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. 

In an effort to facilitate portability of credentials and transferability of individuals’ skills, the Texas Skill Standards Board (TSSB) designed the Texas skill standards elements, format, and recognition requirements to promote the linkage of state and national skill standards efforts.

Categories of Recognition

The “Recognized” category is awarded to skill standards developed and validated in Texas by Texas industry and formatted into the seven standard TSSB elements.   This category applies primarily to skill standards developed for occupations where no standards previously existed.  In a few cases, national skill standards have been converted into the TSSB elements and format. 

Conditionally Recognized

The “Conditionally Recognized” category is granted to skill standards developed and validated by industry somewhere other than Texas. This category applies to skill standards that have already been developed for an occupation.  Rather than reinvent the wheel, the TSSB acknowledges valid and reliable skill standards that are 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 (NSSB) 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:  The “Conditional” in this category of recognition refers to the fact that the skill standards may be converted to Recognized if an industry group chooses to validate the skill standards in Texas and convert them to the TSSB elements and format.   However, 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 TSSB’s Guidelines for the Development, Recognition and Usage of Skill Standards.

Caveat

The Texas Skill Standards Board does not recommend nor endorse the use of skill standards for purposes other than education and training, and related career information purposes.

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 TSSB 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.