GA KeyTrain Users Meeting

Nearly 100 gathered for the first annual Georgia KeyTrain Users Group meeting at Central Georgia Technical College in Macon.  The purpose of KeyTrain Users Group meetings which are held in various states is to introduce new features of the KeyTrain curriculum, present best practices and feature various implementations of KeyTrain from actual users.

The day began with a welcome from President Ron Natale who has been involved with WorkKeys from many years. The event included speakers from Clayton County Public Schools, Northeast Regional Development Center, ACT, KeyTrain, Baldwin High School, Governor’s Office of Workforce Development and First Quality Retail Services (formerly Covidien).

Owners of KeyTrain, Dr. Dane and Sheila Boyington began the day sharing info on new features of KeyTrain and the status of Career Readiness Certificates nationally.  Fred McConnel and Steve Wilson from the Governor’s GA WorkReady team discussed current state efforts and reviewed the valuable website that the state has created at www.gaworkready.org

Tim Schmitt, School Improvement Specialist at Clayton County Public Schools discussed the implementation plan for KeyTrain in a large school district.  Setting measureable goals with an implementation team will be the key to the success of KeyTrain in their district.

The mobile lab operated by the Northeast Regional Development Center was highlighted by Ray Stowers, who manages the lab.  Despite the hot day in Macon, many in attendance visited the lab and learned how it is used to reach potential clients in their service area.

Bob Felty of ACT/WorkKeys discussed the Talent, Performance and Fit assessments that are available through WorkKeys and how to interpret the results for clients.  KeyTrain is aligned with Talent, Performance and Fit assessments.  For more information about WorkKeys personal skills assessments: http://www.act.org/workkeys/assess/personal.html

Baldwin High School under the leadership of Dr. Jeremy Dockery had 90% of the population using KeyTrain pass the Georgia High School Graduation Test.  Additionally,  92% of Baldwin High School graduating class of 2008 received a Georgia Work Ready Certificate.  The increased success at Baldwin High School was attributed to the integration of KeyTrain in its curriculum and the plan for next year includes all students using KeyTrain.

The icing on the cake was the final  speaker, Naomi  Stifter, Human Resource Manager at Quality Retail Services.  Naomi was able to show the success at their company (through the partnerships that were established with the local technical college) has saved her company millions of dollars.  The ability for Quality Retail Services to continue to be a competitive manufacturer is credited to the implementation of WorkKeys, KeyTrain and the Georgia Work Ready program.