interests and aptitude testing, and career counseling;

Obtaning child care and transporttion assistace;

Vocational education and/or job training;

Receiving instrction in social skills and instrmenta tasks, e.g., how to parent, household

plang 
management and budgeting, increasing self-esteem and self-confidence, realstic  and

goal settng, problem solving, managing stress, building and maintaning heathy relationships

with adults, work maturity skills and other pre-employment prepartion.

JOBS programs in States as diverse as Nebraska and Massachusetts have made it one of 
their priorities to address the specific cluster of barers faced by AFDC recipients who are 
young parents. They have contracted to develop and implement special programs such as 
Operation Bridge in the Omaha distrct (NE), the Young Parent Program in the Southeast 
distrct (N), and the Pregnant and Parenting Youth Program in Hampden County (MA). 
These programs usually furnished individual and group instrction and counseling for 
several weeks on a varety of problems and issues faced by young parents and workers. 
Though case notes, formal reports, telephone contact and in-person meetings, contractors 
provided input to case managers about identified barers, progress made by each 
parcipant, and any recommendations for furter action or specific services. 
Beyond the intended, formal purposes of specialized service programs for taget groups, 
some unintended benefits also may occur as a result of these programs. For example, 
some Nebraska staff members noted that a positive by-product for parcipants who 
empowerment as a result of creating 
attended meetings for young parents was their furter 
their own information networks, informal support groups, and friendships. These 
informal groups tended to acquire a life of their own, enduring beyond the confnes of the 
program.  Informal groups/networks can provide

valuable support for parents who are  Informal support groups can reinforce JOBS

messges by convincing members to adopt certin

finishing the high school degree, for 
values and expectations, such as:

tang 
those  vocational education 
courses, and for those in a job training  VALVES  EXPECTATIONS FOR BEHAVIOR 
regimen or looking for work. Very 
often, these groups can help members  Education  get the GED at least 
develop a feeling of community or 
belonging with persons similarly  Work  get training  learn as many
skils as time permits  secure

circumstanced and struggling for a 
the best available job  do the

better life. They also may strengthen  best you can and always strive 
certain constrctive ideas and behavior 
for improvement 
and can help members overcome a 
sense of alienation from the  Self-suffciency  don t depend on government 
programs for financial support 
mainstream. (See text box. 
be personally responsible for

supporting your family 
Although the Initil Assessment Is Usually an In-House Activity, Some Agencies 
Utilize Contractors 
Although case managers in most agencies performed the initial assessment in-
house, some 
agencies contracted with a business or an outside agency for these services. For example 
the local agency in Kent County, Michigan, contracted with the Career Development 
Center to provide initial assessment activities. In the initial assessment, a battery of tests 
was administered to all paricipants, such as the T ABE (Tests of Adult Basic Education), 
specially normed for adults, used by the Center to measure reading and math skills; the 
GATB (General Aptitude Test Battery) for general learng abilty and dexterity; the Hall 
Occupational Orientation Inventory for value priorities; USES Interest Inventory for work 
interests; and explorations of the individual' s current skills, employment 
barers, personal 
strengths, and career goals. Results were reported to the agency and to a ITP A (Job 
Traing Parership Act) vocational counselor who then worked with the JOBS parcipant
to develop an employabilty plan. 
Most Agencies Limit or Omit Formal Testing During the Initil Assessment 
In contrast to Kent County, Michigan, other local agencies either elected not to conduct 
formal testing in the initial assessment, or they did so to a lesser extent by choice or by 
requirement. The State of California, for example, required counties to administer a 
reading test and a math test from the criterion-referenced CASAS 
(Comprehensive Adult 
Student Assessment System). In Yuba and San Bernardino counties, CASAS tests were 
administered and scored during the JOBS orientation session. Test results added  objective" measurements to the body of information collected about the parcipant, and

were subsequently used as bench marks to make decisions and set short-term goals.

