Dr. Kline was well qualified to provide the kind of direction the team needed to build a valid framework. Her previous work included psychometric evaluation of TOWES for Bow Valley College in Calgary, Alberta.

Dr. Kline was asked to develop a position paper on the similarities and differences between Essential Skills and academic skills. In her paper, Dr. Kline concludes:

There is overlap in essential and academic skills in the areas of reading and math. These two are really very basic skills that form part of the “3Rs”. Without competence in reading and math, other cognitively-based skills are difficult to learn…given the information age in which we presently exist, it is becoming harder and harder to “get by” with these basic literacy skills. With these basic skills all other skills can be acquired. The context is where the two diverge. Essential Skills are focused on life and work. Academic skills focus on attaining academic success. While there is some overlap in the skills required to effectively execute tasks in life, work and school settings, there are differences. Rather than touting one as better than the other, it is more constructive to discuss the skills required for particular contexts.

See Appendix E for Dr. Kline’s complete paper. The notion of overlapping skills provided a simple but effective model for understanding how Essential Skills could fit with each pathway. Further discussion is needed to determine how much and in what ways academic and Essential Skills overlap.

To date, five draft transition paths have been confirmed. Please note explanations for the revisions in the chart below:

Also, see Appendix F for a simple visual showing how the pathways connect to the existing LBS learners’ goals and to the Essential Skills.