USING THE PLACEMENT SCREEN IN THE ONLINE WORK-BASED LEARNING DATABASE

1. USING THE PLACEMENT SCREEN IN THE ONLINE WORK-BASED LEARNING DATABASE

2. The Placement Screen gathers information about each job or internship placement. The information gathered in the Placement Screen is valuable not just for required reports but also for organizing and viewing information for your own local use.

3. This presentation will take a step-by-stepwalk through the placement screen.

4. After you view this presentation you should also talk with co-workers or colleagues in your region or in your program to agree on consistent activity names, school names, etc. As you get started entering data into the database, you can look at the “Placement Form Checklist” to help you review your work.

5. STARTING AT THE TOP OF THE PLACEMENT SCREEN…. List the key people in the first section of the screen – participant, supervisor, staff and a teacher or other contact person. Throughout the database, you will notice that many fields offer a choice of selecting from a dropdown or typing in a response. As much as possible, choose from the dropdowns, in order to create consistency in the database.

6. For each person who should have access to viewing or working on this participant’s WBLP, list the email address (which is also the person’s username). (It’s okay if they haven’t signed up yet; you can list them and they can sign up later.) In the last column of this section, you can specify “Read/Write” or “Read/Only” or “No Access” access for each person. Note: The staff and teacher/other contact emails will fill in automatically if already in the database.

7. As a review: you can share ALL of the WBLPs you create via listing colleagues in the sign-up screen. Or you can share a PARTICULAR WBLP via the Placement Screen.

8. Therefore, you now have two ways to share information… and so you can easily collaborate with others to work on WBLPs, but still maintain privacy for your information. Co-workers Information can be shared with …. Supervisor at the employer worksite Intern Teachers or other contacts Job / Internship Program Staff

9. In the next section of the screen, enter a Participant ID. Most database users simply click the red arrow and let the database fill in a random number. But you may type in an ID if there are particular ID numbers you want to use for your program participants. Note: You should check to see if the participant is already in the database, by following the instructions on the screen. (Click SAVE and then click the red arrow to see if anyone with the same name is in the database in your region. If yes, and it is the same person, you should use the same Participant ID.)

10. In the next section, enter the ACTIVITY NAME. The ACTIVITY NAME is important because it will appear in reports and lists and can be used for sorting and selecting your information. • Work with your colleagues in your region or program to decide on a consistent method for identifying activities. You might use a locally-used program name like “TechAssist” or “FirstJobs” or use the name of a program like YouthWorks, WIA Youth or Connecting Activities. You may include the name of your school, city or town, community and the time period as well. Examples include: • Mill Valley YouthWorks Summer 2010 • Mill Valley Connecting Activities Program 2010-2011 • MV Tech HS Cooperative Education Program 2010-2011 • FirstJobs Summer 2010 • TechAssist Program Summer 2010

11. The next field is the Program/Activity Type. • By default, this field is already filled in with “Work-Based Learning” because most information entered into this database is for work-based learning placements – that is, jobs, internships, co-op placements, volunteer work, etc. • However, if you are entering some other type of activity, you may use this field to identify the type of activity. • Important Note: The Connecting Activities Quarterly Work and Learning Performance Report is based on records coded as “Work-Based Learning.” • The count of “ALL” placements is based on a count of students with this field set to Work-Based Learning.

12. The next section is the Work and Learning Program Elements. These fields, which are new as of the 2011-2012 program year, look at some of the connections in your job/internship program: The acronym “AGROW” or “GROW” is used: A=All Work-Based Learning Experiences (based on the type of program field – all of the Work-Based Learning experiences are included.) G=Connected to Planning Goals (The job/internship is coordinated or connected with student College and Career Plans, Transition Plans, etc.) R=Raising Graduation Rates (Students are targeted through programs to raise graduation rates.) O=Workshop or Classroom Component (Student has a workshop or class coordinated with the job/internship) W=Has Work-Based Learning Plan

13. The Participant Information section includes basics about the participant. The icons next to each field specify whether the information is required for YouthWorks (blue), Connecting Activities (red) or both. It also indicates whether a field is not necessarily required, but is recommended (purple). But beyond what is suggested by these icons, many regions and programs require this information for all programming. Work with your colleagues to determine what information is required for your participants.

14. In the SCHOOL field: • Use the full school name • The SCHOOL field should have just the school name and not other information. (Just “Mill Valley High School” and not “Mill Valley High School WIA Program” or “Mill Valley High School Grade 11.” • The Participant Career Area should be the career area the participant is working in and/or studying. For example – a student working in a carpentry work experience studying Carpentry in a vocational program would have Carpentry in this field. A student working in a health care summer job who is in a general academic program would have Health Care as a career area in this field. This field is optional but useful for analyzing your data, so it is recommended.