If the score for each test was above 215 and the paricipant had a high school diploma or 
had worked in the last two years, the Californa case manager usually directed the 
paricipant to the job search component. If scores were at or below 215, the case manager 
generally recommended remediation, pursuing the General Education Degree (GED) or 
takng an ESL course (English as a second language) before sending paricipants to the job 
search component. Paricipants who were jobless after completing the activities in the job 
search component (the preliminary labor market sort) were given an extended 
assessment, and a more or less permanent plan of employability was then created. 
Formal Testing During the Initil 
Assessment Has Advantages and Disadvantages 
The chief advantage of formal testing in the initial assessment stage is the inclusion of 
objective" standards in the evaluation of the parcipant's literacy, learng ability, work 
interests and skills. By using the test results along with other available information, the 
case manager may generate more informed and timely decisions about the parcipant. 
Another advantage is that some formal testing at this point may eliminate the need for an 
extended assessment later. If we operate on the principle that decisions made about the 
parcipant in the initial assessment should be based on more information rather than less, 
then it is useful to do at least some formal testing at this point. 
On the other hand, formal testing in the initial assessment can be costly in several ways. 
Tests usually must be purchased. They must be administered under certn conditions, 
, a moderately spacious, fairly quiet, well-lighted and ventilated area, in order to 
control for extraneous factors. Many norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced tests 
must be administered, scored and/or interpreted by specially trained people. 
In addition, 
several caveats must be remembered in using test results, e.  , avoiding the temptation to 
make decisions about a parcipant based almost solely on test results, and realzing that 
lo As a rule 
tests are not always accurate and reliable indicators of future performance.
then, local agencies relegated most or all of the formal testing to the extended assessment 
stage in which some paricipants were tested on an "as needed" basis by outside providers 
qualified to administer and interpret test results. 
10 Auspon
, Patrcia and Kay Sherwood,  Assessing JOBS Parcipants: Issues and Tradeoffs, New York: 
Manpower Demonstration Research Corpration
, 1992x.  The Conclusion of Initil Assessment Activities 
At the end of the initial assessment stage, either a temporar or permanent employability 
Some paricipants went 
plan was created to guide the diverse paths of JOBS paricipants. 
on to an extended assessment. Others began education component activities by pursuing 
education remediation, an ESL course, the GED certficate, an Associate s degree or 
the job training 
series of vocational education courses. Some paricipants entered 
component. Certain paricipants were directed into a specialized service program 
address specific employment barers. Parcipants judged as "job ready" were sent to the 
job search component (a "labor market sort 
, which we call the preliminary labor 
Other agencies used an assessment-like practice
market sort, wherein all or most paricipants were required to go though an individual 
, sometimes without an 
group job search immediately upon entering the JOBS program
remaining jobless after completing 
initial meeting with a case manager. Only parcipants 
these activities were allowed to take par in other JOBS components. The advantages and 
disadvantages of this paricular labor market sort are discussed next.  THE PRELIMINARY LABOR MARKET SORT

We found that the preliminar labor market sort (our term) to be a mandatory, front-end 
job search which sifts those who are "job ready" from those who are not. In agencies 
employing ths practice, all or most JOBS parcipants are given job-search training and are 
required to search for employment as either their first formal activity after an initial 
meeting with a case manager, or their second formal activity after completing a remedial 
course in adult basic education, an ESL course or the GED. Varously named Job Club 
Job Workshop, Group (or Individual) Job Search, and so on, it functions as an assessment 
practice by testing parcipants' current abilities and skills against labor market demand 
very soon after their entrance into the JOBS program. 
The Preliminary Sort Is an Assessment Practice Having Advantages and 
Disadvantages for the Agency and Partcipants 
Because of its mandatory nature and early placement in JOBS, some controversy surounds 
ths fitering technique. Similar to its operation in the former welfare-to-work program 
(W), the preliminar sort works to the advantage of the local agency and "job ready 
parcipants having work skills competitive enough to ear wages above the minimum. 
However, it seems to further disadvantage those who are not "job ready" and those with 
less competitive work skills  the most needy of all JOBS paricipants. The advantages 
and disadvantages are as follows. 
ADVANTAGES OF THE PRELIMINARY LABOR MARKT SORT 
To the benefit of the local agency, it has the potential of puttng a signifcant proporton of 
parcipants to work immedately. To the extent that ths occur, it can initialy (1) decreae the 
program costs of investing in education and training for those JOBS parcipants who fmd jobs, 
(2) decrease or eliminate AFC payments for those same parcipants, and (3) increae the "success 
Progr. 
rate" of the JOBS 
For parcipants who get jobs, it has the potential of increasing self-esteem, reinforcing the positive 
aspects of being self-sufficient, thus mitigating the "welfare stigma. 
progr 
It educates all or most JOBS parcipants ealy in the  in tehniques for fmding a job and 
getting hired, and in the atttudes and behaviors valued by employers.  - " g. 
PRELIMARY LABOR MARKET SORT 
DISADVANTAGES OF THE 
achieving job placements may be offset by the extent 
The initial success of the preliminar sort in 
to which the "revolving-door" syndrome (or recidivism) exists. Those who are nwoat gaed esqeurvaitceely j obs 
g., parcipants who obtan minimum-
prepared to compete in the marketplace (e.
program at a later date.
as a result of the sort) may return to the JOBS 
One of the effects of this early labor market sort is to even out or reduce the number of JOBS
at anyone time. The caveat for the agency, however, is that expenditures
parcipants being served 

may be reduced over the short term, but not necessarly over the long term. 
fuer 
education 
early job seach may mean that receiving needed services, e. 
Going though ths 
and vocational training, is delayed for weeks or months. 
For those who fail the preliminar sort, the experience can have negative psychological 
consequences. It may reinforce a sense of failure about gettng and keeping a job, and a sense of 
welfare  It doesn t matter how hard I tr, I don t get 
resignation about being dependent on 
anywhere. " In turn, this sense of failure can decrease motivation to paricipate in the program. 
parcipants who are not 
An alternative for avoiding the disadvantages of this practice for 
device to volunteers and those exhibiting a high degree of job 
job ready is to taget this 
playa critical role in 
readiness. The case manager and/or employment expert would 
considering the body of 
parcipants by carefully 
determning the job readiness of new 
information collected during the initial assessment. For the agency, advantages of
parcipants who go
preselection might translate into higher placement rates for those 
though the preliminar sort. 
jobless after the conclusion of these early job search activities either 
Paricipants who were 
completed initial assessment activities with their case manager and/or were given an

