Why TOWES?
During the 1990s, workplace trainers expressed the need for a
test of workplace essential skills that would yield similar results
to the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and
complement the job description methodology developed for Human
Resources and Skills Development Canada's (HRSDC) Essential Skills Research Project.
This new assessment should allow workers' skills to be compared
to the requirements of a job as described in the Essential Skills
Profiles and National Occupational Classifications. The
assessment should also provide a valid and consistent way of
describing adult skills in the context of the workplace.
Joint Venture
In early 1998, SkillPlan (British Columbia
Construction Industry Skills Improvement Council) and Bow Valley
College formed a joint venture project to respond to the
expressed need and develop TOWES (Test of Workplace Essential
Skills) with funding from HRSDC.
TOWES IALS Linking Study (HRSDC)
- Senior researchers from the IALS project, along with Statistics
Canada, SkillPlan and BVC partnered on a national research
project to formally link the TOWES measurement framework to
IALS
- Field-test booklets were created that included TOWES problems
sets and IALS problem sets - these booklets were written by
approximately 4000 Canadians
The testing and scoring portion of the TOWES-IALS Linking Study
was completed by December of 2001. The final report concluded:
The range of analyses that were undertaken from estimating
scoring reliability to estimating item order effects to scaling and
linking all yield consistent evidence to support the reliability
and validity of the TOWES items and for placing them on the IALS
literacy scales.
Visit the Research Library to view the
TOWES Linking Study Executive Summary and other research on
TOWES.