Friday, February 24, 2017

NITAS as a tool to manage IT workers, ensuring competencies and skill levels current reflecting national standards and IT trends.






Strengthening Our Nation’s Workforce with Industry Driven Solutions

OA tasked McNeil Research and Evaluation Associates (McNeil Research) and OA staff to look at the status of the development of Registered Apprenticeship in six highgrowth industries and the military. Five industries (health care, hightech manufacturing, information technology, geospatial technology and biotechnology), which had never used the apprenticeship training model, were given seed capital to develop programs.


The other industry (maritime) and the military have operated apprenticeship programs for a number of years, but only recently adopted the Registered Apprenticeship model. Additionally, OA and NASTAD staff were trained to undertake outreach efforts in new industries. This report looks at results of those investments and marketing efforts by the Department of Labor and provides a snapshot in time of each project as it gets underway.

Approach Data was gathered about the benefits and effectiveness of Registered Apprenticeship, as well as information about the process of program implementation. The report is based on data gathered through document reviews; observations at selected industry sites; and informal interviews with project directors, site coordinators, mentors, apprentices, and representatives from employer sponsors, educational institutions, and the local workforce development system.




EARLY TRENDS  
Registered Apprenticeship: A Pathway
to a Stronger Workforce

Observations
RA is an effective training model that provides a tracking system for worker skills, ensures employer needs are met, increases productivity, and helps attract and retain high quality workers at lower costs.

Role of Registered Apprenticeship
As the IT apprenticeship program becomes fully operational and institutionalized, it will be important to connect apprentices and sponsors enrolled through the program with DOL’s RA system.

Observations
CompTIA has developed and is implementing the National Information Technology Apprenticeship System (NITAS) for IT professionals. OA and CompTIA are educating firms about this program.

Role of Registered Apprenticeship
Technical assistance will facilitate the process of connecting the IT apprenticeship program with DOL’s RA system, as well as train staff at One-Stop centers in methods to channel potential IT workers into the IT apprenticeship program.

Benefits to Employers ● Greater competence of employees ● Reduced turnover rates ● Greater employee retention ● Lower investment in recruitment ● Higher productivity ● Improved quality of patient care ● Improved quality of products/ services ● More diverse workforce

Benefits to Apprentices/Employees ● Nationally recognized and portable certificates ● Improved skills and competencies ● Increased wages as a result of mastered competencies ● Ability to advance in career ● Higher self-esteem based on enhanced skills and certifications

Information Technology: The Computing Technology Industry Association Educational Foundation, Inc. (CompTIA) and the National Information Technology Apprenticeship System (NITAS) CompTIA is a not-for-profit trade association based near Chicago that represents an international technology community of employers, workers, and trainers. CompTIA is building the National Information Technology Apprenticeship System (NITAS), a competency-based apprenticeship method that supports consistent and flexible credentialing of IT workers via an internet-based system that registers, tracks, and manages participants to ensure they attain skills and competencies. As part of the effort to institutionalize the IT apprenticeship, CompTIA has developed skill standards and work processes for several IT career tracks. NITAS is fully operational and accessible throughout the nation—to both small and large employers.

According to CompTIA staff, the apprenticeship system holds great promise for small businesses that employ only a few IT professionals because it better connects them with the public workforce system. Employers will be able to use NITAS as a tool to manage their IT workers, especially ensuring that the competencies and skill levels are current and reflect national standards and IT trends.

CompTIA is working closely with OA, educational institutions, and the workforce development system to implement the project. OA is assisting with the marketing of NITAS throughout the country. Several colleges are serving as pilot sites for NITAS, testing how their IT curricula fit into the NITAS career tracks. CompTIA is preparing a set of tools for One-Stop career centers to use in assessing job seekers to determine their suitability for IT work and to help direct them to employers.

