Identifying tasks and skills, using VocFit, working with managers and mentors, systematic instruction
Voc Fit Conversations with Families
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Meaghan Jones Posts: 20
11/15/2021
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I am looking for advice from programs who use Voc Fit regularly and especially ones who find rating reports with family/previous teachers that show a fair bit of divergence from the program assessments.
We are trying to use Voc Fit most purposefully this year. A few things we have decided:
- To rate skill level as LOW until we see a demonstration of performance that says something different. This allows for an overall picture of growth and not one that would accidentally show a decline. This is a very purposeful choice.
- To ask families and prior teachers to complete an assessment. This has been to get a feel for the conversations we might be headed into when we begin to share performance feedback at meetings. It proves helpful to see what families are thinking, especially.
What we have found is that in general we are scoring skills lower than families and prior teachers. Where it is a skill we haven't see yet, that makes sense since we are scoring it as LOW. When we are looking for a demonstration of competence with a person for whom that takes longer, that makes sense. We have higher expectations and less 1:1 support than most of our interns got in school in their work experiences, so again we can see how some divergence makes sense.
My concern is when I have 50% or less rater agreement in competency areas, and when that is the dominant picture. I'm even seeing 0% agreement in some areas.
My questions:
- How do you handle this kind of information at planning meetings?
- How much information do you make accessible to families?
- Are we being too rigid in our assessments?--if an intern can lift 40 lbs but is not doing so in a way that is consistently safe despite training, I currently do not mark them HIGH, since they still need support to prevent injury when lifting. I feel it is unethical to suggest a person has a high level of skill to do physical work if they are likely to do it in a way that incurs injury. Is this in line with how others are assessing interns?
Many thanks in advance for any advice and guidance you can provide!
Meaghan Jones (Hospital site; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
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Dennis Cleary Posts: 27
11/23/2021
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Hi Meaghan, Thank you for starting this important discussion. You are using VocFit.com correctly. We are working on a unit for parents/family members -- it should be ready for January. You might start by helping families and other teachers understand the rating scale. I use the language
1. "High Ability" -- Alone in a room. Meets the standard of a host business
2. "Some Ability" -- Emerging skill. Might not be as 100% accurate or at the pace required by the host business. This can get tricky with some of the General skills (hygiene, etc.)
3. "Low Ability" Needs Extensive Support. Accuracy is not up to the standard of a host business even with a support person providing extensive support.
Sometimes I think it is the language -- we don't want to say people have low ability, or a teacher who does not have community based experiences with students might not have a good understanding of their abilities. In the US, I think the paraprofessional who is with the student more often in their pre-Project SEARCH experience might be the best person to fill this out.
There are going to be some natural differences in ability based on environment and the activities that an individual is asked to perform. Home routines are going to be more familiar so when you look at skills in those areas, they can be much higher than when you ask people to perform a new task in a novel environment.
This is a valid and reliable assessment, but it is not standardized, so we are not comparing an intern to another group of similar-aged peers or something like that. We are actually comparing the intern to themselves over time (Measurable Change report) or to the requirements of a job (Job Matching report) or the perceived abilities at a given time (Rater Agreement Report). The Rater Agreement Report isn't necessarily to say who is right or who is wrong, but it is a communication tool to help us understand each other's perceptions. I hope that helps, but would love to hear from other Project SEARCH VocFit users.
Dennis Cleary (VocFit guy)
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Meaghan Jones Posts: 20
11/29/2021
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Thanks, Dennis. This is helpful and I appreciate your language clarifications.
I really like the Rater Agreement report for exactly the reason you state below; I think it opens up very important conversations. Planning Meetings can be very emotionally charged experiences for families, and I'm always reflecting on how I frame things. I will borrow "communication tool" and reinforce that it's not a standardized assessment -- I think those are beneficial pieces to emphasize. 
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