CRI early adopters

Career Readiness Initiative early adopters of Career Ready 101.

Notre Dame Adult Education Center

Notre Dame Adult Education Center

Notre Dame Adult Education Center, located in Lawrence, Massachusetts, uses KeyTrain as part of the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) job training program. In order to earn a certificate of completion in the CNA program, students must also achieve at least a Bronze on the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). There is always a KeyTrain coach available to users, but more advanced students are encouraged to help others too! Notre Dame Adult Education Center’s teachers were wary of KeyTrain at first, but have come to enjoy their new role as learning coaches.

Notre Dame Adult Education Center is an Adult Basic Education facility.

Northern Berkshire Adult Education Program

Northern Berkshire Adult Education Program

Northern Berkshire Adult Education, in North Adams, Massachusetts, uses Career Ready 101 as a supplement in their college and career readiness class. CR101 is used in the computer lab, to stimulate discussion, and as follow-up work after a reading or presentation. Northern Berkshire Adult Education Program collaborated with Goodwill Industries to work with students on building work habits and work readiness skills, which led students to see that alignment between CR101 and the world of work.

A word of advice, “Career Ready 101 is a big program with a lot of tools. That is great, but it could be overwhelming if you do not target its uses. …we need to keep in mind that it won’t do it all. It’s one tool out of many that you need. It’s a support piece.”

Northern Berkshire Adult Education Program is an Adult Basic Education facility.

Mount Wachusett Community College

Mount Wachusett Community College

Mount Wachusett Community College, in Devens, Massachusetts, uses Career Ready 101 in a TAA CCCT-funded, non-credit manufacturing program. CR101 is used as an intake assessment (to replace the TABE) and remediation tool, but students must also sit for WorkKeys assessments and attain the NCRC to complete the program. As part of the manufacturing program, students are required to work in and out of the classroom on KeyTrain. Every week, students are given a note card with an update on where they are within KeyTrain and where they need to aim for the following week. Printed workbook pages (these can be found within Career Ready 101) proved useful as well as setting CR101 to not progress to the next level until students scored an 80% on the module test, and not allowing more than two attempts at each test.

For extra encouragement, “We tried to make it a big deal whenever someone passed a level, to build their confidence. When someone scored well, they did feel a sense of accomplishment and it reinforced the notion that they can challenge.

Greenfield Community College

Greenfield Community College

Greenfield Community College, in Greenfield, Massachusetts, uses Career Ready 101 in manufacturing programs, a career skills course, literacy classes, individual tutoring and GED classes. A blended learning model is used in the manufacturing class and includes proctored, structured lab time in conjunction with students working in groups or independently. For individual tutoring, after the module test is completed, other assignments including vocabulary and writing skills are used. GED classes start with the Career Interest Survey in CR101 then students are assigned a particular career cluster, and eventually move from group work to individual coaching with students using the tools independently. Regardless of the class type or method CR101 is used, learners build confidence, develop the skills of self-direction, and are increasingly motivated to contact employers.

Springfield Technical Community College

Springfield Technical Community College

Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, Massachusetts administers the WorkKeys Assessment as an eligibility screening tool for some noncredit, workforce training programs. To be eligible for the Manufacturing Production Technician and Advanced Customer Services programs, applicants must score a 3 on all of the WorkKeys tests, Reading for Information, Applied Math, and Locating Information. Employers are informed of participant’s credential and their abilities. Instructors also used scoring data to form lesson planning. Students learn how to promote their credential and the skills it represents in their resumes and during mock interviews. Springfield Technical Community College looks forward to using WorkKeys as a pre-test and post-test to give students an opportunity to boost their National career Readiness Certificate level. Career Ready 101 will be used to supplement classroom instruction in certificate, HiSET prep, and ABE classes.

Holyoke Community College

Holyoke Community College

Holyoke Community College in Holyoke, Massachusetts uses WorkKeys on its main campus, several satellite locations, and in partnership with Springfield Technical Community College. The WorkKeys Assessment and pre- and post-tests are used for Jump Start, an employment program, an eligibility screening tool for workforce training programs, and in an adult education setting with ESOL learners. Awarding the National Career Readiness Certificate is a goal of Holyoke Community College. However, an overall goal at Holyoke is to use Career Ready 101 as a tool that clarifies for students, instructors, and advisors how the skill level relates to occupations and occupational goals, making educational gains more relevant.

A tip, “The depth of learning cannot be as rich as one gets from working with an instructor. The software cannot give the full context and it cannot give a vast depth of knowledge.”

North Shore Workforce Investment Board and Career Centers

North Shore Workforce Investment Board and Career Centers

North Shore Career Center in Salem, Massachusetts use KeyTrain and ACT’s job profiling database in addition to other tools such as MASSCIS. North Shore Career Center wants to collaborate to create a shared vision of the National Career Readiness Certificate, enable learners to market their skills that will benefit themselves and the employer, and to find local business champions.