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WorkKeys Offers Students Opportunity to Align Skills with Career Interests - December 21 2011

HOBART | School City of Hobart Superintendent Dr. Peggy Buffington has been a strong advocate for college and career readiness from the moment she entered the world of education. She's not alone.

Dr. Buffington and many of her colleagues have joined Northwest Indiana business leaders to "unite" under the One Region, One Vision strategy. The groups meet often to discuss topics that will result in higher learning for students. One such focus has included college and career readiness.

This year, the Hobart High School graduating class has piloted a program called ACT WorkKeys, which demonstrates the School City's efforts to prepare their students for life.

"WorkKeys is a workplace readiness tool that helps employers select, hire, train, develop and retain a high-performance workforce," said Dr. Buffington. "College and career readiness is hard work but we must continue to engage our students and instill in them they have to take their educational opportunities seriously."

Recently, 87% of her Hobart High School students earned their certificates resulting from their career readiness assessments and many of them scored exceptionally high. Many of these success stories are directly related to community partnerships.

"We need to align the skills of our high school students with the jobs available in Northwest Indiana," said Linda Woloshansky, Center for Workforce Innovations president. "WorkKeys allows us to do that and it is a phenomenal way for students to do their own self assesments and a way for them to improve their skills while they are still in high school."

WorkKeys helps ensure that students are ready for the workforce by determining their skill levels and aligning them with the requirements for various jobs in which they are interested.

"I want to be an entrepreneur/fashion designer and own boutiques one day," said Selena Mendoza, Hobart High School senior. "I scored at a silver level and now can gauge what I need, or need to work on, to be successful in my future career."

Merrillville Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Tony Lux and Merrillville High School have also incorporated WorkKeys into their plans this school year and have been "very impressed with the outcomes."

"WorkKeys offers measurable results in regards to the percentage of students who were able to demonstrate the applied math and reading skills that they have mastered," said Dr. Lux. "This year's seniors are anxious to have another opportunity in January to move up to the next WorkKeys certificate."

     (Damian Rico | Times Media Co. | Posted: Monday, December 19, 2011)