Face Forward (2023-2027)
Community Literacy of Ontario was working with a challenge many adult-learning organizations know well.
Literacy programs were already helping learners build confidence, communication, adaptability, problem solving, and persistence. Those skills showed up everywhere: in whether someone could start, stay, recover, ask for help, work with others, manage pressure, or keep going after a setback.
But the field needed a clearer way to name those skills, teach them, and show why they mattered.
That challenge became Face Forward: Skills for Life, Learning and Work, a soft-skills curriculum designed for adult literacy programs. The project connected Canada’s Skills for Success framework, the OaSIS taxonomy, and MIPI assessment data into a practical delivery model for community-based Get SET (Skills, Education & Training) agencies.
The result was more than just a workshop but a rich curriculum where assessment data had the power to change what happened in the room.
To date, this is one of Adaptimist’s most ambitious projects: a bridge from learner profile, to group report, to workshop plan, to facilitator-ready activity choices. It has successfully turned group-level assessment insights into practical workshop designs.
The Short Version
By March 2026, the project had produced a curriculum map, facilitator manual, participant workbook, soft-skills validation protocol, asynchronous train-the-trainer pathway, slide materials, visual assets, and an assessment-informed delivery model.
The key design choice was routing.
Before the workshop series begins, learners complete the MIPI, a 113-item test of Personal Intelligence. A trained reviewer creates a group report for learners who will attend the program together and, from those scores, generates a one-page workshop plan showing which activity variants to use.
In the manual, some activities have A and B versions. Those are not casual options. They are selected in advance based on group-level MIPI patterns.
That means Face Forward can stay consistent across sites while still responding to the learners in each room.
How The Work Developed
The Face Forward project looks new on the surface, but its roots go back much further. Mouse over the timeline below to trace the work’s evolution.
Early Literacy-Sector Testing
TVLA and a newly formed Adaptimist teamed up with Michael Andrews of LOCS and Trent University to explore whether emotional and social competency assessment could support adult learners.
Sector Circulation
The work moved into broader literacy-sector conversations through LOCS professional-development events and presentations.
CLO Reframes The Opportunity
LOCS introduced Adaptimist to Catherine Toovey of CLO, who sharpened the project around confidence, learner success, and the five soft skills in Skills for Success.
Face Forward Takes Shape
CLO funded the curriculum-development phase, producing the manual, workbook, curriculum map, validation protocol, and asynchronous trainer-support model.
Rollout And Data Collection
The project moves into implementation, asynchronous trainer preparation, data collection, and translation or cultural review with partner streams.
Final Reporting
The planned final phase brings together analysis, reporting, presentations, and recommendations for the field.
The Routing Model
Most soft-skills programs teach the same material to everyone in the same way. Face Forward was built around a different idea: the same skill can require different kinds of practice depending on the group.
Adaptability, for example, is not treated as a general instruction to “be flexible.” It may involve attention, performance readiness, perseverance, emotional understanding, or social integration. One group may need help stabilizing attention and recovering from disruption. Another may need help preventing rigidity, switching faster, or using calm focus under pressure.
The curriculum makes those differences usable.
Each Skills for Success area is mapped to relevant MIPI dimensions. Each dimension has different facilitation priorities depending on whether the group pattern falls below or above the midpoint. The facilitator does not have to interpret scores live. The route is prepared before delivery, then translated into specific activity choices in the manual and workbook.
This is the core innovation: the assessment does not sit off to the side as a report. It helps shape the workshop path.
Canada’s Skills for Success
Adaptability
Related MIPI dimensions
Below Midpoint
Stabilize attention and reduce drift.
Above Midpoint
Increase flexibility and switching speed.
Below Midpoint
Reduce anxiety and build pre-task regulation.
Above Midpoint
Leverage calm focus to thrive under pressure.
Below Midpoint
Improve activation and recovery from disruption.
Above Midpoint
Prevent rigidity and burnout.
Communication and Collaboration
Related MIPI dimensions
Below Midpoint
Strengthen recognition and expression of emotions to reduce misunderstandings.
Above Midpoint
Refine empathy and tone control to communicate with precision.
