Testimony — ACT, Sub. S.B. 1, House Economic and Workforce Development Committee (March 28, 2023)

Summary

Testimony from ACT dated March 28, 2023, addressed to Members of the House Economic and Workforce Development Committee. ACT states its support for provisions of the substitute bill that require DEW to develop informational materials on career opportunities for seventh and eighth grade students. It describes its WorkKeys assessments and says the National Career Readiness Certificate is recognized by over 20,000 employers nationwide. It also supports Section 6301.04, which requires the Governor to appoint the Deputy Director of Primary and Secondary Education and the Deputy Director of Career-Technical Education to the Governor's Executive Workforce Board. The text ends with the names of Rose Babington and Mary LeFebvre of ACT.

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“Testimony — ACT, Sub. S.B. 1, House Economic and Workforce Development Committee (March 28, 2023).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2023-03-28-econ-workforce-dev-testimony-testimony-1974-325ece55ab/, SHA-256 5ca1a8a5b598bf9c365c1e07290397c98faf29755d766135ffaa0a70c332e54c.

Full text

March 28, 2023

Recipient Name
Re: Sub. S.B. 1

Members of the House Economic and Workforce Development Committee:

ACT is here to state our support to provisions in Sub. S.B. 1 which require DEW to develop and
make available informational materials for seventh and eighth grade students regarding career
opportunities available to them, including in-demand Ohio jobs. The materials also must
address how a career-technical education may help those students satisfy Ohio’s high school
graduation requirements.

It may come as a surprise to some members of this Committee that ACT would provide
testimony in support of provisions related to career readiness. We are primarily known as the
non-profit that has provided the ACT college readiness assessment for over 60 years. To be
fair, we did name the company after the product. But what might be less known is that ACT as a
company has been measuring and certifying career readiness for over 30 years. ACT WorkKeys
assessments measure the foundational skills necessary to succeed in any career path or career
training program and are designed to align to specific employer needs. Combined with 100%
aligned curriculum and a nationally recognized career readiness credential, the system can
assess, build, and document the skills to certify that an individual is ready for success in any job
throughout the economy.

ACT certifies foundational career readiness for students and adults in over 22 states as part of
career exploration programs, graduation requirements, federal accountability, employment
training, and re-entry programs. We have issued over 5 million ACT National Career Readiness
Certificates, the most recognized credential of foundational skills in the country. ACT’s NCRC
(as it is commonly known) is recognized by over 20,000 employers nationwide, and the
aggregate data from the employer skill requirements is leveraged to provide career readiness
data that is tied to labor market information for students and adults. Aggregate NCRC data is
also utilized by states and communities for site selection and economic development. Our
company understands the power of data to inform student choices. That is why we are here
today.

ACT supports efforts that provide career awareness activities beginning earlier in a student’s
education. Specifically, ensuring that middle school students have the opportunity to enroll in
courses that seek to familiarize students with potential career pathways to keep students
engaged with their learning and help them begin to formulate a plan for their future. ACT
understands that education consists of much more than just academic learning and has
positioned our research around the understanding that many dimensions of readiness, including
career navigation, empowers people to achieve both education and career success.

500 ACT Dr.
319.337.1000 act.org Iowa City, IA 52243-0168
It is our hope that introductory or exploratory CTE courses that seek to familiarize students with
industries, careers, and available credentials will not be overshadowed by other priorities such
as core academic courses and are offered consistently across the state school system.
Students in Ohio need greater exposure to CTE courses earlier in order to capitalize on this
important moment in their educational pathway. It should therefore be our aim to ensure that
middle school students have the opportunity to enroll in introductory or exploratory CTE courses
that seek to familiarize students with potential CTE pathways to keep students engaged with
their learning and help them begin to formulate a plan for their future.

Career exploration is more than just exposure and interest. Labor market information tied with
data on the foundational skills needed for entry into careers enables students to make more
informed decisions about their next step after high school. Foundational career readiness skills
data can, for example, let a student know that higher levels of math are in fact very important for
careers in the trades and can reinforce the relevance of the material they are learning in the
classroom.

ACT also supports the provisions in Sub. S.B. 1 which require DEW to participate in the process
established under continuing law to identify and publicize in-demand jobs as well as Section
6301.04 which requires the Governor to appoint the Deputy Director of Primary and Secondary
Education and the Deputy Director of Career-Technical Education to the Governor’s Executive
Workforce Board.

Oftentimes, educators and employers speak different languages in terms of what is needed to
prepare students for career success. ACT supports state workforce board structures that
acknowledge the importance of aligning and more deeply integrating efforts across the
education and workforce sectors. Even more importantly, we support more close integration of
education and workforce activities to define and communicate what in-demand careers and
work based learning activities are available to students in Ohio. ACT’s mission of helping people
achieve education and workplace success is reflective of how deeply we believe in better
alignment of education and workforce policy in order to meaningfully improve individual career
paths.

Rose Babington, Director of State Partnerships, ACT

Mary LeFebvre, Director of State Government Relations, ACT

500 ACT Dr.
319.337.1000 act.org Iowa City, IA 52243-0168

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