, after which a more or less permanent employabilty plan was

extended assessment
created.
 EXTENDED ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

Typical Extended Assessment Activities 
Formal testing tools, i.  , mostly norm-referenced (or stadardized) and some criterion-
referenced tests, were used extensively by assessment providers, but not to the exclusion of 
informal assessment tools and practices. Based upon the formal and informal assessment 
results, providers recommended a range of jobs or, more often, specified two or more jobs 
on which the parcipant should concentrate herlhis future job search. Providers usually 
furnished case managers with a written summar of each paricipant's extended assessment 
activities and experiences withn 10-15 working days after clients were assigned to 
extended assessment. 
Usually Those With Serious Employability Problems-
A Subset of Partcipants 
Receives Extended Assessment Services 
conditions. One condition 
Paricipants engaged in extended assessment due to one of two 
was a high degree of uncertainty regarding the partcipant s achievement levels, aptitudes 
occupational interest areas, and/or having an iregular, par-time or nonexistent work 
history. The other condition was that the parcipant had failed to satisfactorily accomplish 
activities in one or more JOBS components. Failure to secure employment durig the 
sort or subsequent labor market sorts, and the failure to perform 
preliminar labor market 
acceptably in an education or a training component activity, often trggered the agency to 
send the paricipant for additional assessment or a tota reassessment. Hence, only a subset 
testing, a subset which predictably experienced severe 
of paricipants received furter 
employment bariers. As one supervisor in Massachusetts stated, providers of extended 
assessment services must expect and be equipped to deal with these problems because 
there is no reservoir of 'problem-less' paricipants. 
Most Agencies Contract  Services 
for Extended Assessment 
Among agencies using extended assessment as par of their JOBS programs, most preferred 
to rely on the competence and experience of outside providers to deliver these services 
rather than conduct them in-house. Agencies hired providers of extended assessment 
services who met their criteria for effective service delivery, usually some varation of the 
thee "  , experience and economy. Thus, agencies often utilized the 
s: expertise
assessment services offered by JTP A and local community colleges because of their long 
experience with vocational education and job training programs, their expertse in assessing 
lls, and their faily reasonable costs for providing these services. 
job ski Career Research by Partcipants Builds Skills and Yields Other Benefits 
As one of the paricipant's final activities in the extended assessment, we found providers 
usually requested each client to research several careers pinpointed by assessment results. 
Beyond the obvious goal of educating the paricipant about these paricular careers, the 
paricipant. 
process of researching career information seemed to yield other benefits for the 
We inferred the participant gained (or sharened) some very valuable skills such as 
and its resources, learnng to access computerized career 
learning to use a librar 
infonnation in "canned" databases (e.  , information similar to that contained in the 
Deparment of Labor  Dictionar of Occupational Titles has been packaged in computer 
programs for easy access to users), and learng to summarze and synthesize information. 
This exercise also seemed to give the parcipant a feeling of more control over some 
choices and decisions. While it required somewhat more time than other activities, the 
skills acquired and the reinforcement of the value of self-sufficiency made it time well-
spent. 
Providers Are Expected to "Match" the Case Manager in Knowledge and Skills 
When asked to talk about the keys and problems to successful coordination with providers 
of extended assessment services as well as lessons they have leared, agency stafs offered 
what amounted to a list of qualifications their providers either do have or should have in 
parcipants. We found that 
order to work effectively with agency personnel and JOBS 
assessment providers did much more than test and interpret results. More often than not 
many of the roles and tasks of the provider staff matched those of agency case managers. 
more 
The two greatest differences were that the provider staf works with parcipants on a 
time-limited basis, and their main focus was assessment. 
Below is a list of qualifications which agency staffs said their assessment providers 
convergence of knowledge 
currently demonstrate or should demonstrate. To ilustrate the 
tasks and skills between assessment providers and agency case managers, providers 
qualifications which "match" case managers' roles and tasks are identified by asterisks (* 
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS 
The assessment provider staff must have: 
professional credentials, knowledge and experience in setting up assessment processes, using 
assessment tools, and evaluating test results; 
the knowledge and flexibility to operate an assessment process in which parcipants are assured 
they cannot fail  the "sense of failure is the greatest barer" for parcipants to overcome; 
a testing protocol in which a varety of tests are administered (e.  , aptitudes, achievement 
career/vocational interests), assessment is geared to the specifics of the local labor market, and 
overtesting and using tests known to be biased (e.  , GATB) are avoided.  CLIENT -ORINTED SKILLS 
The assessment provider staff must have:

extensive knowledge about the poor and their life circumstaces;

accomplish during their brief tenure in the program; 
realistic expectations of what parcipants can 
' nees and problems; 
empathy and sensitivity to parcipants
parcipants;

the skills to effectively communicate and work with 
parcipant as feasible;

the ability to personalze assessment and spend as much time with each 
the skills to build paricipants' self-esteem; 
necessar

the flexibility to experiment with new ideas and ways of doing things, makng changes as 

to better accommodate paricipants' needs.

