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Study Tells How to Move the Low-Skilled from
Welfare to Work

September 17, 1997


NOTE: The executive summary of Extending the Ladder can be downloaded from the National Institute for Literacy's website, www.nifl.gov (opens new window). Copies are available from CASAS Customer Service, 8910 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92123-1104; phone 619-292-2900, ext. 310; fax 619-292-2910.

Iowa City, Iowa—ACT Inc. and the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) today released a joint study that describes how prospective workers lacking basic literacy skills can be brought from welfare programs into a training system and guided to the higher skill levels necessary for meaningful jobs and economic success.

The study, titled Extending the Ladder, was supported in part by a grant from the National Institute for Literacy. It links the reading and math tests of CASAS' Workforce Learning Systems, which target the relatively low levels of skills possessed by many adults on welfare, with the reading and math tests of ACT's WorkKeys® system, which targets the higher skill levels needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive workplace.

ACT and CASAS joined forces for this study to help low-skilled individuals gain access to higher-skilled jobs. The study found that the two organizations' systems are compatible and together can measure a wide range of skill levels, thus helping even very low-skilled individuals build their skills to levels where they have value in the workplace.

"As the nation tries to move large numbers of people from welfare to work," said Richard L. Ferguson, president of ACT, "many states are finding that some welfare recipients lack the most basic reading and math skills. Without these skills, prospective workers can't qualify for or keep even the lowest-paying available jobs, let alone those that pay a 'living wage.'

"ACT developed WorkKeys, a comprehensive system of workplace assessment and training, to address the foundation skills necessary in a majority of occupations. The WorkKeys scales measure the lowest skill levels employers have identified as appropriate for their jobs. But we've found that many people on welfare don't even reach the bottom of our scales."

Pat Rickard, executive director of CASAS, noted that "Extending the Ladder will help workforce programs nationally implement a comprehensive system that identifies development needs from very basic through more advanced skill levels. It will benefit all those concerned about increasing the competitiveness of our nation's workers and more effectively preparing those who want to enter the workforce. Anyone involved with providing training for welfare recipients and reducing the welfare rolls will, I think, welcome this connection between the Workforce Learning Systems and the WorkKeys system."