Our Results

Job Corps

Job Corps, the nation's largest and most comprehensive job-training program for at-risk youth, selected LearnTec as its Chicago-area partner in building a manufacturing training program to prepare Job Corps students for career-path jobs in manufacturing. Job Corps stipulated that the program be divided into two levels that would target competencies in basic and technical skills.

LearnTec began by identifying the two-level curriculum. The first level, Introduction to Manufacturing, is designed to stress employability, safety, shop math, print reading, measuring and the business of manufacturing. The second level, PreIntegrated Systems Technology (pre-IST), covers quality control, machining, electrical wiring, PLCs, hydraulics and pneumatics, and mechanical systems. LearnTec continued by recruiting the instructors, procuring the equipment and bringing Job Corps into valuable contact with employers and trade associations interested in hiring its trainees. In addition, LearnTec integrated selected NIMS credentials into the curriculum, and is currently helping Job Corps earn accreditation for its program.

A formidable challenge posed by Job Corps was its open-entry policy, requiring teachers to constantly adjust their lesson plans to accommodate the skill levels of new students as they are combined with the more advanced skills of ongoing students. LearnTec met this challenge by designing and instituting hands-on, project-based learning tailored to Job Corps classes. Students now work at their own pace to complete a sequence of independent projects, while classroom time is spent introducing manufacturing issues that all students must understand to complete their work. This new approach yielded impressive results: Job Corps students who struggled under the old system with the T-slot clamps on their CNC training machine later designed and machined new clamps that were sturdier than those originally supplied by the vendor! The vendor was so impressed that it requested a supply of the redesigned clamps created by the Chicago Job Corps students!

Back