COMM 
RESOURCES
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE PROGRAM AND 
The assessment provider staff must have:

s philosophy, policy and procedures, and agency assessment;

knowledge about the JOBS program 
knowledge about the roles, responsibilities and expectations of both the assessment expert and 
the agency case manager; 
coinunity resources helpful to parcipants, 
knowledge about, and productive contacts with, 
the local labor market and employment prospects. 
WIH AGENCY STAF 
COMMCATION SKILLS FOR WORKING 
The assessment provider staff must have: 
parcipants;

regular contact with agency sta, giving timely progress reports on 

assessment-
the skills to work with the case manager to iron out parcipant-related problems and 
related issues;

the ability to wrte timely, clea, concise, and comprehensive report for agency sta which 
summarze parcipants' assessment experiences and recommendations. 
Because agency case managers and assessment experts share many roles and tasks, it
stafs. The

makes sense for agencies and providers to conduct joint training for their 
procedures,
topics of joint training sessions could include: provider and agency policies,
staf;
and assessment processes; responsibilties of case managers and provider
understading the needs of
philosophical orientation to JOBS and the assessment process;
, maintaning realistic expectations of parcipants and
varous paricipant subgroups; and

barers. 
craftng practical strategies for handling  ); 
Extended Assessment Can Be Done In-House 
The agency in Yuba County, California, offered an alternative to the usual practice of 
hiring an outside provider of extended assessment. In March of 1989, the agency 
streamlined the externally-located extended assessment process, originally designed and 
implemented by Yuba College, and instituted the current in-house process with two full-
training and experience in assessment
time assessment counselors. Both counselors had 

community college and the other at the 
prior to being hired at the agency, one at the local 
local ITP A offce. Like their external counterpars, the assessment counselors were 
, and to perform
expected to have the same knowledge bases and skills as noted above
ll to all who 
several major tasks for the agency: 1) to administer several formal tests 
failed the preliminar labor market sort, 2) to interpret test results, 3) to guide paricipants 
in selecting thee career choices based on interest, test results and labor market demand 
4) to prepare an assessment profie of each client, and 5) to work with each paricipant and 
respective case manager in recommending courses of action. 
in the success of Yuba County s in-house 
Another factor playing an important par 
administrator. The admnistrator 
extended assessment was the leadership of the agency 
maintained an open-door policy, encouraging staf to talk about what they thnk is working 
, somethng to be 
administrator viewed change as a fact of life
and what is not. The 
staff more 
welcomed when it improves the lives of paricipants and makes the work of the 
efficient and rewarding. In fact, the agency had a reputation beyond the county lies for 
practicing innovation" and regularly was asked for advice by other counties. 
11 Admnistered tests in Yuba County s in-house extended assessment process are: 
(CAPS)  meaures abilty in eight areas (mechancal reasoning, 
. Career Abilty Placement Survey 
spee and 
spatial relations, verbal reasoning, numerical ability, language usage, word knowledge, perceptual 
accuracy, manual speed and dexterity); 
(COPS)  measures degree of interest in 14 clusters of 
. Career Occupational Preference Survey 
occupations; 
APTICOM has thee test batteries  Interest Battery measures the degree of interest in perfonnng 
, general learing ability, 
measures aptitudes in ten areas of functioning (e. 
varous tasks; 
 Aptitude Battery 
verbal aptitude, numerical aptitude, etc.  Education Skills Battery measures competency in reading and 
mathematics; 
. Myers-Briggs is a personality type indicator and measures tendencies in eight modes of perception and 
one of the assessment 
judgment. Approximately half of the parcipants are administered this test. (Only 
counselors uses the Myers-Briggs. 
12 The 
State has supported innovation here and has summoned the agency to do several special projects and 
pilot programs. One of these is the creation of an automated infonnation system, GAI Employment 
Corporation and Price-
Management System (GEMS). A case manager worked with Digita Equipment 
Waterhouse to set up the system which came on-line in September of 1988. Twenty of Calorna s fifty-
four counties are now in the GEMS consortum.  .. 
Advantages of In-House Extended Assessment 
process inside the
For Yuba County, the advantages of placing the extended assessment 
providers: 
agency were unmatched by external assessment 
changes or modifications in the 
the agency had direct control over the process 
form or content of the extended assessment could be effected immediately 
and cooperation existed between case managers and 
tremendous  esprit de corps 
counselors 
parcipant during 
a significant amount of personal attention could be given to each 
assessment and afterwards 
counselors were available to case managers and paricipants without delay for 
consultations and problem solving 
, the counselors retained some responsibilty for 
after the extended assessment
guiding the progress of parcipants thoughout their tenure in the program. 
house 
expressed by all the agency interviewees with the in-
The high degree of satisfaction 
) and the negligible 
assessment process (" (Every agency should) have one like ours!"
reassessed spoke well for the efficacy of the assessment 
number of paricipants who were 
s philosophy: "Do it well the fIrst time to avoid 
process. It also affrmed one counselor 
which might have some interest in moving the 
problems later." For those agencies 
extended assessment in-house, Yuba County s experience deserves serious consideration.  PLAN

