Greater Peoria Essential Abilities and Knowledge (GPEAK)

Our Role

The first step in the process was to bring more than 85 community members from diverse employers and organizations to the table to establish a common language and shared understanding. Over a five-month period, EdSystems planned and facilitated a series of meetings to discuss the competencies, create detailed descriptions, and determine how to test when those competencies had been achieved. The team brought in NIU’s Center for P-20 Engagement to design a curriculum applicable for both youth and adult learners.

GPEAK’s curricular resources and assessments are built onto the already existing Illinois workNet platform, which is already familiar to many Peoria area organizations and is very simple and user-friendly on the mentor/employer side. For the individual, the platform provides a full dashboard with a wealth of resources as well as virtual badges to demonstrate their achievements.

The Fall 2020 pilot sites included Tri-County Urban League, Illinois Central College, and PeoriaCorps and engaged 112 Participants in total. While not all pilot sites offered opportunities for Participants to earn competency badges, they utilized the assessments and curricular resources to support Participant engagement in and awareness of their current skill level related to the Essential Employability competencies.

In January 2021, EdSystems facilitated feedback from GPEAK Mentors and Participants on the value of GPEAK, Participant experience, and the resources/supports provided through a virtual discussion and survey. Mentors consistently expressed that the GPEAK assessments provided an opportunity to gather more information on Participants which allowed them to better direct their engagement and resources shared with Participants and have informed conversations with Participants about what they need to build their skills. Participants did express that the language of the progression scales was difficult for them and not what they were used to seeing on assessments. Based on this feedback, the GPEAK Management Team has established shorter, more concise progression scale definitions to be included on GPEAK assessments Illinois workNet platform.

Working closely with the GPEAK Lead Committee, EdSystems incorporated feedback from the Fall pilot and supported a soft launch of GPEAK through the Illinois workNet platform in summer 2021. EdSystems is currently supporting the implementation of three new GPEAK committees to encourage continued growth and engagement in the region:

• Employer Market Committee to conduct outreach and onboard employer partners into GPEAK through a community of practice.
• High School Market Committee to conduct outreach and onboard high school partners into GPEAK through a community of practice.
• Curricular Resources Committee to examine and adapt existing resources based on feedback and develop instructional videos and detailed lesson plans for utilizing GPEAK resources in the classroom.

As the GPEAK system becomes more regionally recognized throughout the greater Peoria region, there will be an increased focus on identifying and developing currency for Participants with GPEAK competency badges/certification. The GPEAK Management Team is currently building out a process to connect badge earners with contacts at interested companies/organizations to complete Informational Interviews or learn more about open positions.