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Minutes

Workforce Network of Kansas
Quality Task Force Meeting
September 5, 2002

Attending: Sharon Beyer, Local Area II; Clark Jacobs, Hutchinson Community College; Jim Kessler, WNK Board; Paul Osborn, Regents; Kathy Valentine, SRS; Linda Weaver, KDHR; Barb Reavis, Workforce Network of Kansas staff

Reavis pointed out the vision and mission of the Workforce Network of Kansas. She also reminded members that WNK task forces are intended to be Board driven with input from local and state program representatives so greater emphasis will be on garnering ideas from WNK Board members on task forces to which local areas and state agencies should respond.

Members discussed the difference between program measures and system wide measures. Program measures are more specific and pointed toward individual activities or results or cumulative results of individuals to demonstrate program effectiveness (i.e. rate of entered employment, number of applications processed, wages at six months). System wide measures are more over-arching and likely to measure more global change. For instance, to see whether we have made movement toward the WNK Mission (…to drive economic development in the state by helping to produce: lifelong learners, highly skilled and productive workforce, and highly skilled and high wage jobs) we might look for numbers of people enrolled in post-secondary education/training and their average ages. We might look at the average wage of jobs "now" compared to "then." We might survey employers about skill levels of new hires.

Members looked the State of Washington's Seven Desired Outcomes for Workforce Development, available at http://www.wtb.wa.gov/hshwexsm.pdf. Members agreed that, in general, these seven points seem to represent the system wide measures appropriate for Kansas. Osborn was to locate a report he has seen from Washington on the progress they have seen toward their measures. It was agreed that Reavis would send the web site address for the Washington State information to all WNK Board members prior to the next Board meeting and ask for their careful review of the document. She will also research and include the information about Wyoming's system wide measures (appearing as part of these minutes), which seem to have come from Washington State's. Jim Kessler will lead the discussion at the September 20 WNK Board meeting. He will ask for Board approval to begin building system wide measures around the seven Washington outcomes as well as ask for additional Board members to serve on this important Task Force.

The next meeting of the Quality Task Force is October 3, 10:00 a.m. if that timing still meets the calendar needs of new WNK Board members who agree to serve on the Task Force.

From Wyoming: We've agreed upon the following outcomes for Wyoming workforce development system with the state board. We are currently working on the process for reporting this info to the state board.

Competencies
§ All graduates have career plans.
§ Decrease number of kids that drop out of school.
§ Student attainment of State established career and vocational standards.
§ Student attainment of State established academic proficiencies.
§ Attainment of a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent.
§ Attainment of post-secondary degree or credential.
§ Attainment of industry skill standards.

Employment
§ Placement and retention in unsubsidized employment that results in self-sufficiency.

Reduced Poverty
§ Wyoming's workforce lives above poverty.

Earnings
§ Increase in Wyoming's median wage.
§ Wyoming's workforce achieves a livable family-wage from earned income.

Productivity
§ Wyoming's workforce is productive.

Customer Satisfaction
§ Workforce development participants and their employers are satisfied with workforce development services and results.

Return on Investment
§ Workforce development programs provide returns that exceed program costs.

The recent "Employment and Training Reporter" article was pretty accurate except for the headline. We actually want fewer measures that are consistent across the major programs and that are simpler than DOL's measures. That's why we have the additional measures.