Illinois workNet™ Summer Youth Employment Program

Illinois workNet™Summer Youth Employment Program

November 2009

SYEP Work Readiness Assessments and Activities

Agenda

• Brief Review of DCEO policy and background information (WIA policy No 08- ARRA-01, Change 2) in relation to the

Summer Youth Eligibility Program and Illinois workNet.

• Summer Youth Employment Program Quick Facts

•Illinois workNet SYEP Overview on the Workforce Professionals and Individuals Pathways.

Language availability update for: Illinois workNet website,Printable Documents, and Pre/Post Assessments.

• Reporting Clarification; IWDS and Illinois workNet

• Illinois workNet Demonstration

DCEO Policy and Background Information

• WIA POLICY LETTER NO. 08-ARRA-01, Change 2 updates are underway now and include youth program design requirements:

• All participants register on Illinois workNeto Complete the pre-assessment evaluation to determine their initial

work readiness score (during first part of program)o Use Illinois workNet to conduct the following work readiness

activities: Researching careers Resume writing Job searching Interviewing skills Workplace skills

o Complete the post-assessment evaluation to determine their final work readiness score (towards the end of the program).

• The participant must show improvement between their pre-assessment evaluation and their post-assessment evaluation in order to be considered as having a positive outcome for their work readiness goal.

Guidance can be found at www.illinoisworknet.com.


Summer Youth Employment Program Quick Facts

Approximate number of Youth Participants in the SYEP 17,000

Approximate number of Workforce Professionals trained statewide for the SYEP.

800

Number of access and dissemination partner sites that indicated "WIA Youth" as a funding source.

A&D: 85 D only: 20 Total: 105

Number of SYEP Customer Groups 500

• Both the pre-/post-assessment and all activities were reviewedand approved by DCEO and U.S. Department of Labor

• To see how the Illinois workNet activities align with DOL , ARRA Work Readiness goals, review thisdocument available to you from the workforce professional’s pathway….

Illinois workNet Summer Youth EmploymentAssessment and Activities Alignment to theWork Readiness Skills Goals for WIA and ARRA

Illinois workNet Summer Youth Employment Assessment and Activities Align to Policy and DOL

ARRA WIA Work Readiness Goals

Accessibility - The Illinois workNet Portal and worksheets are set up to support the varying needs of individuals with disabilities. It is the responsibility of the Local Workforce Investment Areas (LWIA), Local Workforce Investment Boards (LWIB), and WIA Youth Providers to provide appropriate accommodations for youth with disabilities. Ahead of having youth complete the Illinois workNet activities, any youth who request accessibility accommodations have to be identified and provided reasonable accommodations. Illinois workNet provides:

•Activity worksheets options in large font (18 point) for low vision and in plain text for screen readers.

•Browsealoud allows you to "listen" to the text on a web page you are viewing.

•Website Text – To change the text so it is easier to read, increase or decrease text size by selecting “View” and then “Text Size” from your browser menu or by simultaneously clicking on “Ctrl +” or “Ctrl –."


To get access to the Workforce Professional’s Pathway, the bottom line is:

a.Organizations have to be Illinois workNet partners to access the Workforce Professional’s Pathway

b.Staff with partner organizations, must setup their own workforce professionals account

All Illinois workNet partners have free access to the Certified Illinois workNet Advisor (CIWA) Online Course. It is recommended that any staff who are working with youth on completing the Illinois workNet activities, complete this course.

First Steps toAccess the Illinois workNet

Workforce Professionals Pathway

Instructor-led and Self-guided Options

This information is ONLY FOR WORKFORCE PROFESSIONALS. To access, log-in to the Workforce Professionals Pathway and go to “Resources/Summer Youth Employment Program” (left menu). Regardless of the option used, the assessments and activities are completed in this order:

Activity 1: Getting Started - Participants set up an e-mail account and open a My Illinois workNet Account.

Pre-Assessment Evaluation - Participants complete an online assessment. Their score is automatically saved by the system.

Activity 2: Introduction to Exploring Careers and Training - Participants learn about the information and tools available for exploring career choices and training, and complete an Interest Profile.

Activity 3: Introduction to Job Search Preparation and Resume Writing - Participants learn about preparing for a job search and the tools available in Illinois workNet™.

