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Georgia Work Ready Initiative Ties It All Together:

Lee County Schools Expand KeyTrain Use to Freshman Academy

As the Georgia Work Ready initiative continues to grow in Georgia, school districts are beginning to expand the use of KeyTrain.  Lee County Schools in Leesburg, GA has been using KeyTrain with the Career and Technical Education students for several years because it teaches relevant and usable skills.  Now that these skills have even more relevance as the basis for the state’s work ready credential, further steps are being taken to integrate KeyTrain, including expanding use to the Freshman Academy.

 

The first phase of implementation of KeyTrain at the Lee County Freshman Academy was to train all teachers.  Teachers participated in an onsite training to learn how KeyTrain can be integrated into their current curriculum.  Of particular interest was the remarkable data showing KeyTrain producing very large increases in passing rates of at-risk students on the Georgia High School Graduation Test.  One segment compared a 27% passing rate without KeyTrain to a 96% passing with KeyTrain!

 

Lee County School District is also planning to administer WorkKeys to the senior class as part of the Georgia Work Ready initiative.

 

For additional information contact:  Sandra Parker at parkersa@lee.k12.ga.us


New Feature!

Managing Groups is the latest feature added to the KeyTrain curriculum for KeyTrain administrators.
 

The new Group Management menu allows administrators to gather, edit, merge and delete student groups easily. Groups are large collections of students, often used to identify graduating classes in high schools. The primary function of groups has been to allow administrators to delete a graduating class after they leave the school.
 

To access this menu...

 

>>Click for more info>> 


Impressive Results Presented at the South Carolina KeyTrain Users Webinar

KeyTrain users continue to show impressive results in South Carolina – a fact that was very clear on October 16th during the KeyTrain Users Webinar. New results in special education, WIA, technical colleges and high schools were presented during the online seminar.

 

Lisa Halter, Transition Specialist and Career and Technical Education Director, at Lexington School District Four, discussed the success of KeyTrain with the special education population. Halter explained how the integration of KeyTrain with at risk and special needs students has been an ongoing focus...

 

>>Click for full article>>


On-site Training

On-site training is a three-hour hands-on session that includes topics such as how to run reports and set up accounts, classes and assignments.  If you are interested in on-site KeyTrain training for your organization, please email us at info@keytrain.com


Meet One of Our Team:

Jack Reese

Jack joined the KeyTrain team after retiring from ACT in the role of Director of Postsecondary/Business Services for the Midwest Office of ACT.  In this role for 20 years, Jack was responsible for the advancement of ACT’s college and workforce related programs, including WorkKeys and for providing services to high schools, colleges and businesses in ACT’s nine state Midwest Region.  Jack was part of the team that developed the Illinois Prairie State Exam. 

"Two or three months after retiring from ACT, I realized that life had much more to offer than a day filled with TV and waxing my car. I called Sheila and asked if I could join the KeyTrain team. I'd always felt that KeyTrain staff exhibited the caring, responsive attitude that I was used to when I worked in the Midwest Office of ACT. I couldn't recall any time that I'd contacted KeyTrain with a question or problem that I didn't have an answer or a solution within a very brief period of time. They are a truly customer centered company,” Reese said.  

>>Click for full article>>


Share your story!

 

Do you have a KeyTrain success that you would like to share?  If so, send your information to info@keytrain.com

 


SAVE THESE DATES


November 13, 2008

Strategies for the PSAE: A free webinar for Illinois schools

CLICK HERE to register


December 10, 2008

North Carolina KeyTrain Users Meeting – Wake Technical Community College

CLICK HERE to register

 


November 19 and 20, 2008

The 2008 MICHIGAN WorkKeys Conference
Macomb Community College, Warren MI
CLICK HERE for more information


February 4-6, 2009

Southeastern WorkKeys Conference 
Jacksonville, FL

 


May12-15, 2009

National WorkKeys Conference
San Antonio, TX

Due January 16, 2009:

Proposals for the National WorkKeys Conference:

For details on submitting a proposal to present at the National WorkKeys conference, click here.

 


Watch for announcements for these upcoming events:

 

Success on the Georgia High School Graduation Test with At Risk Students: A webinar  presented by Dr. Jeremy Dockery, Assistant Principal, Americus Sumter High School. 

 

The Oklahoma KeyTrain Users Group – Spring 2009

 

Building a WorkKeys and KeyTrain Community

Lynell Amundson, a Program Manager for Business and Industry at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington recounts this recent experience: A student wanted to be able to provide for her family and knew the type of job and wage needed to do so.  She was interested in a position at a local manufacturer but had no manufacturing experience. Using KeyTrain to prepare for WorkKeys, she scored a 5 in Applied Technology which resulted in her being hired.  Such success stories have helped Amundson build a WorkKeys and KeyTrain community over several years.  Real results get the attention of everyone in the community.

 

Amundson began using WorkKeys several years ago as new employers in the community were seeking an efficient way to hire a workforce.  As Amundson began to work with employers she recognized the need for curriculum to increase skills of job seekers.  After reviewing training products, Amundson and her team moved forward with implementing KeyTrain.

 

KeyTrain was available to job seekers on the Lower Columbia College Campus in an open lab environment.  Job seekers were consistently seeing results...

 

>>Click for full article>> 

 


Michigan Workforce Development Conference Alive with Talk of the NCRC and KeyTrain

The Michigan Works! Association, recognized nationally as the largest and most progressive workforce development association in the country, hosted its annual meeting in Detroit with nearly 800 in attendance.  There was a particular buzz at this year’s conference in light of the fact that the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth has recognized the National Career Readiness Certificate® (NCRC) from ACT as Michigan’s primary workforce skills credential and put forth a plan to offer the NCRC through all 25 Michigan Works! agencies.  The NCRC is based on the WorkKeys® job skills assessment system.  KeyTrain® is the primary training provider and partner for the NCRC effort in Michigan and a Silver Sponsor of the 2008 Conference.

 

>>Click for full article>> 

 


West Virginia Announces State Career Readiness Certificate Program
The Governor’s Office recently announced the development of a statewide Career Readiness Certificate program in West Virginia. The program will formalize activity that has been going on in the state for several years. WorkKeys® has been used and requested by companies in West Virginia for some time. Recently, for example, approximately 350 job applicants were screened with WorkKeys via WorkForce West Virginia as they applied for 24 jobs at Bayer CropScience Institute (Charleston Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.com/Business/200808120222)

KeyTrain® holds a statewide contract for use in Adult Education and is also used in high schools and WorkForce West Virginia sites throughout the state. It will be exciting to see the statewide CRC efforts build upon the outstanding results already experienced from the use of WorkKeys assessments and KeyTrain in West Virginia.


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KeyTrain is a registered trademark of SAI Interactive, Inc.  WorkKeys is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc.