PAES Lab - Practical Assessment Exploration System

If students experience PAES^® prior to their first job, they will be better prepared. In PAES^®, they will have found what work skills they are good at, and what work skills they like to do. But, most importantly, they will have learned and practiced the positive work behaviors and soft skills that are expected on the job. Because of all of this, their first work experience will be based on their proven work skills, abilities and work strengths. Therefore, they will have positioned themselves for a positive first work experience; setting them up for work success in the future.

Your PAES^® lab can be in a school or out in the community. PAES^® is great for Middle School, High School and Adult Programs. Many districts see PAES^® as the starting point to transition planning. You can also consider a site in your community, like in a business in your community that is looking to increase their employment pool, or in an alternative school property or you can lease a retail store or community site. Some PAES^® labs have their students walk to work by walking to the PAES^® lab each day. Either way, these options get the students accustomed to "going to work". Another advantage of a community site is the natural connection to local businesses for community job site placements for employment, work experiences, internships, short term volunteer work experiences, customized employment and of course, competitive employment.

No two PAES^® labs are alike. You will need at least 450 square feet, but some labs are as large as 1,000+ square feet. It is nice to either select a room with a sink, or install a sink in your space. Some programs use portable sinks. 

​PAES^® Lab Floor Plan Examples

These floor plans are listed in order by square footage. The actual PAES^® lab site layouts may vary from the floor plans as the PAES^® program supervisors make changes to their room layouts periodically. These plans are posted in order to help those looking to plan a PAES^® space of their own to reference.

Packages run between $40,000 and $50,000, and include everything you need to run the PAES^® jobs with the exception of some furnishings and PC's that are listed below which can add $0 - $3,000 to your budget depending on if you can source items from your school inventory. PAES^® comes in many large shipping boxes that are shipped on a couple of pallets. Packages INCLUDE having someone come to your site and unpack and set up your PAES^® lab, and conduct an in-service on site training. (see tips for a successful in-service training below) You should also budget for $500 - $1,000 per year for consumable supply budget. This will be dependent upon how many students you run through, and if you decide to offer a school store for incentives.

Most schools find these items from school storage, except stand up work tables and pegboard tool wall which are often ordered.

Tables & Equipment Storage you will need for your PAES Lab: 

Tables & Chairs

• 1 check-in table
• 1 seated-height table for sewing machine
• 1 seated-height table for pipe assembly
• 3 seated-height tables for business/computer work
• 5 student chairs (option for wheeled office chairs for pipe, business, and computer work)
• 3–4 standing-height or adjustable worktables
  • Options available to order with your PAES order, or see Stand Up Work Table Idea Sheet

Supervisor Furniture

• 1 supervisor desk and chair
• 1 storage desk or cabinet for iPads

Technology and Misc. Equipment

• • Tablets – Dedicated to the Lab – 2-3 Required (Not Chromebooks)
    • 1 Timeclock tablet
    • 1 or 2 Job Supervisor tablets
      • Specifications
      • iPad: iOS 15.5 or newer
      • Android: Version 6.0 or newer
      • Minimum screen size: 9.7"
  • Computers – Dedicated to the Lab - 2–3 Required (Not Chromebooks)
    • Must include Microsoft Office:
      • Word
      • Excel
      • PowerPoint
      • Paint
  • Printer – Dedicated to the Lab - 1 Required
    • Color preferred
    • Black & white acceptable
  • Wall clock and wall calendar
  • Dry erase board or cork board
  • Optional pegboard or tool storage system
    • Tool cabinet options available to order with your PAES order or see Construction Tool Storage Idea Sheet

PAES is a one time purchase and is a qualified purchase of any of the ESSER and Covid Relief funding streams to the schools. Districts have also written for transition readiness grants, local grants, used Carl Perkins funding, Comp Ed Funding, MA dollars, and of course IDEA general funds for purchasing PAES^®.  In some US states, funding through DVR and WIOA have also been used through an agreement for schools to provide PRE-ets to students.

PAES^® is a formative, valid data driven transition assessment of employment potential. New PAES^® labs include a lab set up followed by one full day of training for your staff with a certified PAES^® trainer. All staff running the PAES^® assessments should be officially trained in as PAES^® evaluators. Typically you would send any staff that might work in the lab including teaching staff and paras and/or aides/job coaches. This is teaching staff from many areas of SpEd, including mild/mod ID, high/low ASD, BD, LD, etc. Many districts also invite their OT’s and/or DVR counselor to attend the training. 

PAES^® labs all have access to highly effective training videos that the PAES^® author recently developed. The training videos are always available to staff when they need initial training or refresher. 

There is a published document that gives the PAES^® staffing recommendations for administrators

There is also a published document that is a self-assessment for your lab after it is up and running, but this also shows the criteria for a lab that is run with integrity.  This makes for a great planning document as well.

PAES^® Lab Self Check Inventory

Some labs assign staff to be in the lab working all day, and rotate students through. Some labs rotate staff through. Most labs however run several "work shifts" (class periods) per day, which are at least one hour long, and sometime 1 1/2 hours long.  Some labs run 2 work shifts, some three, and even some very busy labs run four work shifts per day. It is recommended that students work in the PAES^® lab at least four days a week, but it is set up for five days a week, so five days a week is most typical. Students should be in the lab at a minimum of a semester. Some students are in for a year, some for two years. This is dependent on varying student abilities and scheduling. Either way, the goal always is to get them into the community for work or work experiences as soon as they are ready. If you have the staff and the space, you can run up to 10 students per work shift.  See above staffing recommendations for pupil/teacher ratios.  Smaller sized labs may only run 5-8 students per work shift. If your students have more significant needs, this will require more staff than with students who function at higher levels, so fewer students working at the same time in this case is common, sometimes even 3-5 students if the students have significant needs. It is recommended that you have one assigned person to keep track of your lab...the "work rules" and also keep track of the "inventory" on a day to day basis. There are many bits and pieces and equipment in a PAES^® lab, and you want to make sure you have someone detailed that can keep track of it all, and make sure the work shifts are run consistently. Most labs like to assign one person to be in the lab consistently over the course of the day. Some labs have an aide or job coach that are consistently in all day, and teachers rotate through.  Others have assigned staff that are in all day, and the students rotate through. There are many scenarios. Most importantly to have trained staff in your lab, including trained aides, para professionals or coaches. This is because PAES^® is run completely different than a typical special education classroom. In PAES^®, we back off and give the least amount of assistance and see what the students can do independently on their own. There are many techniques and tips to help the students gain the independence for employment that are covered and practiced in during the in-service training.