Workforce Professionals Access toInstructions and Documents

Instructor-led and Self-guided OptionsActivity 4: Introduction to Job Searching and Applying for a Job - Participants learn about job searching resources on Illinois workNet™ and review information on applying for a job.

Activity 5: Introduction to Interviewing for a Job - Participants learn about web resources they can use for preparing before, during, and after a job interview.

Activity 6: Introduction to Workplace Skills Activity - Participants learn about workplace skills and soft skills, as well as behaviors and attitudes that will help them keep a job.

Refresher Activity - Participants review the activity information and portal resources ahead of taking the post-assessment.

Post-Assessment - Participants complete an online assessment. Their score is automatically saved by the system.

Workforce Professionals Access toInstructions and Documents (Continued)

Instructor-led and Self-guided OptionsWorkforce Professionals Access to

Instructions and Documents (Continued)Resources/Summer Youth Employment Program instruction page in the Workforce Professional’s Pathway

Workforce Professionals’ View ofPre- and Post- Assessment Evaluation Results

• When a youth participant completes either the pre- or post-assessment, the Illinois workNet system automatically records their test results. This means you do not have to require students to print out their results page.

• It is important that you emphasize to youth participants that they must set up an Illinois workNet account (Activity 1) and identify themselves correctly.

• We will be working with the Illinois Workforce Development System (IWDS) team to set up an interface with IWDS. This means that we want to automatically pass each participant’s pre- and post- results, and an indicator as to whether or not there was improvement between the pre- and post-assessments, to IWDS.

To do this, IWDS and Illinois workNet records must match!

Workforce Professional’s Access toParticipant’s Pre- and Post- Assessment Scores


On accessing participant assessment scores, the bottom line is:

•Each LWIB/LWIA must decide which program staff (workforce professionals) need to have access to see customer assessment scores.

•The LWIB/LWIA coordinator sets up the “Groups” of workforce professionals authorized to have access to view assessment results.

•The LWIB/LWIA needs to communicate with staff and WIA youth provider staff who will be authorized.

•Once groups are setup by the coordinator, authorized program staff can log into the workforce professionals pathway, go to the “Customer Groups” page, and add customers.

•As customers complete their assessments, their scores will automatically show up with their group information.

Participant’s Pre- and Post-Assessment Scores


• This is initiated via local program staff communication with youth participants. See your instructions in the Workforce Professional’s Pathway:

• In-person orientation

• E-mail

• Phone call

• Go to http://www.illinoisworknet.com , click on Individuals and look for:

Click Here to begin the Summer YouthEmployment Program Activity

Youth Participant’s Access to the Illinois workNet Summer Youth Employment Work Readiness


• Youth complete Activity 1: Getting Started - Participants set up an e-mail account and open a My Illinois workNet Account.

• Once they set up an account, from their My Illinois WorkNet Home Page they will see…

Summer Youth Employment Program participantsClick Here to Begin

• Automatically linked to Pre-Assessment.

• After completing Pre-Assessment, they see their results page and follow the Summer Youth Employment Program: Work Readiness Assessment and Activities Checklist.



• Youth only take the pre-test one time. Once they complete it, their scores are recorded by the system.

• Once the pre-test is completed, youth see their score and are linked directly to begin activities.

• Youth can complete the activities in one sitting or return as often as they want. The activities do not go away; they are always there. To go back to activities, youth simply log-in to their account and follow the link as shown below:




Towards the end of the summer program, to prepare for the post-assessment, local staff must communicate with youth to have them:

1.Review activities as a refresher. The refresher means logging into their My Illinois workNet account and following the link to review the activities and related web pages.

2.Complete the post-test. Once we determine a reasonable date to release the post-test, it will be available just as the pre-test was made available. Youth have to log in and follow the link below and they will see a post-assessment link.





Individuals/Summer Youth Employment pre-test page



Individuals/Summer Youth Employment Program Checklist page

Contact InformationPolicy Questions:

Jill MesekeDirector of Special Initiatives, Bureau of Workforce Development

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity620 E. Adams

Springfield, IL 62701Phone: 217/558-2425; Fax: 217/557-5506

[email protected]