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Adult education programs at the Emerson Family School continue to go strong, with more than 130 new enrollments this year, not including students already in the program. Emerson offers several adult education programs, including high school equivalency courses, high school diploma completion courses and WorkKeys certification. In August, Emerson added an English conversation class on Fridays, mainly catering to the families of international researchers at Mississippi State University.

New research highlights the NCRC as a signal of the skills needed for success in the labor market and in postsecondary education. Specifically, this study examined the relationships between NCRC level and unemployment claim duration, employment status, wages, and postsecondary grades. 

“The Career Placement Pilot was a goal we all agreed could benefit our community – a win-win for both businesses and jobseekers,” Pierce said. “GFDC has often heard from local businesses that they have felt the absence of a Workforce Development Office since the Nebraska Department of Labor withdrew from our community several years ago. Now, this Career Placement Pilot is making in-person connections of work-ready jobseekers to our employers.”

Louisana Department of Education released the 2018 School Performance Scores (SPS) for K-12 schools showing that DeRidder High School earned a letter grade of “A” with a 94.7 performance score. In addition, the school was named a “Top Gain Honoree” and earned an “A” for progress under the new scoring system. All high schools are evaluated based on 25 percent assessment performance and progress, 25 percent ACT/WorkKeys, 25 percent strength of diploma and 25 percent cohort graduation rate. 

"We're showing new businesses that are looking at the area that we really have a growing area, and all of a sudden we have a proven workforce that has passed the test and met the criteria they need to bring the business here," said Paul Ipock, chair of the Webster County Board of Commissioners.

The Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation (EDC) recently held an ACT Work Ready Communities Eastern New Mexico Boot Camp on campus. The purpose of this initiative is to build a national system for work readiness. ACT’s Work Ready Communities Boot Camp is for leaders who want to move aggressively forward into this 21st century approach to work readiness and economic development. Mesalands Community College is currently working with the EDC, to continue to expand the ACT Work Ready Communities for the region.

Isle of Wight leadership and the governor's office launched an effort December 4 to implement ACT WorkKeys, overall career preparation, and the Work Ready Communities initiative.

Cayuga Community College received $92,084 from the Richard S. Shineman Foundation last week to pilot a countywide workforce development initiative that would make Oswego County the first in the state — and the Northeast — to receive “Work Ready Community” designation by education and professional development nonprofit ACT.

Hawkins County is one of the first counties in Northeast Tennessee to be certified as a Work Ready Community. Hawkins County’s certification effort was spearheaded by Cooper Standard Human Resources Manager Gabrielle Buchanan and Hawkins County Industrial Development Board Coordinator Rebecca Baker.

Administrators and policy makers in both education and workforce development will want to take note of ACT research showing powerful results for holders of the WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate®. Clicking on the title of this post will download two case studies. The first study shows the positive relationships of NCRC levels to gains in earnings. The second study in the download looks at Missouri-specific data on unemployment claim duration, employment status, wages, and postsecondary grades.