New ACT National Effort to Help Close Skills Gaps

ACT is leading a national effort to build a community-based workforce development framework to drive economic growth.

The framework will link education and workforce development, align workforce development to industry needs, and match individual skills with employer requirements. ACT has established the National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board to assist with development and implementation of the framework. Specific goals include building partnerships through which:

• Business and industry can identify and easily communicate the foundational skills required for a productive workforce.
• Workers understand the skills employers require and what they need to do prepare themselves for success.
• Policymakers can consistently measure skills gaps at the national, state, and local levels.
• Educators have the tools to close the skills gaps, and these tools are integrated into career pathways with stackable industry-recognized credentials. Stackable credentials are a clearly defined system of competencies and industry-recognized certifications that are linked to employment opportunities and career advancement.
• Economic developers have an on-demand reporting tool to market the quality of their workforce.

“The time is right to create this independent advisory board,” said Martin Scaglione, president, ACT Workforce Development Division. “Decades of research by ACT and others reinforce the need to improve and validate the skills of our current and prospective workforce. It’s time to take definitive action to begin closing the gap between skill demand and supply. The advisory board will do just that, in part by providing essential guidance and oversight to the ACT Certified Work Ready Communities (CWRC) initiative.”

The CWRC initiative offers states a community-based approach to developing their workforce pipelines to provide skilled workers. Four states—Kentucky, Missouri, Oregon, and South Carolina—are participating in ACT’s first CWRC Academy, a 12-month executive training program to guide state leadership teams through successful start-up and deployment of a statewide CWRC initiative based on the National Career Readiness Certificate. The academy’s first session was held in February in Atlanta.

Communities in these four states can earn CWRC status by encouraging individuals to earn National Career Readiness Certificates, improving or maintaining high school graduation rates, and building business recognition and support of the initiative. States must apply to participate in the CWRC initiative. ACT will accept the next round of applications this summer.