EMPLOY ABILITY 
, affliated
Typical elements of the employability plan are an overall employment goal
achieve the
education and/or job training goals, and any support services necessar to 
designated goals. Each of the affiiated goals may have specific activities which the 
satisfactory" manner as defined by the service provider. 
participant must accomplish in a "
parcipation in 
Two other elements  results from any formal testing and results from 
are included if the employability plan is used 
one or more specialized service programs 
13 In practice, the employability plan was often 
as a documentation device by the agency.
caring 
between the paricipant and the agency, 
regarded by agency staffs as an agreement 
with it the possibility of sanctions (e.  , a reduction of the AFDC grant) if the agreement is 
not fulfilled (e.  , because of nonparicipation). 
Through
The Optimum Effectiveness of the Employability Plan Can Be Achieved 
a "Reasonable Flexibility" Approach 
employability plan being extremely rigid and 
A vast middle ground exists between the 
extremely flexible. It seemed to us that an optimally effective plan allows the case 
changes if a course of action does not work. 
manager and the paricipant jointly to make 
Also, because discrete groups of AFDC recipients have distinctive needs, some paricipants 
wil require more guidance and strcture during their tenure in the JOBS program, while

manager is the key to developing a plan which is

others wil require less. The case  assessing the parcipant's

reasonably flexible" and financially feasible for the agency. In 
current and potential employability, the case manager applies herlhs informed judgment to

shape (or reshape, if necessar) the plan to fit the needs of the paricipant.

We found a parcipant's success in requesting changes in employabilty plan goals 
activities depended on the degree to which the local agency views the document as
In Californa
flexible, the conditions prompting the request and the timing of the request. 
change withn 30 days after stang education 
for example, the paricipant could initiate a 
experience extenuating 
or training activities; after 30 days the paricipant must 
In contrast 
circumstaces of consequence (e.  , medical reasons) in order to alter the plan. 
document. Reasonable modifications 
Nebraska s employability plan was a very flexible 
Whle data were not collected which 
and redirections could be incorporated at any time. 

, we speculated that different ways of viewing and 
directly examne the association
managing the plan may be related to economic conditions in the State or local region, the
, the
extent of available community resources, the extent of agency fiscal resources (e. 
poorer the economic conditions, the more rigid the plan), and/or the perceived nature of 
people in poverty (e.  , people in poverty need a lot of guidance and strctue, and thus a 
more rigid employability plan). 
13 See APPENDIX D for an example of the fonnat of an employability plan used as a documentation device.  Rewards for Interim Successes Motivate Partcipants and Build Their Confulence 
A laudable practice mentioned by agency staffs was to build into the employability plan as 
many successes and rewards as possible. The intended effect was to boost parcipants 
self-esteem and motivation. Completion of a specialized service program, an ESL course 
or an ABE (adult basic education) course were reasons for congratulations. Letters of 
congratulation, tokens (e.  , small medals or certificates) or informal gatherings were 
vehicles to recognize these achievements. For more significant successes, such as earing 
the GED or satisfactory completion of a series of vocational training courses or 
assignments, some agencies held periodic formal ceremonies to which community 
dignitaes were invited. These in- s rewards and 
house and public observances served 
further encouragement for JOBS paricipants and their case managers, and also had a 
tremendous public relations value for the JOBS program.  READINESS 
JOB 
Job Readiness Is Determined By a Combination of Objective and Intuitive Factors 
Determning the "job readiness" of a parcipant is a process that combines objective
factors and intuitive considerations. As the case manager 
monitored the paricipant's
progress in JOBS education and training components, shelhe received faily regular oral 
and/or written reports from the service provider evaluating the paricipant's progress. 

