The Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate Program Best Practices

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1 The Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate Program Best Practices Employers in Arkansas are facing formidable challenges in today s economic climate. The Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate has proven to be invaluable to the economic and professional development of Arkansas employers and job seekers. This advantage comes in the form of a widely-recognized credential that can help businesses quickly and easily identify job seekers who have necessary workplace skills, to make hiring and promotional decisions more consistent without bias, and to make training costs more efficient. The primary purpose of the Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate Program is to positively impact the economy in Arkansas by helping job seekers to build their workplace skills, respond to employer needs and increase the likelihood of a job seeker s success. The program targets first and foremost the unemployed followed by the underemployed. The program is at no cost to employers and job seekers. The CRC provides a valuable tool that can compliment a resume and job application. Employers who recognize or require an Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate in their hiring/promotional decisions can expect to see reduced employee turnover rates, higher productivity and lower training costs. Governor Mike Beebe and the Governor s Workforce Cabinet (GWFC) launched the Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate Program (CRC) on January 14, Since implementing the program, more than 29,720 certificates have been issued, and more than 2,600 employers have hired job seekers who have the credential. The CRC program is a partnership of the GWFC, which includes the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services (ADWS), Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC), Arkansas Workforce Investment Board (AWIB), Arkansas Department of Career Education (ACE), Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE), Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), Arkansas Science and Technology Authority (ASTA), and the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges (AATYC). Arkansas is one of 49 states with a Career Readiness Certificate program. All of these certification efforts are based on the WorkKeys system developed by ACT Inc., the originator of the college entrance examination. WorkKeys measures an applicant s skill level in three areas consistently found to be correlated with success in the workplace: Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information. Earning an Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate To earn an Arkansas Career Readiness Certificate, job seekers must successfully complete the KeyTrain instruction and score at least a Level 3 on the WorkKeys assessments in Reading for Information the ability to understand information in common workplace documents such as letters, memos, procedures and instructions; Applied Mathematics the ability to use mathematics to solve common workplace problems and Locating Information the ability to understand and extract information from graphics such as charts and tables through the 1

2 WorkKeys employability skills assessment system. As a result of the assessments, job seekers earn a career readiness certificate or identify areas in which they need further instruction. Certificates are awarded in three skill levels: Gold scores a level 5 or higher and possesses core employability skills for approximately 90% of the 18,000 jobs profiled by WorkKeys in the three skill areas; Silver scores a level 4 on WorkKeys assessments and possesses core employability skills for approximately 65% of the jobs profiled by WorkKeys in the three skill areas and Bronze scores a level 3 on WorkKeys assessments and possesses core employability skills for approximately 30% of the jobs profiled by WorkKeys in the three skill areas. The CRC program is accessible no matter where you are in Arkansas. 22 Two-Year Colleges, 52 Adult Education Centers, 32 Workforce Centers and 10 local Workforce Investment Areas provide training and assessment opportunities in every corner of the state. Career Pathways Uses WorkKeys to Create For-Credit College Courses The Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative (CPI) is a comprehensive project designed to improve the earnings and educational attainment of Arkansas s low-income, Temporary Assistance of Needy Families (TANF)-eligible adults. The Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) has implemented a pilot program to award college credits to students in the Career Pathways Initiative who successfully complete the KeyTrain instruction and WorkKeys assessments. All Career Pathway students are required to use the KeyTrain instruction and WorkKeys assessments with traditional development education instruction to build their workplace skills. The KeyTrain instruction and WorkKeys assessments have been made available to all students needing a tutorial program to improve their workplace skills. The primary purpose of the project is to positively impact the economy of Arkansas through education and training by providing education that is responsive to employer needs and increases the likelihood of student success. Currently, there are more than 20 sites strategically located around the state. The CPI provides funding for two-year colleges to develop career pathway programs that assist TANF-eligible adults earn a marketable, educational credential for immediate entry into a high demand occupation. The Initiative emphasizes such program components as job readiness skills, basic academic skills preparation/remediation and post-secondary programs associated with high wage, high demand occupations. The initiative fosters strong connections among two-year colleges, students, community-based organizations, state agencies and employers. ACE' Career and Technical Education Programs and CRC Program The Arkansas Department of Career Education's Career and Technical Education Program use the KeyTrain instruction and WorkKeys assessments as part of the curriculum for the Workplace Readiness and Career Readiness courses for students in 76 high schools. The Workplace Readiness program is a one semester course and the Career Readiness program is a one year course of studies that teaches skills and attributes needed to succeed in the changing workplace through video, computer, and print lessons. The course framework is built on the Secretary s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) competencies with emphasis on problem solving, teamwork, communication skills, and the use of technology and self management. The five framework units are: resources, interpersonal skills, information, 2

