Blog

  • Leveraging social-emotional skills to boost literacy development

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    Educators know literacy development is a complex process that goes beyond decoding words on a page. While assessments are essential to ensure students get the interventions they need, educators might find additional holistic support in a surprising element — through helping develop social-emotional skills.

    Let's take a closer look at how social-emotional learning (SEL) can support literacy development and improve student outcomes.

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  • Protecting Your Greatest Asset: 5 Ways To Retain High-Security Employees

    by Patrick Moran, Ph.D., Director of Sales, Government and Public Safety at Pearson

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    With the end of the Great Resignation, it may seem that employee retention is no longer a top problem for HR leaders. But in high-security industries — those involving security clearances, running critical infrastructure, managing private security personnel and more — retention remains a costly challenge.  

    This specialized labor pool is small; for example, just over a million people in the United States have a Top Secret security clearance, and while that number seems large out of context, when considering the number of roles to be filled, it’s actually not very big. On top of the constrained candidate pool, hiring in these high-security industries is a laborious process complete with extensive background checks, identity verification and a specific set of skills required.  

    The time and effort it takes to hire high-security employees and ensure they obtain the training and clearances they need for their jobs mean that losing an employee carries prohibitive costs and can leave critical roles unfilled.  

    What can HR leaders do to prevent turnover in these industries? Competitive compensation packages are table stakes, particularly as inflation hits all sectors of the economy. But there is more to staying at a job than just the salary. HR leaders can utilize these five strategies to reduce turnover in this unique employee population. 

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  • Everything you wanted to know about the BOT-3 but were NOT afraid to ask

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    Q&A with BOT-3 Product Manager, Melinda Cooper

    The BOT™-3 is nearly ready to launch! You’ve asked such thoughtful questions about the new test, so we’ve assembled the most common ones, then grouped them by topic to make it easier for you to find the answers you’re seeking.

    Links to get more information about the BOT-3 , BOT-3 Brief, and budget-stretching bundling options can be found at the end of this Q&A. Please reach out to your assessment consultant if you have questions we have not covered here.

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  • What are fundamental movement skills and why do they matter for OTs and PTs?

    by Melinda Cooper, OT, MBA Product Manager

    Three diverse children play hopscotch outdoors

    If you're an occupational or physical therapist, you probably spend a lot of your day thinking, talking, and reading about motor skills. But have you ever come across the term “Fundamental Movement Skills”? Until recently, I hadn't, but it turns out there is a whole body of literature devoted to studying and discussing this construct that is, well, fundamental to children's ability to engage in play, recreation and activities of daily life. Sounds pretty relevant to what we do, right?

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