Job Success - A School-to-Work Transition Initiative

The proposed project addresses the design, development, and testing of a prototype job-related social skills program for At-Risk Students - providing these students with the reasoning abilities to be competitive in the world of work. The computer-based role playing scenarios will be modeled after the existing Skills for Job Success Program - a job-related social skills training curriculum (developed by the project staff) that emphasizes helping students develop a mental model of social competence that they can apply in job-related social situations. Through use of innovative technology - both through computer software and internet delivery students will have increased opportunity to practice role playing situations and learn how to transfer these skills to a wide variety of real life situations - while being carefully monitored by a computer developed facilitator. Phase I of this project will focus on developing a prototype of a portion of the computer-based role playing scenarios and testing it with school students. Phase II will focus on developing the balance of the system, testing it, and beginning marketing activities. Key Words: School-To-Work, At-Risk, Job-Related Social Skills, Transition