3 systems, and technology. This course is designed to help students transition from school to work. The Workplace Readiness and Career Readiness classes include the KeyTrain instruction system and every high school in Arkansas is encouraged to offer the program to seniors completing Career and Technical Education Programs of study. Students who successfully complete the Workplace Readiness program and Career Readiness program are referred to take the WorkKeys assessments at the two-year colleges/universities and eight approved ACE/Ad/Ed centers. The number of students receiving the Career Readiness Certificate is one of the indicators of quality for the existing Secondary and Technical Education Programs approved and monitored by the Arkansas Department of Career Education. This process will help in identifying qualified workers for employers. Initially, it will begin the process for developing a database of skilled and talented workers within Arkansas. Students who have successfully completed the assessments will be entered in the Arkansas Job Link database. The database is designed to provide employers with skilled and talented workers for a community ready workforce. The pilot program was implemented during the school year with 48 high schools. Since then an additional 28 high schools have been added to the program for a total of 76 high schools participating and more than 520 CRCs have been awarded to high school students in Arkansas. Milestone: Since launching the program in 2008, Arkansas has awarded 29,720 CRCs statewide, making Arkansas one of the top 10 states that have awarded the most CRCs. Arkansas success with the program has, in turn, drawn national attention, with many states looking to Arkansas as a model. Gold: 8,001 Silver: 16,386 Bronze: 5,333 Percentage for each certificate level: Gold: 27% Silver: 55% Bronze: 18% Employer Quotes about the CRC Program The WorkKeys approach, through the Career Readiness Certificate, provides us with a validated process for selecting those applicants for initial interviews. This assessment reduces the time and effort required to identify a candidate with basics skills needed for the job. An additional benefit is knowing that the applicant has a strong desire to improve their skills thus providing a valuable asset to our company. Roger N. Smith Human Resources Representative Actronix Inc. In the past we needed many, many persons to attend our orientations and to then decide to accept employment with us to help us build the best railcars in the country. At the time we selected individuals for employment in the traditional way, that is, we sat with each prospective employee in an interview setting and attempted to solicit relevant information from him/her about job history, work habits, strengths and weaknesses. We were quite successful in finding the number of individuals we needed. But did we really know much about each person s basic abilities? The answer is a resounding no! 3

4 Then we learned about a new program that Governor Beebe had selected for use in the state by employers that would assist employers in knowing to what degree individuals could perform some very basic learning skills, such as, reading, mathematics, and reading and interpreting charts and graphs. We were told that this program, the Career Readiness Certificate program, could actually help us identify individuals whom we could trust were able to be trained to do our jobs. Prior to this program we had not been able to determine at all whether an individual had the basic ability to successfully complete our training. I believe that we now have a way of determining this! We were selected to participate in a pilot project to determine if the program worked. Initially we made a decision that all persons interested in attending our orientations for employment must complete the first phase, the KeyTrain assessments. KeyTrain is an untimed assessment by computer of a person s ability to read, to perform basic math, and to read and interpret charts and graphs. We also decided that an individual must score at least a 4 on all three assessments based on our having been told that a person should score one point higher on the untimed assessment than the score that would be required on the timed assessments that were to come. In the beginning our real concern was that there would not be enough places or computers to accommodate the number of individuals who required the assessments. However the Paragould Workforce Services office and the Greene County Industrial Training Center in Paragould came through and established assessment centers. And so we put in motion the requirement that anyone who wanted to attend our orientations had to first pass the KeyTrain assessments with minimum scores of 4. For the Career Readiness Certificate program to succeed, a location needed to be set up to conduct the Work Keys assessments, that is, the timed assessments. The Greene County Industrial Training Center stepped up and agreed to arrange a space and computers where individuals could take the Work Keys assessments. These assessments are very similar to the KeyTrain assessments, though they are timed, and a certificate is issued to any person who scores at least a 3 on all three assessments in reading, mathematics, and reading and interpreting charts and graphs. The state will issue a bronze certificate to any individual who scores a minimum of 3 s on the assessments; a silver certificate to any individual who scores a minimum of 4 s on the assessments; and a gold certificate to any individual who scores a minimum of 5 s on the assessments, all signed by Governor Beebe. When we learned that many people who took the Work Keys assessments had passed them successfully, we decided to change our requirements so that any person wanting to attend our orientations now had to possess documentation showing that he/she had passed the Work Keys assessments with minimum scores of 3. We were so pleased that we still adhere to this practice. I believe that we can say that we are now orienting only individuals who have the basic abilities to read, to do basic math, and to read and interpret charts and graphs and who are likely to be able to learn our jobs. We also believe that these individuals will make for a better overall work force and that they will perform better and stay on the job longer, thus reducing turnover. And as we have been known to say, and that ain t bad! Dean Inman Human Resources Director American Railcar Industries, Inc. Our business is becoming more and more complex with new technology and customer standards certifications. As a result; the skill level required of employees has increased. The CRC program has given us a way to verify applicants have the prerequisite skills to be successful on the job in a relatively short period of time. It has also helped DWS and Human Resources to match employee skill sets with the right job. 4

5 In the recent economic down turn, we have been one of the few employers growing and adding employees. People in the community realize in order to work at Anchor Packaging they will have to obtain the CRC. So; there has been more emphasis placed on the value of education. For years there has been a need for high schools and other educational institutions to prepare non-college bound students for other careers. The CRC has met that need as a way for educators and businesses to prepare students for transition from school to the workplace. Kellie Blake Human Resources Manager Anchor Packaging, Inc The Ashdown Mill has recently added the career readiness certificate to the minimum requirements for interested job seekers. The transition of adding this program to our hiring process has been seamless and successful. Tammy Henderson Manager H.R. Services Ashdown Mill Domtar Industries Inc. The Career Readiness Certification program has added tremendous value to our company by eliminating our need for internal new employee testing. We are adding money back to the bottom line without sacrificing the quality of our applicant pool. We are excited about this partnership and have been thrilled with the results. Stacy Gunderman Director, Human Resources FutureFuel Chemical Company The CRC process has helped us better understand the skill level upon hire. We are able to attract a more prepared and qualified applicant base which has increased our employee retention rate. Lanita Plunkett Human Resources Manager Stant Manufacturing 5