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AMERICA2000
Skill
Clinics
FOR A NATION OF STUDftNU
University fit Illinois Library •t UfbanaC hampaigr
DEPOSITORY
NOV 2 5 1991
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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U.S. Department of Education
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA“For all of us, for the adults who think our school days are over, we've got to become a Nation of Students — recognize learning as a lifelong process.”
— George Bush ▲▲AAAA
AMERICA 2000 is a long-term strategy to help make this land all that it should be — a 9-year crusade to move us toward the National Education Goals that the President and the governors adopted in 1990 to close our skills-and-knowledge gap.
American adults play a vital role in the strategy because America needs workers responsive to the changing demands of the marketplace. America needs a well-pre-pared, educated work force, able to read, write and compute; able to think critically, able to solve quantitative as well as qualitative problems. These skill requirements are not new to Americans. What’s new is that more jobs are demanding higher level skills.
Skill Clinics, an essential element of AMERICA 2000, in communities and workplaces, make it easier for adults to pursue further education and training. Skill clinics will transform every American adult into a student, helping to secure America’s position in the world economy as well as ensuring peace and prosperity at home.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URRANA-HHAMPAIGNESSENTIAL COMPONENTS OF A SKILL CLINIC
Skill Clinics take many forms. A well-developed Skill Clinic offers the following services:
One-Stop Service: Intake, assessment, referral and career counseling all at the same location. No duplication of these services by several providers.
Coordination: Coordinated intake and processing by social service agencies, significantly reducing time and effort exercised by clients to receive services to which they are entitled.
Assessment: Evaluation of prior and current skills, knowledge and interests through educational and occupational assessments. Assessment provides the basis for further education and training.
Referral: Through assessment of skills and interests, referral to any of the following may occur: educational and occupational training programs, further assessment, career counseling or a job.
Career Counseling: Career counseling helps clients identify careers that most appropriately fit interests and abilities.
Career counselors can also aid in job application and resume writing, interview techniques and other forms of career guidance.A: A skill clinic is a career service center that provides assistance to adults seeking further education and training. Skill clinics prepare and encourage adults to go back to school. Each clinic offers different services including diagnostic workups, skill proficiency tests and industry-specific job skill assessments. In many communities, existing skill clinics have effectively integrated education, labor, health and human resources to the benefit of clients throughout the community. In other communities, skill clinics must still be created to respond to the changing workplace.
Q: What does a Skill Clinic offer?
A: A skill clinic offers one-stop assessment, referral, and career counseling at centers in communities, businesses, education facilities and government agencies. A person goes to a skill clinic to have present job skills evaluated and to discover what new skills may be needed to advance in a career or to change careers. A skill clinic helps an adult find out what skills may be needed to maintain or improve employability and, then, where to get those skills.
Q: Who benefits from Skill Clinic
services?
A: Any adult can benefit from the services offered by a skill clinic. Skill clinics aid employers, employees and anyone else in the community interested in preparing for a new career, improving skills in an established career or changing to another career.A Help employed people prepare for promotion or lateral movement by comparing current skills with industry-specific job-skill standards;
A Assist career changers investigate career interests, choices and opportunities on types of careers through counseling;
A Help unemployed or displaced workers by assessing current skills and abilities and by offering career guidance;
A Instruct welfare clients about career options and benefits;
A Aid employers in locating qualified applicants for available positions by offering access to interest and competency profiles of applicants; and
A Guide people transitioning from school to work by locating job prospects or further educational opportunities.
Q: Why does a community need a Skill Clinic?
A: Skill clinics help communities remain economically viable. They encourage more adults to enter education and training programs to improve skills, which result in a more productive work force. Business is more attracted to a community which has educated, skilled workers. Most importantly, skill clinics offer local community citizens a place to go to continually assess and upgrade skills or to develop new ones as the workplace demands. In addition, skill clinics can act to integrate the many social services available to adults in a community.Q: When should a person go to a Skill Clinic?
A: A skill clinic can provide services to an individual at any time throughout his or her career. It can help whether a person is just entering the world of work; has been employed for some time but needs to improve existing skills or develop new ones; wants to change careers; or is contemplating a retirement career. A person may make use of a skill clinic whenever there is a need to know more about personal skills and abilities, education and training needs,or opportunities available to make career improvements or changes.
Q: Where can a Skill Clinic be located?
A: Skill clinics can be located in a variety of places including community colleges, local businesses, adult education centers, high schools, vocational-technical institutes, community-based organizations, libraries, and universities. Skill clinics may stand alone or may be part of a number of education, job training or social service programs.
Q: What does it take to create a new Skill Clinic?
A: If your community does not already have a full-service skill clinic, but would like to, the following questions should help you begin planning for one:
A Who will the skill clinic serve?
A How will it be funded? Single source? Multiple sources?
A How will agencies coordinate services?
A Which employers will be served? How will they be served?A What kind of assessments will be conducted and by whom?
A What kind of referral system will be used?
Q: Who should I talk to in my community about setting up a Skill Clinic?
A: Find out which agencies in your community offer assessment and referral services that might be coordinated through an existing skill clinic. Work with community resources to develop partnerships that encourage the growth of skill clinics. A clinic may be financed by a variety of funding sources including Federal, State, local or private. Start by talking with your chamber of commerce and local education and social service agencies.
Q: Are there any Skill Clinics currently operating?
A: There are skill clinics in operation across the country, including Greenville Technical College, Greenville, South Carolina, and Ohio’s twenty-eight Adult Vocational Education Full-Service Centers.
For further information on Skill Clinics contact:
Office of Vocational and Adult Education U.S. Department of Education 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20202-7241
(202) 732-2251 or
1-800-USA-LEARNAMERICA 2000 National Education Goals
1.	All children in America will start school ready to learn.
2.	The high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 percent.
3.	American students will be competent in the core subjects.
4.	U.S. students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement.
5.	Every adult American will be literate and possess the skills necessary to compete in a world economy.
6.	Every school will be safe and free of drugs.
AMERICA2000
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