Michigan Groups Join Forces on National Career Readiness Certificate Initiative

The National Career Readiness Certificate is about connections. It connects education to business, employers to workers, and communities to hope.

Nowhere is the power of these connections more evident than in Michigan.

And the connections will become even stronger now that thousands of Michigan high school graduates have the opportunity to earn a National Career Readiness Certificate that employers value.

Starting in March 2009, Michigan public high schools will administer three core WorkKeys^® tests—Locating Information, Reading for Information, and Applied Mathematics—as part of the Michigan Merit Exam (MME). Last year, Reading for Information and Applied Mathematics were part of the MME, which also includes the ACT^®, the ACT Writing Test, and Michigan assessments in mathematics, science, social studies, and persuasive writing. About 130,000 juniors take the MME each year.

Adding the third test allows students to earn a National Career Readiness Certificate. Those earning scores of 5 and above on all three tests will earn a gold certificate; 4 and above, a silver; and 3 and above, a bronze.

“Michigan is the first state to provide all students with two tickets to the future: a set of ACT college readiness scores and a National Career Readiness Certificate,” said Bill Guest, president and managing director of Metrics Reporting, Inc., and a member of the Michigan NCRC Advocates Board.

Students who earn at least a bronze certificate will automatically be eligible for a National Career Readiness Certificate in ACT’s registry. They will be able to log on to www.myworkkeys.com and order a paper certificate or print a screen file that contains their scores and levels of achievement. They can also obtain a unique url to share information with potential employers. Michigan school districts have the option of funding paper certificates for their students.

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