Case Study: Chicago Public Schools Improve Students' Work Readiness Skills Using ACT's WorkKeys^®

March 2006

The Schools:
Chicago Public Schools—Chicago, Illinois

The Challenge:
Preparing students for jobs after graduation while getting local businesses involved with their education

The Solution:
Survey local businesses to determine the skills needed in Chicago-area jobs, establish students' skill levels using ACT's WorkKeys® exams, and use KeyTrain courses for remediation

The Results:
A way to improve work-readiness instruction while giving educators and businesses a common language in terms of workplace skills

Situation
Chicago Public Schools, like all secondary school districts in Illinois, administer the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE) to juniors every spring. The PSAE includes the ACT^® test and two of ACT's WorkKeys job skill exams: Applied Mathematics and Reading for Information.

Chicago Public Schools put a special emphasis on the WorkKeys exams for students, as they are designed to assess students' work-ready skills. The schools use businesses' input to determine how to use WorkKeys exam results, adjust curricula, and better prepare students for local employment. The project involves WorkKeys skill assessments, as well as KeyTrain skill training courses.

Lake View High School, Chicago's oldest public high school, piloted the first phase of the project. It involved the local business community, Chamber of Commerce and workforce advisory board.

James Peterson, Education to Careers coordinator, performed an in-depth survey of the local businesses to determine the WorkKeys-defined skill levels required for entry-level jobs. The school used WorkKeys Estimator to survey businesses. This information is being used to change the school's business curricula to meet the needs of business, as well as getting the businesses to invest time and resources into the program. As a result, the businesses became partners, providing internships, job shadowing, career fairs, seminars and other opportunities for students.

Results
Working with the businesses, Chicago Public Schools instructors incorporate WorkKeys and KeyTrain skill training into their curricula. This includes a pre-test for students and follow-up with the WorkKeys exams that are part of the PSAE. The teachers use KeyTrain materials to provide remediation for students to help close their skill gaps. Officials also created a guide that showed instructors how to align KeyTrain lessons with Illinois statewide learning standards.

"Using WorkKeys and KeyTrain provides a way for us to better address any weaknesses in our own programs in terms of preparing students for the workforce, while the skill training helps students reach the levels businesses require," said Loretta Begley, manager for the office of high school programs for Chicago Public Schools.

Outlook
The Chicago Public Schools' ultimate goal is to issue "Certificates of Mastery" to seniors who have raised their WorkKeys scores to the levels required by businesses. Many of the schools' business partners use WorkKeys and are willing to accept these certificates as a factor when hiring entry-level employees. "This allows us to add a credential factor to students' resumes," Begley said. "The certificates validate that students across the city will be able to meet the challenges of the workforce."

In 2006, teachers plan to find new ways to drive instruction using WorkKeys findings. This will include an extension to elementary and junior high classes to identify skill gaps earlier, as well as establishing a leadership team to determine effective teaching practices.

Case Study: Chicago Public Schools Improve Students' Work Readiness Skills Using ACT's WorkKeys®

Case Study: Chicago Public Schools Improve Students' Work Readiness Skills Using ACT's WorkKeys^®