What is the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC)?

 

The National Career Readiness Certificate examination assesses an individual’s skill level in three areas deemed critical for employability: Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information. ACT, the organization that developed the college testing standard, researched over 16,000 occupations before developing these three WorkKeys® assessments for the NCRC.

Just as the ACT score indicates the college readiness of all students, the NCRC assesses the career readiness of all students and serves as a reliable predictor for workplace success of any applicant, student or adult. Thousands of private and public employers now ask for or require NCRC scores as part of the application process.

NCRC is awarded at four levels:  Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. Each is an objective validation to employers anywhere in the U.S. that an individual has met or exceeded the necessary foundational skills for a percentage of the 16,000 occupations in the WorkKeys database. For example, a Gold certificate verifies that an individual has the necessary skills for 93% of occupations. An employer may use NCRC scores for baseline applicant screening; hiring and promotion decisions; and targeting employee training and development.

Whatever a student’s post-secondary educational plans – college/university, technical school, apprenticeship, or industry training – the NCRC is a critical addition to a student’s portfolio and résumé.

Every senior enrolled in a TCD program will prepare for and take the NCRC. Preparation takes place through an online tutorial called KeyTrain. Throughout most of the year, students are expected to complete 30 minutes of KeyTrain tutorials per week, logging into the system while at TCD or at home. The NCRC examination takes place during the second semester.

For more information about the NCRC, visit www.NationalCareerReadiness.org.

1 Platinum certificate (achieved by 1% of those tested in the nation; ready for 99% of 16,000 careers in the ACT database)
111 Gold certificates (ready for 93% of careers in the ACT database)