Viewing all News for: Tuscaloosa County, Alabama

There’s a deep disconnect between local economic development efforts and the education system in Alabama. The state wants to add 500,000 high-skilled employees by 2025 to meet industry labor demands. To bridge the gap, one-fourth of Alabama counties are now using career readiness testing to connect labor to regional demand. Hundreds of employers are supporting the initiative, and more than 10,000 residents have earned the ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate®.

For Gabriel Owens and Peyton Lowery from Hillcrest High School in Alabama, Tuesday marked a different kind of signing day. They aren’t athletes declaring which college team they would play for; they are students signing to work for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International. Gabriel and Peyton were accepted into the program after achieving good

: Alabama’s community colleges are now the exclusive testing centers for the basic ability test for applicants seeking admission to law enforcement academies in the state. The Alabama Community College System and the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission announced the partnership on Tuesday, but community colleges began offering the tests July 1 for candidates seeking to become law enforcement officers or correctional officers. As part of the partnership, the system’s campuses will begin offering the ACT WorkKeys assessment, which includes skill areas for applied math, graphic literacy and understanding workplace documents.