Indiana high school principal Stacey Brewer faces a challenge schools nationwide share as they struggle to connect their students to jobs: Teaching the \u201csoft skills\u201d of the workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brewer, who leads Yorktown High School an hour northeast of Indianapolis, is grappling with the trouble many young people have with basic job rules: The need to be on time, taking initiative and speaking with customers. And without a standard class for schools to teach these skills there\u2019s no way to prove to employers that students have learned them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you’re going to be workforce ready in a plethora of possible industries, what are the things that you need in order to be a successful employee?\u201d said Brewer, whose school of 800 students will join a growing number of schools and community organizations in the Indianapolis area using a new set of career skills \u201cbadges\u201d that standardize what young people need to know. \u201cHere’s a way that we can solidify some additional training that is going to be marketable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. <\/em>Sign up for The 74 Newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p> Brewer has made the badges the core of a pilot graduation track for students who want to work right out of high school, one of several new, innovative graduation pathways starting in the state<\/a>. Students will complete all six badges as part of that track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like a digital version of Boy Scout merit badges, the six Job Ready Indy badges<\/a> \u2014 Mindsets, Self-Management, Learning Strategies, Social Skills, Workplace Skills and Launch a Career \u2014 verify what students have learned and serve as soft skills credentials in the local job market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within those categories, students are taught about professionalism, time management and attention to detail. Since launching in 2018, more than 3,400 young people, mostly high school juniors and seniors in the Indianapolis area, have earned at least one badge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen a young person completes the badges\u2026when they apply to a job…it’s a way for them (businesses) to have confidence,\u201d said Austin Jenness, a spokesman for EmployIndy, which helped develop the badges. \u201cWhat are their communication skills? What are their interpersonal communication skills? Are they ready for this, even entry level position?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indianapolis isn\u2019t alone in trying to create so-called \u201csoft skills credentials\u201d that can take hold like technical and industry credentials have over the years. Community colleges in California have used a soft skills curriculum and badges for a decade. There is also a national movement away from using high school or college diplomas as the main credential in hiring toward \u201cskills-based hiring\u201d \u2014 using smaller credentials certifying specific skills<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But soft skills credentials are rare for high school students. And as MDRC, a national nonprofit organization that researches economic policy, noted last fall, credentials like these remain novel or unknown<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf these credentials become widespread enough, possessing them could provide job candidates with a distinct advantage,\u201d an MDRC commentary said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the biggest challenges is making sure they come from reliable organizations that have status, something Indianapolis has in hand.<\/p>\n\n\n
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