If a 
provider indicated progress was "not satisfactory, "14 the case manager consulted with the 
paricipant and made adjustments to the goals and activities specified in the employability 
plan. Otherwise, the paricipant proceeded to complete the activities as specified in the 
original plan. Thus, the most often mentioned objective indicator used by case managers 
and supervisors to determne the participant's 
job readiness was "meeting the goals of the 
employability plan" or, in other words, the satisfactory completion of courses and activities 
in the education and training components designated in the plan. 
Yet, completing these activities was only a necessary-
but-not-suffcient condition for 
success in finding employment. Other objective indicators 
reported by case managers and
supervisors to judge job readiness were: the reduction in the number and severity of 
barers (e.  , child care, transporttion, substance abuse and other health problems); 
meeting the minimum qualifications of chosen employers in terms of education
, work
experience and current job skills; whether the parcipant's career choice was adequate to
support herlhis famly and reflects labor market availabilty; adequate job maturity skills;
learng job finding skills; and appearance (e.  , appropriate clothes and 
groomig). More
intuitive factors mentioned by case managers and supervisors were the parcipant's
attitude toward work and maturity (i.  , being positive, enthusiastic, self-confdent, reliable
and responsible), degree of wilingness or motivation to work, emotional stability, whether
the parcipant herselflhimself felt ready, and whether the case manager "
sensed" the 
parcipant was ready. 
Checklists Assist Case Managers in Determining Job Readiness 
Some agency staffs used a checklist during the assessment process to track the progress of 
paricipants in reducing barers 
to employability and in acquirng job skills. These 
instrments were used as assessment tools to help the case manager determe job
readiness. For example, the agency in Omaha, Nebraska, had a checklist comprised of 
seven major categories with 3 to 18 items under each one which case managers used to 
monitor progress and to determne job 
readiness. 15 
14 An 
education provider, for example, usually defines "unsatisfactory" as a grade below C or a grade point

average below 2.00.

15 See APPENDIX E for this checklist.  APPENDIXES
 , " , " , "
APPENDIX A

LITERATURE SOURCES 
AND INTERVIEWS 
Data for the conceptual work on assessment were gathered from discussions with experts
and a review of existing literature. 
The primary sources are: 
(I) Pre-research discussions with: 
Dr. Gerri Fiala, Office of Policy and Legislation
, Deparment of Labor
Washington, D. C.; 
Ms. Lori Strumpf, Director of the Center for 
Remediation Design (a project of the
S. Conference of Mayors, National Association of Private Industry Councils
National Job Training Partnership, and the National Association of Counties), 
Washington, D.C.; 
Dr. Bertha King, Dr. Carroll Towey, Dr. Sarah Newcomb
, Dr. James Parker
Dr. Ron Pugsley, Office of Vocational and Adult Education , and
, Deparment of 
Education, Washington, D.C.; 
Ms. Patricia Rickard, Director of the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment
System, San Diego, California; 
(2) The following written sources: 
Auspon, Patricia and Kay Sherwood 
Assessin.Q JOBS Participants: Issues and

Tradeoffs, New York: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, 

1992x

(forthcoming publication). 
Curnan, Susan P. and Gerard F. Fiala 
Assessing Employabilty for Results 
the National Governors  " paper for
' Association , Washington, D.  , March 1986. 
Federal Re.Qister, October 13, 1989, Part II, DHHS/FSA
, 45 CPR Part 205  et seq.. 
Goldman, Leo  Qualitative Assessment  The Counselin.Q Psvcholo.Qist 
no. 2, April 1990.  vol. 18 
Grubb, W. Norton, Cynthia Brown, Philip Kaufman
, and John Lederer  Order Amid
Complexity: The Status of Coordination Among Vocational Education
, Job Training
Partnership Act
, and Welfare-to-Work Programs " a paper for the U.
S. Congress, the
Secretar of Education, and the Secretar of Labor
, Januar 1990.  ),  , " ,,  ""
Gueron, Judith M., "Reformng Welfare with Work " occasional paper #2, Ford 
Foundation Project on Social Welfare and the American Future
, 1987. 
Gueron, Judith M.  Work-Welfare Programs " in H.S. Bloom, D.S. Cordray and RJ. 
Light (eds.  Lessons from Selected Program and Policy Areas, New Directions for 
Program Evaluation (series), no. 37, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988. 
Healy, Charles c.  Reformng Career Appraisals to Meet the Needs of Clients in the 
1990s  The Counseling Psychologist, vol. 18, no. 2, April 1990. 
Morrs, Robin, Lori Strmpf, and Susan Curnan, "Using Basic Skills Testing to 
Improve the Effectiveness of Remediation in Employment and Training Programs for 
Youth " a paper for the National Commssion for Employment Policy, RR-88- , May 
1988. 
Strumpf, Lori  Assessment Parameters " one-page handout at the National Governors 
Association Conference, Washington, D.C., Januar 1990. 
Strmpf, Lori, Pamela Friedman, Patrcia Rickard, and Jane Equez, "Improving 
Workplace Skills: Lessons from ITP A," a white paper presented at the Sixth Annual 
Conference of the Parership for Training and Employment Careers, Phoenix, Arzona, 
April 1989.