Although NITAS is still in the early stages of development, CompTIA has laid the foundation for a national apprenticeship program for the IT industry that appears to meet the needs of employers and workers. IT managers see the apprenticeship model as superior to the classroom-only approach to training IT workers. NITAS will allow for easy verification of the skills level of IT workers by creating a permanent online resume of the apprentices’ education, certification, and skills validation. Ultimately, NITAS is expected to help employers increase productivity by readily identifying employee training needs that may hinder performance


Outreach and Education A Key to Raising Awareness and Facilitating Expansion The success of the Registered Apprenticeship training model depends upon the ability of programs to build partnerships among their various stakeholders, especially employers, educational organizations, and the workforce development system. Registered Apprenticeship is a new training model for most high-growth industries and educating partners about its structure and benefits, as well as the role they play in implementing the program, is critical. Involving all partners in the design, development, and implementation of an apprenticeship program ensures their needs are addressed.

Using this model, apprentices must show their mastery of tasks to move on to the next level. This approach is proving highly effective.

Apprenticeship training is helping employees quickly update and learn new skills in the information technology industry. Studies by the Navy show that IT specialists reached competency faster using the apprenticeship approach. NITAS, the web-based apprenticeship tracking system, makes it easier for apprentices and journey-workers to share their credentials with prospective employers. Employers who are NITAS members can access information, such as transcripts, certifications, and skill levels to verify that potential employees meet their needs and are qualified to hold specific jobs.

Productivity Enhanced by a Skilled and Competent Workforce The projects reported here are in early stages of implementation. Several employers have reported improved productivity resulting from higher effectiveness and efficiency. Studies produced by the Navy, for example, show that IT specialists reach competency faster using the apprenticeship approach, which combines classroom instruction and structured on-the-job experience, than through a more traditional approach that provides classroom instruction only. These performance indicators will be closely tracked as the programs mature.

Recruitment and Retention A Top Priority for Employers Employers across the six industries generally indicated that recruitment and retention are the main workforce challenges that their industries face. And for many industries, such as health care, these challenges come at a high cost. Implementation of apprenticeship programs has helped employers in these industries retain employees and save money. Investing in improving worker skills is less costly than recruitment. Apprentices appreciate the willingness of employers to invest in them by paying for training, providing incremental wage increases as skills improve, and offering opportunities for them to advance to higher positions. Additionally, employers cited reduction in employee turnover rates due to the apprenticeship programs. Reduced turnover means that employers experience cost savings; they do not have to constantly recruit and train new employees. Human resources personnel said they anticipate that the use of skill standards,

Skills Development Essential to Building Competence Having skilled workers requires employer access to a flexible training system that helps them continually update worker skills and maintain a competitive edge. The lack of skilled workers is a major challenge and cuts across most of the industries discussed in this report. As Registered Apprenticeship gains acceptance in new industries, it is rapidly becoming a training system based upon competency development, rather than solely time spent

Workforce Diversity
Necessary to Mirror the Local Community The Registered Apprenticeship model as applied in these industries is helping to increase workplace diversity, providing opportunities to workers that traditionally have not participated in apprenticeships. Employers from advanced manufacturing, health care, and the military have made strong efforts to ensure diverse groups are participating in their apprenticeship programs to better mirror local communities. Health care, in particular, has emphasized the need for greater minority participation in its workforce to match the patient population. This ensures better communication with patients, which in turn provides better health care.

Nontraditional students, those who do not follow a formal academic training path, have been targeted in these projects. Several employers said that students often perform better using the apprenticeship model because it allows them to move at their own pace. It also allows them to directly apply what they learn in their jobs, which helps them become more competent at a faster pace. This appears to be the case for both incumbent workers as well as dislocated workers. The Indiana National Guard, for example, uses the apprenticeship model to train Guard members returning from active duty.

Next Steps
In addition to the seven industries considered in this report, OA is pressing ahead with developing Registered Apprenticeship in several other high-growth industries. The industries include automotive, retail trade, hospitality, financial services, and energy. The early trends from the seven industries will facilitate the development of these new ventures.



  

Robert Wilson | Profile LinkedIn

|Military Network LinkedIn | http://mil-net.us

     Robert@Mil-Net.us | 859.428.8163

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