ACT in the News 
A National Career Readiness Certificate Has Emerged to Connect Minnesota Businesses With a Skilled Workforce – Park Rapids Enterprise
A National Career Readiness Certificate has emerged to connect Minnesota businesses with a skilled workforce, the initiative stemming from the challenge employers face in finding qualified applicants. The test not only demonstrates job seekers’ abilities, but helps employers hire and promote skilled employees.
Aligning the Common Core and the National Career Readiness Certificate-The Center for Energy Workforce Development
One of the many stackable credentials now being used by those in the energy and other industries to determine work readiness is the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC), which measures foundational skills (such as problem-solving and critical thinking) needed for success in the workplace. Recently, ACT, Inc. undertook an analysis of how this new credential aligns with the Common Core State Standards for education, which define the knowledge and skills students should learn from kindergarten through the end of high school. What it found was that there are many areas where the two overlap, and some in which they do not.
Removing hurdles-Salt Lake City Tribune
For some high school students nearing graduation, the fee they must pay to take the ACT is the first financial hurdle standing in their path toward college. For these teenagers from low-income homes, the $34 minimum cost to take the test one time is hard to come by. Still, it’s in their interests and the best interest of the state for all high school students to take the ACT. That’s why the Legislature should pass Sen. Margaret Dayton’s bill to make the ACT the required standardized test for high school juniors, at state expense.
Nebraska schools experimenting with ACT-KTIV Television
As part of a multi-year project set up by the Nebraska legislature some students will take the ACT test during their junior year. It could become the new standard for testing for students."It will expose all of our students to the ACT and it will also give us really good information about where our kids are and then how can we improve as a system to ensure that we're providing those experiences," said Vernon Fisher, superintendent at South Sioux City high school.
Handling the learning curve: Career readiness certificate puts workers at the “head of the line”-VTDigger.org
The significant challenge for businesses is finding enough qualified people and helping them to develop necessary new skills. Many Vermont workers meanwhile struggle to keep a job or prepare for something better. And for those who are under- or unemployed, adds Bill Morison, a former New Hampshire businessman who coordinates workforce development initiatives for the Community College of Vermont, the problem can be anything from learning how to succeed in an interview, developing more confidence, dealing with stress, or obtaining a credential that will provide an edge. In response, the Labor Department and CCV have been building and refining a collaborative approach to workforce education and development in recent years, highlighted by an employee credentialing program that leads to a National Career Readiness Certificate.
Looking for a job in Juneau County? Here’s a way to impress employers – Star Times
Gesler said one way to prove those skills to employers is to earn the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) - Wisconsin's work-readiness credential. According to Gesler, the NCRC is a "tool that demonstrates to employers that an individual possesses the basic skills required for success in today's workforce."
Employers’ needs focus of work force summit-Joplin Globe
The May 22 tornado changed some employment trends, but there also have been other factors affecting employment and the region’s work force. The topics were among those discussed Thursday at the Southwest Missouri Work Force Summit, held at Fairview Christian Church. The event is produced by the Workforce Investment Board of Southwest Missouri and the Missouri Career Center. There also was a lot of information about ACT Inc. initiatives used by some area companies, including WorkKeys, a job skill profiling system. It determines the skills companies need for specific positions and allows the companies to screen applicants for those skills when hiring. A panel comprising Suzanne Baucom, of Bemis Inc., Sharon Beasley, of General Dynamics, and Amber Robertson, of Ceradyne Boron Products, praised the system.
Durbin Gets Schooled in Readiness-Chicagoland Daily Herald
Monica Cruz is a machine operator at Hoffer Plastics in South Elgin. The 35-year-old was hired six months ago after earning the National Career Readiness Certificate and is one of 18 employees Hoffer Plastics brought on in 2011 with those qualifications. Cruz met Sen. Dick Durbin Wednesday along with local education, business and government leaders pitching statewide support for the certificate.
Smart Career Move to Come for High Schoolers Not Planning on Attending College-KWES TV (Midland, TX)
Wille Taylor with the Workforce Solutions says, "[We'll] try to assess some of the juniors and seniors in the areas of math, reading and information. Once they make a certain score on the assessment, they receive a national certification." The certification is called a National Career Readiness Certificate. So far, its recognized across the United States by the National Association of Manufacturers, National Center for Construction Education and Research and the Center for Energy Workforce Development.
