Work Keys Assessment and Employability

A criticism that Metro Area community service organizations and educators often receive is that little attention is given to outstate efforts to reduce unemployment and to increase student achievement. 

Well, here is your chance to offer some support to Brainerd Public Schools.  Recently, Brainerd was identified as the leader, having the highest unemployment rate of 66 Minnesota cities with populations of more than 10,000.  In December, 2010, Brainerd's unemployment rate was 16 percent while the state average was 7 percent.  http://brainerddispatch.com/news/2011-01-24/brainerd-jobless-rate-back-16-percent

In response, a step that Brainerd Public Schools is taking is to pilot the use of ACT's Work Keys assessment with 100 high school seniors.  "WorkKeys^® is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop, and retain a high-performance workforce."  http://www.act.org/workkeys/  The goal of the Brainerd Public Schools is to use the Work Keys assessment results as an employability credential that students can share with employers.  The assessment measures the student's abilities in applied math, locating information and reading for information. 

The three Work Keys assessments are also the basis of the National Career Readiness Certificate program offered by ACT.  "The National Career Readiness Certificate is a portable, evidence-based credential that measures essential workplace skills and is a reliable predictor of workplace success." http://www.act.org/certificate/

Readers, would you please share your experiences and/or opinions about the use of the Work Keys assessment and the National Career Readiness Certificate as an employability credential?  Your feedback as employer, teacher or student can help Brainerd public schools identify best practices with regard to these tools and hopefully increase employability of students graduating in Brainerd.