Autumn 2010

ACT's Activity Publication

Volume 48/Number 3

Alaska Career Ready Program Helps Students and Workers Compete for Jobs

Two Alaska agencies have teamed up to give students and workers alike an edge in the state’s highly competitive job market.

The Department of Education & Early Development (EED) and the Department of Labor & Workforce Development (DOLWD) created the Alaska Career Ready Program to help more residents increase and document their foundational workplace skills. The program uses the three WorkKeys® assessments—Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information, and Locating Information—that power the National Career Readiness Certificate.

Photo of Marcia Olson

Marcia Olson

“Alaska has a history of drawing workers from outside our state to fill jobs. It’s to our economic and social benefit to have more of our own residents in these jobs,” said Marcia Olson, program manager of the Alaska Career Ready Program for the EED. “We hope that the WorkKeys program and the National Career Readiness Certificate will allow us to demonstrate that we have a skilled workforce in our state.”

Nearly 30 Alaska high schools piloted WorkKeys over a three-year period. More than 2,500 students took at least one of the tests, and nearly 2,000 of them earned a National Career Readiness Certificate. With the completion of the pilots, EED is ready to move forward with the requirement for all public high school juniors to take the three assessments starting this fall.

“The goal of offering WorkKeys in the schools is to help students make the connections between what they are learning in school and the skills they will use in a job,” said Olson.

How Alaska is Using WorkKeys and the National Career Readiness Certificate

  • The Alaska Operating Engineers Employment Training Trust started using the WorkKeys assessments in the last application year and has had great success using them. The organization requires its apprenticeship applicants to meet a minimum of level 4 or higher on each of the three assessments.
  • The State of Alaska Office of Personnel and Labor Relations profiled its Accounting Clerk and Office Assistant I job classes and added the National Career Readiness Certificate as an optional qualification route, which is expected to increase its ability to hire competent and capable workers, especially in Alaska’s most rural offices.
  • General Communications Inc. (GCI), an Alaska-based company providing voice, video, and data communication services, added a link to its careers introduction Web page to include the Alaska Career Ready client brochure. The company asks applicants for some of its entry-level jobs if they have a National Career Readiness Certificate and encourages candidates at job fairs and other career events to obtain the certificate.
  • Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc., Alaska Chapter allows Applied Mathematics level 4 as an option to meet its math requirement.
  • The Alaska Joint Electrical Apprenticeship Training Trust’s Inside Wireman apprenticeship program conducted a WorkKeys Curriculum Profile and now accepts Applied Mathematics level 6 as an option to meet its math requirement. The organization also suggests applicants obtain a National Career Readiness Certificate to improve their application.
  • The Alaska Construction Academies will start requiring applicants to take the WorkKeys assessments as part of their application process.

She estimates that 10,000 public high school juniors will take WorkKeys assessments annually. The state’s nearly 300 high schools can administer the tests any time during the school year or during the state’s optional testing window, initially scheduled for fall 2010. Students who score at least a level 3 on each test will earn National Career Readiness Certificates, which the schools will distribute to students.

The students’ certificates will help them when they apply for jobs with certain Alaska businesses. Thanks to the DOLWD’s outreach efforts, the career ready program is quickly gaining traction among employers and workforce organizations.

Photo of Kim Kolvig

Kim Kolvig

Staff members have contacted more than 18,000 Alaska companies to educate them about WorkKeys and the National Career Readiness Certificate. “Many employers are recognizing the value of the National Career Readiness Certificate and some are requesting or requiring applicants to have it,” said Kim Kolvig, employment security analyst with the DOLWD.

The department administers the assessments through job centers, partner organizations, and employers. Its ACT-authorized job profiler has profiled several jobs, ranging from accounting clerk to plumber apprentice, and is in demand to develop additional profiles for companies and apprenticeship programs. The WorkKeys job-profiling component identifies the WorkKeys skills and the skill levels a person must have to perform a specific job.

“Our employers are excited about the career ready program. It has helped them manage large pools of applicants and make better hiring and promotion decisions,” said Kolvig.

WorkKeys test-takers can earn a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum level certificate indicating they have the necessary skills for jobs in ACT’s JobPro Database.

  • Bronze: Scores of at least a level 3 on each of the exams indicate a person has the necessary foundational skills for 35 percent of the jobs.
  • Silver: Scores of at least a level 4 on each of the exams indicate a person has the necessary foundational skills for 65 percent of the jobs.
  • Gold: Scores of at least a level 5 on each of the exams indicate a person has the necessary foundational skills for 90 percent of the jobs.
  • Platinum: Scores of at least a level 6 on each of the exams indicate a person has the necessary foundational skills for 99 percent of the jobs.
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