Students in the NC Career Readiness Certificate at Mount Airy High School Perform Well

For the second year, Mount Airy High School students have participated in the WorkKeys assessment administered through Surry Community College. WorkKeys is a job skill assessment system used in high schools, community colleges, and business and industry across the country to measure real-world skills. These skills are valuable for any occupation, skilled or professional, and at any level of education.
The abilities to learn, listen, communicate, work in teams, and solve problems are important assets for any worker, regardless of career choice. WorkKeys assessments measure these abilities in three areas: Communication, Problem Solving, and Interpersonal Skills.
The North Carolina Career Readiness Certificate (NCCRC) ensures that an individual has certain foundational skills that are important across a range of jobs. The NCCRC offers individuals, employers, and educators an easily understood, conveniently attained, and universally valued credential that will contribute to the nation’s workforce and economic development activities. (www.act.org/workkeys/education/index.html)
During the week of October 28, 2009 and the week of March 1, 2010, senior internship students from Mount Airy High School, in partnership with Surry Community College, completed the WorkKeys assessment. These internship students were selected to complete the assessment based on the criteria that they were all enrolled in an internship work experience during the 2009-2010 school year. No skill building programs were used with these students before taking the test. Student preparation was through the courses taken in a traditional public high school. For the second year, the second semester group had an outstanding outcome of 100% success with all students receiving a North Carolina Career Readiness Certificate. 
“Through the collaborative efforts and support of the Northwest Piedmont Workforce Development Board, Surry County JobLink, eLink, and Mount Airy City Schools we demonstrate a broad vision where the students benefit from workforce programs.”
            -Carmen Eldridge, Surry Community CollegeWorkforce Development Center 
These students were assessed and successfully completed the core requirements for North Carolina Career Readiness Certificate (NCCRC) www.crcnc.org in Applied Mathematics, Reading for Information, and Locating Information. This nationally recognized credential is signed by the Governor and presented to each student locally.
The NCCRC has three levels: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. According to theWorkKeys Occupational Profile Database, over 16,000 jobs across America have been researched by ACT. A student reaching the level of Gold has the necessary foundational skills for 90% of the jobs in theWorkKeys Occupational Profile Database, Silver- 65% of the jobs, and Bronze- 35% of the jobs in the database.

The results at MAHS were as follows:

1st Semester (42 students) 97.6% success

12 students earned the Gold Level 28.5%

25 students earned the Silver Level 59.5%

4 students earned the Bronze Level 9.5%

1 student no certificate 2.5%

2nd Semester (35 students) 100% success

9 students earned the Gold Level 25.7%

23 students earned the Silver Level 65.7%

3 students earned the Bronze Level 8.6%

“This program has presented another opportunity for students at Mount Airy High School to gain insight into their college and career readiness. Along with their high school diploma, this credential will be another tool they can use as they continue their education or go directly to work. We hear from employers that “soft skills” are key to successful employment. In addition, foundational skills such as reading, math, and locating information are essential elements in almost every job. With the high success rate achieved in this project, this assessment is an indicator that students are graduating from Mount Airy High School prepared for a variety of work experiences. We will use this data to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses so that we can make the high school experience even better for future classes.”