The National CRC Advocates is an organization designed to help states move their career readiness programs forward. We support and embrace any program that uses a WorkKeys-based career readiness certificate.

Our approach focuses on driving business demand for the Certificate, building best-in-class systems for raising skills and earning Certificates, and creating alignment among all key players including education, workforce development, economic development, and employers. Our expertise in these areas is unparalleled.

 

We advocate Certificate programs that are:

 

• Skills-driven. Prosperity in America depends on improving the skill levels of the American workforce at every level of the talent supply chain. We must close the “skills gap” between current levels and those required for a competitive economy.

 

• Industry-defined. Employers need to take the lead in defining the key competencies required for foundational, industry-wide, and occupation-specific skills within each industry sector.

 

• Competency-based. Skill credentials and assessments need to be based on the competencies empirically documented as necessary to be successful at work.

 

• Employer-driven. Employers, through collaboration with talent suppliers, need to build world class talent supply chains, similar to the way they have built world class product and service supply chains. They must build a new business practice of “talent supply chain management.”

 

• Place-based. Within a statewide implementation and alignment, we recognize that individual labor market transactions take place at the level of a labor market or labor shed. Employer solutions need to be designed and implemented at the scale of regional labor markets, and customized to the needs of each sector within a labor market.

 

• Integrated. Skill standards need to be integrated and aligned across all levels of talent systems, from K-12, through higher education and adult workforce development. This requires an integrated and comprehensive strategy at the state level, across all stakeholders, including: economic development; adult learning; secondary schools; post-secondary institutions; human services; corrections; and workforce development.

 

• Inclusive. We embrace all CRC programs as valued partners and all CRC program leaders and staff as valued colleagues. While we look to ACT to provide leadership and product guidance, we value and support all WorkKeys-based certificate programs.