NCRC: What is it?

• A nationally recognized work skills credential

• Issued at four levels, the ACT NCRC measures and certifies the essential work skills needed for success in jobs across industries and occupations

• Developed by the ACT company, makers of the ACT assessment with which most of us are familiar

What is the NCRC?

• Portable credential based on WorkKeys assessments

• Demonstrates achievement and a certain level of workplace employability skills – Applied Mathematics– Locating Information– Reading for Information

• Measures "real world" skills employers believe are critical to job success

• Test questions are based on situations in the everyday work world.

ACT vs NCRC

ACT measures:• Content knowledge• General educational

development:– English– Mathematics– Reading– Science

• Capacity to complete college-level work

NCRC measures:• Applied skills in

– Reading for Information:  Skill used when reading written text

– Applied Mathematics:  Skill in applying mathematical reasoning, critical thinking and problem-solving techniques

– Locating Information:  Skill in working with workplace graphics to find and analyze information

Benefits for Students

• Provides real-world examples of how their skills translate to the workplace

• Gives insight to the requirements of the careers they are interested in

• Demonstrate readiness to enter the workforce after graduation or pursue postsecondary education

From the Field“Sturgis Brown High School incorporates the NCRC into our career planning/personal finance class. Every junior takes the certification exams. 

The certification is another way for our students to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. Students are encouraged to list the certification earned and certificate number on their resumes as well as on scholarship applications. The level of certificate earned is very important to almost every student. Students, especially students who may struggle in a traditional classroom setting, stand a little taller when they learn they have earned a silver or gold rating. Many of the higher performing students strive for the elusive platinum. 

The most important components of the certification to me as an instructor are the results page and resources website. I personally go over the results with each individual student. We discuss areas they did well in as well as skills needing improvement and what to do to improve those skills. We also review the career/cluster the student is interested in and how their current skills set matches the skills needed for success in that particular cluster.  Coleen Keffeler, CTE Coordinator at Sturgis Brown High School

Benefits for Schools

• Provides a relevant connection to students’ Personal Learning Plans

• Application to School Performance Index (SPI)

NCRC for Accountability

• New accountability system incorporates key indicators of school performance:

High School:1) Student Achievement 2) High School Completion 3) College & Career Readiness

• NCRC incorporated into College and Career Readiness (CCR) indicator of SPI

NCRC for Accountability

• In 2015-16… – Students can take the Smarter Balanced Assessment,

Accuplacer and National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) assessments to help measure College and Career Readiness.

– Scores will be held until the student cohort used to measure ACT attainment is being used in the College Readiness Indicator.

NCRC for Accountability

Assessment Graduating Class Use in Report Card

2015 Smarter Balanced – 11th graders Spring 2016 2016-17 College Ready

results

2014-15 Accuplacer Spring 2015 2015-16 College Ready results

2014-15 NCRC (11th grade) Spring 2016 2016-17 Career Ready results

2014-15 NCRC (12th grade) Spring 2015 2015-16 Career Ready results

2014-15 ACT Spring 2016 2016-17 College Ready results

NCRC for Accountability

• If the NCRC is not taken, can have up to 30 points, 15 points each for subject areas of Math and English/Language Arts

• If students take the NCRC, Math, English/Language Arts, and the NCRC each have up to 10 points

NCRC for SPI

• Options for CCR SPI points:

Option A Option B

Math- 15 pointsELA- 15 points

Math- 10 pointsELA- 10 pointsNCRC- 10 points

Total 30 points 30 points

How does it work?

• Partnership effort:– Department of Labor and Regulation (DLR)– Department of Education (DOE)

• 11th or 12th graders

• Offered at NO cost

How does it work?

• Staff from DLR will travel to your school to administer the assessment

• School provides:– One computer per student for the online assessment– High speed Internet service to support the number of

students taking the assessment simultaneously

• Students will need:– Calculator– Formula Sheet (provided)

How does it work?

• Students complete three assessments– Allowed 55 minutes to complete each

• Schools should plan for 3-4 hours total

Implementation Strategies

• Number of students assessed is up to the district– Intended for ALL students

• Examples: – Half day– Split into two sections during a single day

Prep Work

• Plan time for pre-assessment conversations– Before testing day– On day of test

• Students who have a context around why they are testing tend to be more successful

Accommodations

• Authorized by the Site Administrator/Test Supervisor

• May include: • the use of a sign language interpreter (for test instructions only) • assistance in recording responses • the use of word-to-word foreign language glossaries • testing under extended testing time

• If examinees need other accommodations, they must test using paper-and-pencil materials.

Certification

• Four levels– Bronze (17% of jobs)– Silver (67% of jobs)– Gold (93% of jobs)– Platinum (99% of jobs)

• Students must attain at least the lowest certification level on three WorkKeys assessments

• Physical certificate mailed to students

*in the ACT Occupational Database listing

NCRC in South Dakota

• 2014-15 School Year– 2,655 students participated– 76 school districts

Level of Certification

Student Certification

SD overall (11,151)

National Average

Platinum 7 (.27%) 67 (.6%) 0.53%

Gold 552 (21.04%) 3,115 (27.94%) 20.94%

Silver 1481 (56.46%) 6,442(56.44%) 55.39%

Bronze 395 (16.22%) 1,527 (15.05%) 23.14%

Post-Assessment

• School contact will receive one package within 2-3 weeks with all student certificates

• Each student will receive:– Packet with a cover letter explaining their scores– Score report for each assessment (sample report)– Certificate, if they’ve obtained at least a level 3 for

each assessment

Post-Assessment

• Each school contact will receive:– Cover letter breaking down school results by

assessment and certification standing– Roster report; compilation .pdf of all scores of

the group

Post-Assessment

• Let your local businesses know students have certificates

• Connect students’ skills to Personal Learning Plan and future goals– Course schedules– Dual credit

• Help students search jobs by skills on ACT website– KeyTrain

NCRC Resources

• Results mean something to each student!

I’m interested. How do I get started?

• Pick potential dates for 2015-16

• Determine 11th or 12th grade or combo

• Complete application located at www.sdmylife.com

• Try it on for size yourself

Who do I contact?

• School Performance Index– Department of Education

• Laura Scheibe: (605) 773-4773, laura.scheibe@state.sd.us• Abby Javurek-Humig: (605) 773-4708, abby.javurek-humig@state.sd.us

• NCRC– Division of Career & Technical Education– Keley Smith-Keller: 605-220-3714, keley.smithkeller@state.sd.us

• Schedule NCRC for your school! – Department of Labor & Regulation

• Barb Unruh: (605) 773-5821, barb.unruh@state.sd.us• Heather Nelson: (605) 882-5131, heather.nelson@state.sd.us