Skill standards specify what a worker needs to know and be able to do on the job, as well as the level of performance required to demonstrate competence in that knowledge and skill. Both work- and worker-oriented information are essential pieces of meaningful skill standards.

The Texas skill standards elements, format, and recognition requirements were designed to facilitate portability of credentials and transferability of individuals’ skills, and to promote the linkage of state and national skill standards efforts.

Categories of Recognition

Texas skill standards fall into two categories: recognized or conditionally recognized. While both are equal in terms of Texas Workforce Investment Council approval, the recognition categories distinguish two possible types of skill standards.

 

Recognized

The "recognized" category is awarded to skill standards developed and validated in Texas by Texas industry and formatted into the seven Texas skill standards elements. This category applies primarily to skill standards developed for occupations where no standards previously existed.

 

Conditionally Recognized

The “conditionally recognized” category is granted to skill standards developed and validated by industry somewhere other than Texas. This category applies to valid and reliable skill standards that have already been developed for an occupation and accepted across an industry. Conditionally recognized skill standards vary in elements and format, depending upon the entity that developed or endorsed the standards.

Conditional recognition applies only to industry skill standards endorsed or recognized by one of the following authorities:

 

The former National Skill Standards Board or its voluntary industry partnerships; National industry groups; State skill standards recognition authorities (such as another state’s skill standards board or equivalent body); and International skill standards recognition authorities (such as another country’s skill standards board or equivalent body).

 

Note: Conditional recognition does not indicate an inferior or temporary status for standards that will eventually be upgraded to recognized. Standards in both categories have been “fully” recognized, are equal in value, and are valid, reliable and representative of the work they describe.

Requirements to receive skill standards recognition in either category are delineated in the Guidelines for the Development, Recognition and Usage of Skill Standards.
 

Caveat

Skill standards are not recommended nor endorsed for purposes other than education and training, and related career information.

While skill standards have a multiplicity of uses, there are legal considerations and limitations to those uses. In the event that an enterprise, business or corporation desires to use recognized skill standards for any reason other than an education and training purpose, it is imperative that the skill standards be internally validated by the company through rigorous and documented validation processes. The recognized skill standards may serve as the basis for company skill standards, but the standards must be deemed to be internally valid and reliable by a particular company prior to use in employee selection, promotion or other processes.