ABOUT US

Why SkillBott?

In February 2011, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, initiated a call to action for all K12 schools: 

“…it is the responsibility of K12 educators to prepare all students for both college and a career. When you consider that the average age of a community college student is 29 … it becomes all the more clear that college and career-ready skills are really no longer two, separate tracks.”

 

What prompted this change? The continued fallout from the recession of 2009 demonstrated the dire need for a more rigorous career readiness program to help young people compete in the job market. The trends were, and remain, daunting:

 Teenage unemployment: 23.1% for teens, 42.1% for minorities[2]

Teenagers have been the hardest hit by the recession. Their traditional entry to the market, the summer job, has vanished. New competition from college dropouts and older, more experienced workers has further limited a teenager’s job opportunities. If a student’s education ends at high school, they qualify for fewer positions, face more competition and will struggle to find full time work.

Employers fire 46% of new hires within 18 months[3]

The most common complaint from hiring managers is that young employees are not prepared with the proper work habits to be successful. Those fired from their jobs are not let go for a lack of technical jobs skills, but for problems with professional conduct, the ability to get along with co-workers, dishonesty and lack of results-oriented behavior. 

School resources remain dedicated to AYP and college readiness

The recession has decimated public school budgets leaving limited resources for any new curriculum initiatives. Even though new curriculum standards are placing more emphasis on career readiness, schools do not have any curriculum, the schedule time to teach it nor trained teachers to lead it. 

SkillBott is the first online, accredited, turnkey solution that addresses these issues and will:

  • Give students confidence as they will understand what will be expected of them in the workplace.
  • Reassure employers that new employees will have a basic understanding of soft skills and workplace behaviors.
  • Give schools the tools to meet new 21st Century Skills standards and address the growing gap in workplace preparedness.
  • Give teachers and administrators an affordable and flexible “plug and play” solution that they can learn and implement quickly and easily.

History  –  Created by Teachers Like You

In 2002, the Chicago Public School System, under the direction of Arne Duncan (now US Secretary of Education), launched a research study with local businesses and labor leaders  to understand why CPS graduates were having difficulty finding jobs after graduation and why those who found jobs, were having difficulty keeping them. The feedback from this study was consistent: CPS graduates had good technical skills and abilities but were lacking in proper workplace behaviors and manners that more experienced workers possessed. 

So, the CPS Education to Careers center set out to create a program that focused on developing these soft skills or “21st Century Skills” to better prepare graduates for a successful transition from the classroom to the workplace. Using the Workplace Competency guidelines outlined by SCANS (US Dept. of Labor Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills), they created a 5 course curriculum addressing communication skills, interpersonal skills, self-improvement skills, on the job skills and career preparation skills.

They called this program Transitions, Life Skills for Personal Success. A pilot program was introduced in 2003 with encouraging results and in 2004 was adopted by all 60 Chicago high schools. Since 2004, Transitions has helped over 150,000 high school students succeed in school, work and life.


SkillBott – The 2nd Generation

In 2011, the Transitions program underwent a major overhaul. The curriculum was updated and aligned with the new Common Core standards. A new course module– Using Social Media Wisely - was added to help prevent students from embarrassing themselves online. The old PowerPoint slides were replaced with an online state-of-the art learning management system. The program was rebranded as SkillBott and launched nationally. 

Accreditation

The SkillBott curriculum is aligned to six of the most impactful education and career standards in use today by schools across the country. Each lesson activity shows which standards are in use at that specific point and you can select activities by a specific standard if an area requires further practice

  • K12 Common Core
  • Blooms Taxonomy of Learning Domains -  The Cognitive Domain
  • EFF – Equipped for the Future
  • Multiple Intelligences
  • NCDA – National Career Development Association
  • SCANS – Sec. (of Labor) Commission On Achieving Necessary Skills

Further, SkillBott will help you meet and exceed the new, emerging requirements for career readiness standards that are part of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/) 

[1] The New CTE: Secretary Duncan’s Remarks on Career & Technical Education, Feb. 2011

[2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dec. 2011

[3] Price Waterhouse Coopers 2011 Survey of 400 Global Business Leaders