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.

Two advocates for the Michigan National Career Readiness Certificate initiative recently visited the ACT main campus in Iowa City. They are Bill Guest (left), president and managing director of Metrics Reporting, Inc., and a member of the Michigan NCRC Advocates Board, and Rachael Jungblut, program manager/training solutions at Grand Rapids Community College and executive director of the Michigan NCRC Advocates Board.

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.

The National Career Readiness Certificate is a portable credential that verifies to employers that a person has fundamental core employability skills in Locating Information, Reading for Information, and Applied Mathematics. These three skills are essential to more than 80 percent of jobs profiled by ACT. The certificate offers individuals, employers, and educators an easily understood and universally valued credential that certifies the attainment of these workplace skills.

Employers are embracing the initiative now that Michigan’s Council for Labor and Economic Growth (CLEG) has approved the National Career Readiness Certificate as the statewide workforce credential. Michigan Works! offices deliver the National Career Readiness Certificate program in partnership with the K-12 educational system, community colleges, economic development agencies, employers, business associations, and other local partners.

More than 350 employers have signed letters of commitment for the initiative. They agree to ask job applicants for a National Career Readiness Certificate and/or to recognize the certificate in their hiring/promotion practices. The goal is to have 2,500 employers statewide sign a letter of commitment by 2011, said Rachael Jungblut, program manager/training solutions at Grand Rapids Community College and executive director of the Michigan NCRC Advocates Board.

“Employers are very excited about having a valid, reliable, and consistent tool available in our public school and workforce systems,” said Jungblut. “Everyone is working together because we all have the same goal—to have the best workforce.”

Jungblut and her team are producing reports that document employer experiences with WorkKeys and the National Career Readiness Certificate. These reports are accessible to the public on the Michigan NCRC Advocates website.

One of the best outcomes of the National Career Readiness Certificate initiative is that education and workforce are achieving more together than they could alone, said Guest.

“Michigan has created an unprecedented level of alignment between high schools and workforce development agencies,” said Guest. “The National Career Readiness Certificate has provided a way we can agree on a common goal so that we can all pull in the same direction.”

Print this article

<< Previous article  |  Current Issue Home  |  Top of Page  |  Next article >>