Previous News Highlights

Rock Hill Herald (South Carolina), March 3, 2008
Workers find the keys to getting ahead: Samantha Sawyer, a 41-year-old woman who has worked for Tyco Electronics for 14 years, is now a mechanic. Sawyer was one of hundreds of people who have benefited from a $281,000 grant from the S.C. Department of Commerce awarded to Rock Hill Adult Education to promote the use of WorkKeys in York and Chester counties. She got a good score and a promotion, thanks to the WorkKeys assessment.; "One thing that we're seeing is that it's sort of a mindset that a lot of people have had over the years, especially these people who lost their jobs, that they didn't need to learn anything new," said Lori Grant, lead teacher for Adult Education. "And with WorkKeys, this helps emphasize that there is a whole other world of knowledge out there that you've got to have if you want to move forward in this job market."
WMAZ-TV (Georgia), February 19, 2008
Bibb plant is “Certified Work Ready”: Covidien, a Macon-area company, received the state's first Certified Work Ready award, and more than 350 hourly employees earned Work Ready certificates after taking the ACT WorkKeys exam.; Machine operator Jerrlyn Peck said the program converted her from skeptic to believer and plant engineer George Chambers likes what the program did.; "The Work Ready program has helped us tremendously with our skills assessment and training development so that everyone is aligned perfectly with the skills needed to improve our results and reduce waste here at the plant," Chambers said.; Covidien implemented Work Ready last spring, and since then, has experienced a 200 percent improvement in training entry-level employees, a 67 percent reduction in cost and time to hire qualified candidates, a 35 percent improvement in product efficiency and a 58 percent reduction in waste.; Georgia's Work Ready initiative is a partnership with the state chamber of commerce. It's based on skills assessments and certification for job seekers and a job profiling system for businesses.
Commercial Appeal (Tennessee), February 5, 2008
ACT All-Stars form: The ACT All-Stars is a newly established organization at Brighton High School. As the ACT becomes increasingly important, not only for postsecondary education admission requirements but also for future employment upon graduation, the school wanted to recognize students for their ACT scores in 2007.; The first group is the 30+ All-Stars, which rewards students for making a 30 or above on their composite scores taken from the September, October or December testing. The other recognized group is the ACT Achievers, for those students who score 4 or more points above their predicted score.; Students receive an ACT All-Star T-shirt, their name on the main lobby bulletin board, and participation in the spring picnic.
Newsday (New York), January 20, 2008
Long Island college freshmen find ways to adjust: A few weeks into her first semester of college, Carly began to falter, struggled in calculus class and was no longer a campus leader. At Yale University, Trinh Nguyen sought help from upper-class tutors in a calculus course—a twist from high school where she helped others. Dan Bianculli chose to attend Rice University, many hours away from his home in Long Island, and says, "every class I've had here is considerably harder than any high school class I ever took."; The uncertainty these students experienced is typical of the first year of college. Studies by psychologists and administrators in higher education show that many students are wracked by loneliness, confusion and depression after the initial excitement of college wears off. That has consequences: Nationally, 16 percent of students at four-year colleges drop out or transfer before sophomore year, according to ACT. (For SUNY's four-year universities, including Stony Brook, the rate is 12 percent.)