Talent Pipeline

DACUM Analysis

Curriculum Aligned with the Workplace

Business and Community Intermediary

WBL Opportunity Facilitation

Labor Market Data Analysis

DACUM Analysis

DACUM is an acronym for “Developing a Curriculum” – first invented at The Ohio State University in 1976, DACUM is a job analysis process that incorporates the use of focus groups and storyboarding to capture and convey all of the relevant information and details about a position. The resulting research chart, or job map, allows for a thorough, evidence-based approach to creating curriculum and training individuals to do the job.

Jennifer Stevens, the President & CEO of Virginia Ed Strategies, is an experienced DACUM facilitator trained and certified by The Ohio State University’s DACUM International Training Center. Stevens has conducted DACUM analyses with over 200 employees to determine the knowledge and skills that are required for success in high-skill, high-paying occupations that are expected to grow in demand over the next 15-20 years. Stevens has also facilitated discussions of task force committees and developed recommendations for business leaders and educational entities to inform planning for unique talent pipeline initiatives.

Curriculum Aligned with the Workplace

Virginia Ed Strategies conducts job analysis sessions with individuals from a variety of occupations to identify competencies for training and instruction and to create profiles of local and regional workforce needs that inform curriculum development. Teachers participate in these sessions to understand the academic, technical, and “soft” skills utilized in the workplace and to collaboratively design interdisciplinary project-based learning activities with career professionals. Such curriculum allows for more robust, relevant learning to take place in the K-12 setting and requires students to apply content learned and to practice life skills critical to employers.

Business and Community Intermediary

While school divisions and their local boards of education are responsible for meeting the new Profile of a Graduate requirements, most are not prepared to envision and carryout new, innovative partnership activities with employers and community organizations. And, while many business leaders understand that intimate involvement in K-12 will lead to a better prepared workforce, most are not ready to initiate or lead the charge. Virginia Ed Strategies is uniquely positioned to fulfill the critical functions of a business and community intermediary:

  1. to engage, convene, and support participating partners;
  2. to establish quality standards and promote accountability;
  3. to broker and leverage resources; and
  4. to promote effective policy measures.

WBL Opportunity Facilitation

A primary goal of Virginia Ed Strategies is to provide a meaningful work-based learning (WBL) experience for every student prior to high school graduation. Spending time in the workplace and engaging in the community in internships, apprenticeships, job shadowing, paid positions, or even volunteer projects provide critical opportunities for students to apply their academic and technical knowledge and to gain employability skills in critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication, and citizenship. As the business and community intermediary, we partner with employers, nonprofits, government agencies, and other willing entities to develop and manage customized WBL programs that leverage local and regional assets and bring value to both the student and the community or employer.

Virginia Ed Strategies also works with the school and employers to develop specific curriculum and activities to prepare students and employers for successful work-based learning experiences. A customized WBL curriculum will include the use of local labor market data and information gleaned directly from employer communications to develop assessments to ascertain student readiness for and performance in WBL activities as well as training to support both students and employers participating.

Labor Market Data Analysis

Virginia Ed Strategies uses JobsEQ, a Software as a Service created and managed by Chmura Economics and Analytics, to analyze workforce data and labor market projections for the purpose of assisting school divisions and communities in aligning educational programs to employer needs. Zipcode level information from reputable sources of labor market data as well as real-time online job postings allow us to project worker shortages in specific occupations, gaps between local workforce credentials and job requirements, and other important phenomenon critical to deciding what programs should be offered and how curriculum can be revised to ensure that students graduate life ready.