Kentucky among first states invited to new Work Ready Academy – Cincinnati Fox Channel 19
Governor Steve Beshear announced today that Kentucky is among the first states to be accepted into the national ACT Certified Work Ready Communities Academy. ... ACT, usually associated with educational testing, is establishing a national baseline for state workforce standards that each state can build on through its Certified Work Ready Communities program. The academy gives Kentucky leaders the opportunity to collaborate with other state leaders on workforce development strategies.
10th-grade writing test replaced with ACT-Raleigh News Observer
Starting this March, high school juniors will take a national college entrance exam called the ACT, which includes a writing section.The state is paying for juniors to take the ACT and is using the scores to help determine whether schools are preparing students for college and work.
Moanalua High School models effective student engagement-Hawaii State Department of Education
Innovative leadership and a sustained commitment to student and teacher development have kept the spotlight on Moanalua High School for demonstrating best practices in education. A few years ago, the high school began administering the entire battery of ACT achievement tests to all freshmen, sophomores and juniors. The results from the national standardized tests include academic scores, and provide students and their parents with rich information on how students can meet their academic and career goals.
Work Hard Work Smart: New Locations to Help Job Seekers-KAUZ TV Wichita Falls
Jimmy Crump was one of more than 1,400 people who took the test and received his National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). He put it on his application and soon found a job."It's showing the employers that you have already meet certain qualifications," said Crump. Work Hard Work Smart works with more than 60 employers who recognize the certificate.
New statewide pilot project covers costs of college-ready assessment tests for Michigan eighth- and 10th-graders-Kalamazoo News
The state is inviting schools to participate in the project, which will allow them to administer the EXPLORE test for eighth-graders and the PLAN test for sophomores, at no cost to the districts or the students. The program will be available in this spring and in spring 2013.
ACT Certified Work Ready Communities-US Chamber of Commerce
ACT, one of the largest educational testing organizations in the United States, has propelled its mission to advance education and workplace success to a new level with Certified Work Ready Communities (CWRC). CWRC is a community-based workforce development implementation framework and certificate program that empowers counties and states with actionable data and specific workforce goals.
New career readiness program helping employers, employees – DL-Online
A program that can help both the employee and the employer — that’s the focus of the National Career Readiness Certificate program. “It can make them stand out and be set apart from other perspective employees,” Nowell said of having the certificate.
New Readiness Certificate a Path to the Workforce – Wadena Pioneer Journal
In order to apply for college, taking the ACT or other standardized assessment is a given thing for high school students and it has been that way for a long time. Now a new test by the same company, being offered at the Minnesota Workforce Center in Wadena, is starting to gain traction as a credential to get into the workforce.
Fayetteville Technical Community College offers free program for troops – Fayetteville Observer
Soldiers leaving the Army now have a way to let potential civilian employers know about their skills. A free program run by Fayetteville Technical Community College lets troops and their spouses take the National Career Readiness Certificate, which they earn by taking tests that determine their abilities in several areas. The certificate was developed by ACT, a nonprofit organization that provides assessments, research, information and programs in education and workforce development. The National Association of Manufacturers and Futures Inc., a software company in Durham, also are participating in the program. For more information on this program, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces/commitments
Middle Schoolers Getting Prepped for College – Education Week
ACT researchers found in 2008 that the academic level students achieve by 8th grade has a bigger impact on college and career readiness and success than anything that happens academically in high school. But getting students academically up to par is not the only thing students need to succeed after middle school, the research says. To overcome some potential barriers to college readiness, the ACT this past year also launched ENGAGE, an assessment program for middle and high school students that helps spot weaknesses in the behavioral and attitudinal—as well as academic—traits linked to long-term education and career accomplishments.
WorkKeys Test Could Help Match People to Jobs – Herald & Review
As a business owner himself, Hayes said, he knew that his problem wasn't finding someone who had the technical skills to do a job; it was finding someone who had workplace skills. In Elgin, he said, the Elgin Community College, the city government, the public school district, workplace investment organizations and business and industry are working together to use WorkKeys to find those "willing" people and utilizing the National Career Readiness Certificate to match potential employees and employers.