15. The next section is the Employer Information section. Enter the name of the company or organization where the participant is working. As you add employer names, these names will be added to the dropdown list. It is important to check the dropdown list first before typing in new information. Check for possible variations on the employer name, such as “Mill Valley YMCA” or “YMCA of Mill Valley.” As a rule it is best if you use the full, proper name for each employer, so that it will be easy to maintain consistency. Use just the employer name, and do not include additional information such as the program name or other details. (For example: enter “Mill Valley Community Hospital” and not “Mill Valley Community Hospital YouthWorks Program.”

16. After you have entered the Employer Name, enter the address, city, state and zip code, the size group, if known, the employer type (private, public, or nonprofit) and the employer’s industry cluster (from a dropdown list). The employer information will be filled in automatically if the employer is already in the database. • Notice that there is an employer number in light italics to the right of the name. This is created automatically and is used internally in the database for tracking information. • The employer information is valuable in many ways for reporting and managing information. For example: • The database allows you to generate reports and lists for placements with a particular employer; • Several standard reports, including the quarterly Connecting Activities Work and Learning Performance Reports, count the number of employers in total and the number of private, public and nonprofit employers; • The bank of sample job descriptions and skills/tasks allows you view sample job descriptions and skills/tasks by industry cluster (as well as other criteria).

17. The next sections are Placement Information and Program Enrollment. All of these fields are important to reporting. Some tips: • In the pay and hours fields, you should always enter a number (such as 0 or 8.50 or 12.5) and not a range of numbers. • The Instructional Hours for Academic Support Programs are required for Connecting Activities reporting for Level C (Academic Support) programs. Enter a TOTAL for each student. • For summer jobs or internships with a projected end date, enter that end date in the screen; change it if the participant leaves before the projected end date. • For open-ended placements, enter an end date of June 30, and enter a new placement in the following year. Most reports are based on placements with a start dates in the current reporting period.

18. The Connecting Activities Qualifying Wages report is based on weeks worked in the current program year (end date minus start date) times hours times hourly pay. It is based on Employer Paid Connecting Activities placements. • If you are entering information for Connecting Activities: • The Connecting Activities Quarterly Work and Learning Performance Report is based on placements with a Start Date in the current reporting period (which is cumulative, from July 1 to end of the quarter), with a Program/Activity Type of “Work and Learning,” and with the Connecting Activities checkbox checked with an “x.” • The quarterly report provides a unique count of students and employers. Students with more than one placement are counted once (or once for summer and once for school year). • Fields included in the quarterly report include the Work and Learning Level, Employer Type and the Work and Learning Program Elements (AGROWE). • You can find the definitions for the Work and Learning Program Elements and other details about Connecting Activities reporting in the “Managing and Using Data” section in the resource pages at http:// skillspages.com/masswbl

19. If you are entering information for YouthWorks: YouthWorks placements are identified by an “x” in the YouthWorks checkbox with start dates in the relevant reporting period.

20. (Your region) Your organization The next section is for the name of your Region and your Organization. The Region is filled in automatically based on the region you identified when you signed up for a username and password. The Organization should be the name of your agency, school-to-career local partnership or other affiliation. This field can be used for generating lists and reports, so it’s important to check with colleagues to see what to use.

21. (Your region) The last section provides Program Information for programs with subsidized/sponsored wages and/or eligibility requirements (or risk factors). These fields are required for programs like YouthWorks and WIA Youth. Please check your program documentation or RFP for details about these fields.

22. Once you have finished filling in the placement screen, click SAVE Next, you can: 1.) Click the button for STEP 2 – JOB DESCRIPTION AND FOUNDATION SKILLS to continue on to the next part of the WBLP. 2.) Or click the NEW PLACEMENT button to enter placement information for another participant. 3.) Or go to the bottom of the screen and click the button to create a COPY of the current screen (for another participant with a similar job). 4.) Or use the GO TO button at the bottom of the screen to go to the placement screen for another participant in the database. 5.) Or return to the MENU.

23. You can customize the placement screen by clicking on the “My Account” button along the top of the screen. The “My Account” button brings you back through the sign-up information. It also provides a space where you can set “defaults” for some of the fields – such as always entering your name in the “Staff Name” field or always checking the Connecting Activities checkbox. It can also set the order that the sections appear on the screen, such as having the employer information near the top of the screen, etc. Instructions are written on the screen.

24. As you become familiar with the Reports/Admin menu, you will see the importance of the various fields on the placement screen. The Reports/Admin menu contains a variety of lists and summaries, which are organized based on data you entered on this screen. While you are learning about the placement screen, or while you are helping a colleague to learn about the placement screen, you might want to look at the “Placement Form Checklist” for a guide to reviewing the data on the form. You also might want to read the “Managing and Using Data” section in the Resource Pages.