National Skill Standards Board: 
Integrating Manufacturing Skill Standards into Education and Training Programs

A Forum — February 1, 2002

In 1994, Congress created the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) to develop a voluntary national system of skill standards, assessment, and certification to enhance the ability of the United States to compete effectively in the global economy and to increase opportunities for America's workers. The standards will allow for greater communication and understanding between employers, educators and trainers, and will help workers understand what skills are needed for high performance jobs and higher level careers. Skill standards in several industry sectors are being identified by partnerships consisting of industry, education, labor, civil rights, and community-based organizations. Skill standards have recently been developed for the manufacturing industry sector (through the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council) and for the sales and service industry sector (through the Sales & Service Voluntary Partnership); they currently are being developed in the education and training, hospitality and tourism, and information/telecommunications industry sectors.

Edie West, Executive Director of the NSSB, provided an overview of the work of the NSSB, which is focused on the needs of employers who need workers with specialized skills now and into the future. The demand is clear, according to industry projections: the IT industry will need more than 1 million technicians by 2005; health services will need 796,000 new workers by 2006; retail will need 408,000 more skilled salespeople by 2006. Because NSSB-endorsed skill standards must meet the highest professional criteria for development and use, the evolving certification system will help provide a clear road map to future security and success for employers and employees alike.

Skill standards identify what people need to know and be able to do in order to successfully perform work-related functions within an industry sector. Specifically, standards define the work to be performed, how well the work must be done, and the level of knowledge and skill required. As industry sectors focus on developing standards, the NSSB develops and disseminates information and technical resources and provides quality assurance and continuous improvement functions to make the system self-sustaining. A central role of the NSSB is to endorse standards, and it has developed quality controls to ensure that industry-defined standards meet the highest-level criteria: Standards must have a common language/format; be continuously updated; be recognized throughout the country to ensure portability; be accessible and consistent with civil rights laws and take into account the relevant regulations pertaining to health, safety, and the environment, and must be accessible by all.

West noted that the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council (www.msscusa.org) and the Sales and Service Voluntary Partnership (www.salesandservice.org) industry partnerships have released sets of skill standards certifications that have been endorsed by the NSSB. With the development of the manufacturing sector standards, the NSSB is now working with the state of Georgia to implement these industry-recognized, nationally-validated skill standards into the technical college system. This partnership will serve as a national model for the implementation of core manufacturing standards in other states.

Kenneth Breeden, Georgia Commissioner of Technical and Adult Education, introduced the work of the Department of Technical and Adult Education (DTAE) that incorporates the technical college system, economic development and workforce development programs, and the adult literacy program. Breeden noted that it is unusual to have all three together, a result of strong government and business leadership throughout the establishment and development of the department in its ten-year history. In addition to active alignment with the business community, the DTAE also has pursued partnerships with the K-12 and university systems. Currently, DTAE has 34 colleges, 16 satellite campuses, and four university locations. Annual credit enrollment has grown 130% in ten years, with 22% and 18% growth respectively in the last two years.

The strategic focus has been to shape a system that gives individuals the opportunity to achieve immediate goals as well as future goals; and to connect that system to high schools in an effort to capture students before they drop out. In the DTAE experience, most students want the opportunity for a job and career development. The technical and adult education system therefore cannot rest on the assumption of a student's traditional two-year, continuous enrollment. In response, the DTAE has developed a two-pronged approach: 

1. all entrants to the credit program must meet general education requirements for reading, writing and math; 

2. the curriculum is designed as a series of "building blocks" that individually lead to a certification and together lead to an associate and/or bachelor's degree. 

The initial certificate is the Technical Certification Credit, which requires about ¼ of the associate's degree credit hours. The subsequent Certified Manufacturing Specialist Certificate (CMS) grew out of a joint initiative with manufacturers in need of skilled workers: the companies set their specifications and DTAE developed the program. At this point in time, DTAE and the NSSB held discussions and agreed to integrate their manufacturing standards. There were no major differences in the national and state standards because each grew out of manufacturing groups.

Laura Vandiver, head of human resources for Kubota Manufacturing of America Corporation testified to the value of the Georgia system for the workforce needs of the company. Kubota, a Japanese owned company with 20,000 employees worldwide, established operations in Gainesville, Georgia in 1988. The company manufactures loaders, tractors and other farm implements there, with 730 full-time and 200 temporary employees. In 1996, Kubota's new hires lacked sufficient skills and the company joined with Lanier Technical College to encourage employees to take the CMS course - 160 hours (15 quarter credit hours) - on their own time. On successful completion of the course, each employee was guaranteed an additional $1/hour. Kubota makes the same offer to temporary staff and to high school graduates hired into entry-level positions. While the Georgia HOPE scholarships fund tuition, the time required represents a significant commitment for the employee. The first class of 44 graduated in 1997, and 200 have followed. Because many frontline employees began to ask questions about company and production data and other information, Kubota began encouraging supervisors to enroll in the CMS as well.

During the discussion that followed these presentations, the audience posed a number of questions about the impact of national standards on Georgia's standards and curricula. Breeden commented that the national standards are unlikely to concern companies that are located only in Georgia, where the state standards are similar. But for companies with locations across the country, the integration of the state standard with the NSSB standard is essential. Breeden added that Georgia has copyrighted their CMS and several other programs. These may be licensed by other states and 19 states are working with Georgia to do so. One reason for the licensing requirement is that the DTAE considers that much of the success of CMS has to do with instruction and delivery. Licensing ensures that Georgia can train and license the instructors elsewhere.

In response to questions about the need for replicating curriculum across states, Edie West noted that curriculum must support the requirements for the standard, but does not itself need to be the same from place to place. She added that the manufacturing and retail partnerships have expressed interest in approving curricula that is designed to support their industry sector standards. In response to demand by certain states, the NSSB also is working on a process to certify that a state program meets the national skills standards. Keeping standards current is the responsibility of the voluntary partnerships and the NSSB endorsement criteria mandate that they do so.

As the national voluntary partnerships move forward in developing and implementing skill standards, collaboration with state and local activities that are in place can offer valuable context and support for the implementation of skill standards.

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