United States General Accounting Office, 
 Job Training Parership Act: Services and 
Outcomes for Participants with Differing Needs, HR-89-52, June 1989. 
United States General Accounting Office  Work and Welfare: Analysis of AFC 
Employment Programs in Four States, HR-88-33FS, Januar 1988. 
United States General Accounting Office  Work and Welfare: CUITent AFDC Work 
Programs and Implications for Federal Policy, HRD-87- , Januar 1987. 
A - 2
 APPENDIX B

FORMAL & INFORMAL

TOOLS AND PRACTICES

Assessment is conceptualized broadly as the formal and informal evaluative processes 
decisions and events occurrng from the paricipants' entrance into the JOBS program to 
herlhis exit from the program. Although the focus of this study is chiefly on activities 
occurrng inside the welfare agency, this definition is inclusive of all evaluative activities 
which occur in the welfare agency and in organizations which provide contracted services. 
The judicious reliance on both types of assessment tools and practices forms the basis for 
an effective assessment process in the agency. Formal assessment is any offcial (i. 
endorsed by the agency in policy or procedures) tools (i.  , devices used for 
documentation) and practices (i.  , patterned, recurrng events or routines), occurrng on a 
regular basis, in which information is collected and used to make decisions about 
paricipants, such as: 
offcial agency tools and practices involving all or most JOBS participants, 
, the use of agency forms and/or data processing system (tools) to document 
paricipants' current life circumstaces, work and educational histories, parcipants 
education and work training goals, etc. ; and ongoing practices like mandatory 
interviews with paricipants, maintenance of case notes, the management of the 
employability plan, labor market sorts; 
norm-referenced or criterion-referenced tests (tools) to describe and evaluate 
academic skill levels, work skill competencies, vocational interests, capabilties; 
offcial reports (practices) written by skilled evaluators and/or case managers on 
the performance and capabilities of JOBS 
parcipants; and 
any officially prescribed career research by parcipants. 
Likewise, informal assessment  and practices, which mayor 
includes unoffcial tools 
may not occur on a regular basis, to collect information and to make decisions about 
paricipants, such as: 
direct or reported observations of parcipants;

conversations with paricipants;

nonmandatory self-evaluations by parcipants , in the form of journals about

, e. 
their experiences in the JOBS program; and

career research by parcipants.  AGENCY ASSESSMENT

TOOLS 
PRACTICES 
Agency forms to document the 
FORMAL 
paricipant'  Interviews with Paricipant 
s circumstances 
Norm-referenced (standardized)  Career research by paricipant

and criterion-referenced tests  Labor market sorts

Maintenance of case notes

Case notes 
Maintenance of the EP

Employability Plan (EP)

Data processing system  Reports on parcipant's

Job Readiness checklist  capabilties & performance 
Self-evaluation instrments 
INFORMAL 
Conversations 
, self-progress journal 
Observations 
Self-evaluation 
Career research  APPENDIX C

ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE 
ASSESSMENT

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

16 Our 
interviews with Dr. Gerr Fiala
, Deparent of Labor, and Ms. Lori Strmpf
Design, were instrmental in fonnulating this  , Center for Remediation
conceptual framework of assessment. 
c - 1
 POLICY GUIDELINES

C - 2
 ADMINSTRATIVE GUIDELINS

C - 3
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STAFF GUIELINS

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"';inteSts
and goals; 

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C - 4
 APPENDIX D

EMPLOY AB ILITY PLAN AS A DOCUMENT A TION DEVICE 

Participant's Name: 
Social Security # :

Case #:

Social Worker:

Date of Session: 
Date of Exit: 
Assessor: 
PARTICIPANTS BACKGROUND 
Personal History: 
Employment History: 
Educational Background: 
EMPLOYMENT GOAL

Specific Occupational Goal: 
General Occupational Goal: 
Testing Results Which Support Assessment's Authorization of Employment 
REQUIRED  Goal:
PARTICIPANTS
APTITUDES* 
SCORE** 
MATH LEVEL: 
LANGUAGE LEVEL: 
(0 ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR) 
(00 AS MEASURED BY THE 
APTICOM TESTING) 
17 This document is Yuba County s "GAIN Assessment Employment Development Plan. 
D - TESTING RESULTS SUMMARY (continued) 
. CAPS: Career Ability Placement Survey 
STANINE SCORES - PRIMARY ABILITY SCORE 
1. Mechanical Reasoning 
2. Spatial Relations 
3. Verbal Reasoning 
4. Numerical Ability 
5. Language Usage 
6. Word Knowledge 
7. Perceptual Speed and Accuracy 
8. Manual Speed and Dexterity 
OCCUPATIONAL CLUSTER  PREDICTION 
OF SUCCESS 
1. Science Professional 
2. Science Skiled 
3. Technology Professional 
4. Technology Skiled 
5. Consumer Economics 
6. Outdoor 
7. Business Professional 
8. Business Skiled 
9. Clerical 
10. Communication 
11. Art Professional 
12. Art Skiled 
13. Service Professional 
14. Service Skiled 
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES RELATED TO GOAL 
Goal to be Attained Upon Completion of Program: 
Local Labor Market:

Approximate Period of Time Needed for Goal Achievement:

Resources Available to Obtain Training/Education for this Occupation:

R.O.

YUBA COLLEGE

PREP ASSIGNMENT

OJT

CET.

