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Hands-on work assessment

Turn your classroom into a workplace.

Students do real jobs. Supervisors score what they see. Your team gets evidence it can plan with.

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2,500+active PAES Labs
40+ stateswith active PAES Labs
260+real jobs in the PAES Lab
Since 1987in real classrooms
How PAES works

A lab, an assessment and a report.

The goal of PAES is to find out what a student can do on their own, with as little help as possible. Everything in the lab is built around that one question.

01
A PAES lab with job boxes and workstations

Students clock in to a real workplace.

Five work areas, real tools and materials, laid out like a job site inside your building.

02
A supervisor scores a job on the PAES Scan tablet app

Supervisors score as the work happens.

Each job is scored in PAES Scan on the spot: help needed, quality, rate and workplace behavior.

03
Shelves of PAES job boxes

Your team gets a clear picture.

A report built from weeks of real work, ready to use in IEP goals and transition plans.

Students working with hand tools at a workshop bench
Learning by doing

Real tools. Real materials. Real work.

A worksheet tells you what a student knows. A job tells you what they can do.

Five areas of real work

Every student starts where they are.

Students rotate through all five areas, so you see how they handle many kinds of work, not just one. Every unit climbs from level 1 to level 6.

Simple, guided tasksComplex, independent work

Business & marketing

Office tasks, data entry, customer service, inventory.

Construction & industrial

Hand tools, assembly, measuring, materials.

Consumer & service

Food handling, hospitality, domestic services.

Processing & production

Packaging, sorting, quality control.

Computer & technology

Keyboarding, software, basic IT.

A supervisor observes students working in a PAES lab
Student profileIllustration
12 weeks in the lab, 46 jobs completed
Business
4
Construction
5
Consumer
3
Processing
6
Computer
2
Prefers hands-on workMinimal promptingOn time, every day
The report

Evidence your team can plan with.

  • Strengths and interestsWhat the student did well, and what they chose to come back to.
  • Support neededHow much help each job took, recorded the same way by every supervisor.
  • Workplace behaviorPunctuality, focus, following directions, working with others.
See a sample report
Across the country

In classrooms from Florida to Alaska.

Districts, agencies and schools in more than 40 states use PAES to plan what comes next for their students.

2,500+active PAES Labs
40+US states
Find your regional rep
Map of the United States with one pin for each PAES lab
One pin per lab, placed within its state. Source: PAES serial list, 2026.
The most data-driven assessment of student work potential, strengths and needs currently available for IEP development and transition planning.
Laura Ramirez, School Psychologist, William S. Hart Union High School District, Santa Clarita, CA
Who it's for

Built for the people who plan what comes next.

01

Special education & transition

Evidence for IEPs and transition plans.

Observed performance on real work, recorded consistently, for the meetings that decide life after school.

Special education
02

Career & technical education

See who fits which pathway.

Hands-on results across five work areas to guide placement into CTE programs.

CTE programs
03

Workforce & vocational rehab

Job readiness you can see.

Job exploration and workplace readiness activities for agencies and their school partners.

Workforce & VR
Dr. Judith Swisher, PAES founder
Our story

"We never really know what a student can do until we give them a chance to try."

PAES began in Dr. Judith Swisher's classroom in Kansas. She wanted her students to show what they could do with their hands, not just on paper, and she tested the approach through her doctoral research at the University of Kansas. It is still a family company today.

Read the PAES story
Get started

Bring PAES to your district.

Talk to the regional rep who knows your state, get a quote, or see how other districts have funded their lab.

Request a quoteHave a conversationFunding options