Below Midpoint
Build confidence to initiate and sustain respectful interactions.
Above Midpoint
Expand leadership presence to foster inclusion.
Below Midpoint
Develop cooperative influence through curiosity and shared values.
Above Midpoint
Channel authenticity and vision to inspire commitment from others.
Creativity and Innovation
Related MIPI dimensions
Below Midpoint
Strengthen divergent observation to see patterns and overlooked details.
Above Midpoint
Channel focus and shift perspective to quickly recombine ideas.
Below Midpoint
Use emotions as creative data, fueling imagination and empathy.
Above Midpoint
Integrate emotional nuance into storytelling and persuasion.
Below Midpoint
Develop imaginative processes and refine unpolished ideas.
Above Midpoint
Strengthen visualization of end states to create clear outcomes.
Problem Solving
Related MIPI dimensions
Below Midpoint
Strengthen self-reflection to improve problem solving.
Above Midpoint
Improve analytical skills by questioning assumptions.
Below Midpoint
Improve focus on relevant details, separating facts from distractions.
Above Midpoint
Strengthen information integration from multiple sources.
Below Midpoint
Rebuild confidence in follow-through after setbacks.
Above Midpoint
Improve persistence by learning how to pivot.
What the Materials Had to Do
The routing model only matters if the materials can carry it.
Face Forward had to work for real adult-literacy settings. That meant the materials could not be overly clinical, abstract, or text-heavy. They had to support facilitators without asking them to become psychometric specialists. They had to support learners without making soft-skills development feel like a test. And they had to make room for emotion, uncertainty, frustration, confidence, communication and problem solving without turning the workshop into therapy.
The participant workbook became a low-friction companion for the room. It gives learners diagrams, prompts, activities, and reflection spaces that help them follow along without overwhelming them.
The facilitator manual became the operational core. It gives purpose, timing, suggested wording, debrief prompts, listening cues, and normalization language. It helps facilitators run structured activities while keeping the tone calm, practical and non-shaming.
The asynchronous trainer materials extend that support further, helping facilitators understand the delivery model before they use it.
What The Curriculum Looks Like In Practice
The clearest way to understand Face Forward is to see how the pieces work together:
- The workshop plan shows how group-level assessment patterns become selected activity paths. This is where measurement becomes operational.
- The facilitator manual shows the instructor side of the experience: purpose, setup, timing, suggested language, and debrief guidance.
- The participant workbook shows the learner side: clear prompts, diagrams, activity pages, and reflection spaces that keep the session concrete.
Together, those materials create a room where learners are not being asked to “fix” themselves. They are invited to notice what happens, try a small adjustment, practise with support, and connect the activity to real life.
This is why the design is so important. The program is structured enough to preserve fidelity, but humane enough to work with the uncertainty, pressure, and uneven confidence learners may bring into the room.
The A/B Activity Model
The A/B model is where the design becomes concrete.
A group completes the MIPI before the workshop series. The results are reviewed. A group report is generated. A one-page workshop plan identifies the activity route. The facilitator then runs the selected version of each routed activity using the manual and workbook.
For learners, the experience still feels simple. They are doing an activity, reflecting, talking, and trying again.
Behind the scenes, though, the activity has been selected because it fits the group profile.
That is what makes the model powerful. It turns assessment insight into facilitation choices without placing the interpretation burden on the person leading the session.
Activity A: Groups with “low” scores in Attentiveness will tend to benefit more from activities that encourage focus and maintaining attention 
Activity B: Groups with “high” scores in Attentiveness will benefit from activities that encourage severing from strategies that don’t work.
Why It Matters
Face Forward demonstrates what can happen when assessment, curriculum, facilitation, and implementation design all work together as one system.
A learner profile turns into a group report. That report becomes a workshop plan. The plan guides facilitators in choosing activities. The workbook helps participants stay on track. The manual supports the session. Asynchronous trainer support lets the model grow without needing every facilitator to be a psychometric expert.
For Adaptimist, this project was a big step beyond offering assessment as a separate product. The value was not just in measuring emotional, social, attentional, and motivational patterns, but in turning those patterns into something useful for the field.
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