OTHER: ,

D - 3
 POTENTIAL OF PARTICIPANT TO ACHIEVE GOAL 
Assessment Supports this Participant's Employment Goal of: 
This Support is Justified by: 
TESTING RESULTS 
OTHER: 
of 

BARRIERS TO ACHIEVING GOAL

In order for this client to be successful in attaining employment in the occupation
, as well as in obtaining training/education for this career
, the following
barriers have been identified and need to be considered in order to develop strategies so they can be 
removed and/or minimized. 
PERSONAL: 
child care 
motivation/procrastination

family responsibilties  personal counseling needs

health 
personal limitations

housing problems 
self-confidence

lack of family support  substance abuse

legal problems 
transporttion

other:

WORK WORLD: 
EDUCA TION\TRAINING

lack of occupationaV 
few academic skils\ 
career information
 remedial work may be necessary
unrealistic view of work world 
other.

limited work experience

por work attitude

other:

SUPPORTIVE SERVICES NEEDED FOR ACHIEVING GOAL 
child care  transporttion
ancilary expenses 
persnal counseling
tools  leaming disabilty
clothing  testing (if eligible)
boks

supplies 
other.

Prepared By: 
Date:
Reviewed By: 
Date: 
D - 4
 APPENDIX E

CHECKLIST FOR DETERMINING 
JOB READINESS 
Is this person job ready? 
Has education or trning in field for which jobs are available
Is motivated to do job search 
Has basic job search skills (e. 
, knows how to prepare resume
, resume is written
knows how to obtan interviews
, knows how to present self during interview
Has adequate work experience; previous skills and knowledge transferable  , etc. 
Potential 
barers such as child care, transportation, client health
, can be successfully
managed 
Is this person s understanding of hisler 
own strengths and weaknesses and knowledge of
employment and/or education opportunities adequate? 
Is able to describe job-related skills or interests 
Is aware of hislher own 
strengths and weakesses
Is able to make decisions about education or training options based on 
skills and interests  awareness of 
Is able to identify job possibilities based on information about own 
skills/kow ledge/interests 
Has adequate information about either the current job market or educational 
opportnities 
Knows how to access either the job market or 
education/traing resources 
Is this person a candidate for education or training? 
Has High School diploma or its equivalent

Has skills required in labor market (skills are developed and current)

Actual work experience is relevant to current job market

18 This document is from Omaha
, Nebraska, entitled "Job Support Assessment Tool. 
E- g., 
Is this person ready to participate in education or training? 
Is already motivated to obtain education/training 
Is currently enrolled and paricipating in education/training program 
Can identify type of education/training program most appropriate for self, e. 
university or college, community college, on-the-job training, correspondence course 
Barers such as child care, transporttion, financial aid for education costs, problems 
experienced by non-traditional students, etc., can be successfully managed 
Does this person have adequate personal resources? 
Is in good physical health 
Has adequate homemakng skills (e.  , budgeting, nutrition, meal preparation 
sanitation) 
Has adequate parenting skills 
Has adequate social and communication skills 
Has adequate problem-solving abilities and personal resourcefulness (history of 
adequate coping) 
Free from drug/alcohol addictions

Has normal intellgence (e.g., is not mentally retarded)

Free from severe psychiatrc disability .

Is coping with "famly development tasks" such as adjustment to parenthood, or single

parenting, or aging, dependent parents
, etc.

Is able to read and write 
Is able to control temper 
Has realistic expectations of self and of self-as-worker 
Is wiling to 
work toward change

Has positive coping style (e.g., does not resort to denial, hostility, apathy)

Does this person have adequate family support/resources? 
Members are physically healthy 
Members have normal intellgence 
Members are free from drug or alcohol addiction 
Members are free from severe psychiatrc disabilty 
Conflct is 
resolved without resortng to violence 
Members share responsibility for running household 
Adults (if more than one in home) share responsibility for raising children 
E - 2
 Expectations of each other are realistic and humane 
Are able to work together to solve problems 
Members coping with "famly development tasks  , adjustment to new baby, or 
" (e. 
divorce, or child leaving home, or grandparent needs) 
Members support each other s efforts to change 
Adults (if more than one in home) share authority 
Roles are flexible (e.  , disabled father wiling to run household while mother works 
outside home) 
Are able to use community resources appropriately (.  , family is neither isolated 
nor overly dependent)

Members are law-abiding 
Are physicaVcommunity reources adequate?

Job opportunities 
Safe, affordable housing 
A vailable, affordable transporttion 
Adequate child care facilities/providers 
Counseling resources (menta health, drug/alcohol, vocationaljob, educational) 
Educational resources and opportnities

Educational financial aid 
Parenting, budgeting, independent living classes and/or other teaching/support groups 
Medical and denta resources 
Recreational resources

Crisis clinics and hot-lines 
Food and clothng pantres

Emergency housing or shelter care

Teaching homemakng services

Legal services

Special needs financial services (e.  , utility deposit)

Job training opportunities

Community members work together to improve community services, etc. 
E - 3