Alaska Career Ready FAQs

1. What is Alaska's Career Ready Program?

• It is a statewide program to ensure that Alaska students and job-seekers have the basic, or foundational, skills required by post-secondary education and virtually all careers.
• If a student or job-seeker does not have the required foundational skill levels, the program provides training that is directly targeted to those skills.
• In addition, the program provides a way for students and job-seekers to document their foundational skills by earning a "Career Readiness Certificate," which is recognized nation-wide.

Alaska Career Ready is one piece of what it takes to be successful in a career.

2. What are the foundational skill areas addressed by this program?

• 1) Applied Math, 2) Reading for Information, and 3) Locating Information. These skill areas are required, in varying levels, by approximately 90% of the jobs ACT has analyzed through their WorkKeys® job profiling system over the last dozen years.

3. Why do we need this program?

• To give Alaska students and job-seekers 1) knowledge of the skill levels required for entry into careers and post-secondary training; 2) a way to increase their skill levels, and 3) a way to demonstrate to an employer, apprenticeship program, technical school, college, university, or other training provider, that they have mastered the basic foundational skills required by virtually all careers and post-secondary programs.

4. Who are the program partners?

• The Alaska Career Ready program is administered by the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development (EED) and the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development (DOLWD).

5. What is a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC)?

• The CRC is a credential awarded to an individual based on the results of three WorkKeys assessments: Applied Math, Reading for Information, & Locating Information. (The WorkKeys system is a product of ACT, Inc.)
• The CRC is a nationally-recognized, validated, portable documentation of foundational skills. It uses a common language and measurement system to communicate 1) the basic skill levels necessary for careers & post-secondary training, and 2) the skill levels a person actually has, based on objective, standardized skill assessments.

6. How will I know if my skills are high enough before I take the assessments?

• All Alaska K-12 public schools and designated DOLWD sites will have free access to the WIN tutorial software, which includes a user-friendly online diagnostic tool that quickly estimates individuals' current WorkKeys levels.

7. What can I do to improve my skills?

• Use the free WIN or KeyTrain tutorial software. WIN is available at no charge to all K-12 public schools. Both programs are available free of charge at all Alaska Job Centers.
• The lessons are web-based, individualized, self-paced, available from any computer with Internet access, and specifically targeted to the skills measured by WorkKeys assessments.
• The lessons are delivered in a work-related, applied context.
• The curriculum supports and enhances existing curriculum and Alaska standards.

8. Does the Alaska Career Ready program include a career information component?

• ACT provides free access to job profiles on its website at http://www.act.org/cgi-bin/workkeys/occuprof/certificate/crc_lookup.cgi?SITE=wked&LETTER=a.

• The WIN software allows the user to search through hundreds of occupational profiles and see WorkKeys skill levels and other information for each occupation. Users may then find Alaska-specific occupational information by using other readily-available resources such as AKCIS, ALEXsys, Career Center, O*NET Online, and others.

• WIN provides hundreds of free K-8 Career Activity Lesson Plans that provide a great way to introduce the idea of workplace basic skills and various career areas for all K-8 students. We recommend classroom teachers use some of these activities before giving the WIN assessments at the 6th and 8th grade levels.

9. What regulations have been adopted by the State Board of Education?

• The State Board adopted regulations requiring all Alaska public school students in the 6th grade and 8th grade to take benchmark assessments via the WIN courseware, and all 11th-graders to take WorkKeys assessments in the areas of Applied Math, Reading for Information, and Locating Information.  The requirements will go into effect with the 2010-2011 school year.

10. Who is eligible to earn a National Career Readiness Certificate (CRC)?

• Anyone who takes the WorkKeys assessments at a public high school or a designated Job Center and who earns a minimum of Level 3 scores on the three WorkKeys assessments.

11. What is the process for earning an Alaska Career Ready Certificate?

• Complete the WIN or KeyTrain software placement tests.
• Increase your skills by using the tutorial lessons.
• Complete the three designated WorkKeys assessments at your high school or Job Center.
• Receive an Alaska Career Ready Certificate if you score at least Level 3 on all three tests.

12. Is it developmentally appropriate to give 6th graders a benchmark assessment on workplace skills?

Yes, using the tutorial software is appropriate for 6th graders. (Note: 6th and 8th graders will NOT be taking the actual WorkKeys assessments). The benchmarks at the 6th and 8th grade levels are more of an awareness tool for students. These initial benchmarks will expose the students to the idea of a workplace skills assessment; and it will give them the notion that there really is some sort of relationship between school and work. These assessments are short, self paced, and fun! Please note that the education regulations do not require a minimum score.

ACT has determined that the reading levels for Level 3 of the WorkKeys assessments are about at the 5th or 6th grade levels, while Level 6 or 7 of WorkKeys assessments may be at a 12th grade or higher reading level. (You may download ACT’s complete brochure on the WorkKeys reading levels here.)

13. Have the WIN curriculum and Work Keys assessments been cross-referenced to Alaska’s Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) or Alaska’s Content and Performance Standards?

WIN has provided us with a cross-reference to the GLEs, which are our grade K-12 content and performance standards. Crosswalks have also been made with other assessments such as TABE, GED, ASVAB, and CASAS. Available crosswalks are downloadable here.

14. For those students who take more advanced math, will WorkKeys measure their skills? If not, will another assessment option be available for students, e.g., college placement tests which measure from elementary algebra up to precalculus?

WorkKeys Applied Math is not an achievement test, and it is not divided into topics such as Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, etc. It is an assessment of how well a person can apply mathematical skills that are needed in workplace situations. Some of the math skills at Level 7 Applied Math (the highest WorkKeys Applied Math level) include basic statistical concepts, non-linear functions, and volumes. For a complete list of the skills assessed at each level of WorkKeys Applied Math, see http://www.act.org/workkeys/assess/math/levels.html.
(For WorkKeys skills in Reading for Information: http://www.act.org/workkeys/assess/reading/levels.html)
(For WorkKeys skills in Locating Information: http://www.act.org/workkeys/assess/locate/levels.html)

Regarding the college placement tests, every college or university chooses its own placement test. Some community and technical colleges across the country are beginning to use WorkKeys assessments as part of their entrance requirements. Prospective students will need to contact the college or university of their choice to find out what placement or entrance tests are required.

15. This Career Ready Initiative does not address soft skills—getting to work on time, getting along with others. These are the skills employers most often complain employees don’t have and the main reason employees are fired. Will similar resources be made available to address these employability skills?

This initiative addresses foundational skills employers are telling us they require of entry-level employees, specifically Applied Math, Reading for Information, and Locating Information. The WorkKeys foundational skill assessments do not include assessments for soft skills. However, there are soft skill training components, such as Work Habits, Teamwork, and Listening, included in the WIN tutorial software, which is available to all schools and DOL sites under this project. These lessons are a good resource to begin teaching soft skills. Other efforts include the DOLWD’s Youth First Initiative, Construction Academies, Youth Career Guides in some schools, youth interns for work experiences, YES (Youth Employability Skills), and individual school district programs for assessing and reporting soft skills. These types of behaviors must be taught and observed over time and in different situations, such as school and the workplace.

16. What can the WIN curriculum and Work Keys assessment replace?

At this time, there are no plans to replace the HSGQE or any of the SBAs with any of the Alaska Career Ready components. At least two other states, Illinois and Michigan, require two WorkKeys assessments as part of their high school graduation testing requirements. At least three other states, Florida, Wyoming, and Kentucky, are offering WorkKeys assessments to high school students on an optional basis.

Keep in mind the WorkKeys assessments need not be administered by credentialed staff, as other tests do. However, the assessments are nationally standardized and do need to be proctored. The three WorkKeys assessments will take a total of about 3 hours, one hour for each component: Reading for Information (RI), Applied Math (AM), and Locating Information (LI).  The regulations do not require any minimum score as a graduation requirement.

The 6th and 8th grade benchmark assessments are easier to manage and administer. They are provided from within the WIN tutorial software, and every school in Alaska has a free site license to this courseware. These “pre-assessments” are short, self-paced (not timed), can be done any time during the school year, need not be proctored, and the scores are not used for advancement or grades of any kind--only career awareness and attempting to show the connection between school and work. As an additional resource, WIN provides hundreds of free K-8 Career Activity Lesson Plans that provide a great way to introduce the idea of workplace basic skills and various career areas for all K-8 students. We recommend classroom teachers use some of these activities before giving the WIN assessments at the 6th and 8th grade levels.

17. An important element of helping students prepare for work or college is career guidance, but there is nothing in this initiative to provide career guidance staff or resources to help students understand themselves and careers that would fit them.

We know that career guidance is a big area of need in our schools. While this initiative does not provide any career guidance staffing, it does provide another resource for teachers, counselors, advisors, and administrators to use when they talk to students about careers. The entire concept is a linkage of school and careers. Specifically, the WIN tutorial software has a career information component that shows the direct relationship between occupations and specific WorkKeys skills and levels required for success and advancement in that career. Other career guidance resources are available through the Alaska Career Information System (AKCIS), which is now available to all schools, as well as all Alaskans, at no charge.

18. How are we getting the word out to parents and the public?

We have developed outreach and educational materials for a variety of groups. We are giving informational presentations to industry councils, post-secondary staff, school district staff, Alaska employers, chambers of commerce, economic development councils, and the Alaska Workforce Investment Board. We will continue to give these presentations and provide training or informational sessions to as many groups as possible in the coming months.

19. How are you getting feedback from the public?

You may contact us via email, phone, fax, or mail to:

Marcia Olson
Phone 907-465-8704 or Fax 907-465-3240
Email: marcia.olson@alaska.gov

20. How will you engage industry to ensure strong support?

DOLWD and EED are working on education and outreach that will help garner the support of Alaska business and industry for the idea of using WorkKeys skills and the Career Readiness Certificate. We have several employers who have already expressed an interest in the program. At least one business, BP, already uses WorkKeys as one of their job recruitment and selection criteria for some of their jobs.

21. Who will use the data and who will have access to the data?

WorkKeys: DOLWD and EED will compile aggregate data on the number of students and adults taking the WorkKeys assessments and the level of certificates earned (bronze, silver, gold). These data will be posted on the two departments’ websites as the project moves along. We will not publish any personally identifiable information such as names and individual scores. Individuals’ test scores will be available only to the test administrator and to the state. Otherwise, scores are confidential and can only be released by authorization of the individual who took the test.

WIN: Data from the WIN tutorial software are available to each individual learner and to system “managers” such as teachers, case managers, principals, employment counselors, etc. A WIN system “manager” will have access only to his/her students’ or clients’ WIN records, i.e., a school principal will be able to see the progress of students at that school but will not be able to access the records of students at other schools or districts. There will be a statewide administrator from EED and one from DOLWD who will have access to users’ data. This is necessary for administrative purposes, such as modifying system settings.

22. What is the level of funding allocated for this project?

The first year of the project (through June 30, 2008) was fully funded by the two departments: Labor and Education.  The Department of Education has secured general fund money for the 2nd and 3rd years of the project and intends to seek this funding annually.

23. How can students/clients with disabilities access the WIN courseware and the WorkKeys assessments?

For WorkKeys, ACT has guidelines for testing accommodations, which you may download here.

The WIN tutorial software has several tools to assist learners, such as an audio track that will read all lessons aloud, a Spanish translation, and compliance with JAWS software.