Work Readiness Standards and BenchmarksThe Key to Differentiating America’s Workforce and Regaining Global Competitiveness 19402© 2013 by ACT, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit our website: www.act.orgJoin the conversation: twitter.com/act facebook.com/theacttest linkedin.com/company/actAbout ACTACT is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides a broad array of assessment, research, information, and program management solutions in the areas of education and workforce development.Our MissionHelping people achieve education and workplace success.Our Values Excellence Diversity Leadership Empowerment Learning Sustainability 3In this report, ACT presents a definition of “work readiness” along with empirically driven ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks. The introduction of standards and benchmarks for workplace success provides a more complete picture of the factors that are important in establishing readiness for success throughout a lifetime. While substantial evidence exists about the types and levels of skills that an individual needs to successfully transition from secondary to postsecondary education, less is known about what an individual needs to transition from postsecondary programs to employment and to achieve work readiness. College readiness standards and benchmarks, which outline the types of skills and achievement levels needed to succeed in first-year credit-bearing courses without remediation, are well established. On the other hand, comparable standards and benchmarks for work readiness—the skills and levels needed to succeed in the workplace—are less documented and not as well understood. In this report, ACT presents a definition of “work readiness” along with empirically driven ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks. What Does It Mean to Be Work Ready?A “work ready” individual possesses the foundational skills needed to be minimally qualified for a specific occupation as determined through a job analysis or occupational profile. The skills needed for work readiness:1. are both foundational and occupation specific,2. vary in both importance and level for different occupations, and 3. depend on the critical tasks identified via a job analysis or an occupational profile. What Skills Are Needed for Work Readiness?Work readiness skills include both foundational cognitive skills such as reading for information, applied mathematics, locating information, problem solving, and critical thinking and noncognitive skills, or soft skills, which are defined as personal characteristics and behavioral skills that enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance, and career prospects such as adaptability, integrity, cooperation, and workplace discipline.What Are ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks?ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks are precise descriptions of the knowledge and combination of skills that individuals need to be minimally qualified for a target occupation and are determined by the level of skills profiled for a national representative sample of jobs in a given occupation. While work readiness standards establish the mix of skills and range of levels reported by employers (i.e., minimum and maximum) for specific occupations, work readiness benchmarks are considered to be a target skill level (i.e., median) that an individual should aim for in order to be considered work ready for that occupation. These standards and benchmarks ensure that current and prospective employees’ skills are aligned with employer skill requirements and that individuals develop the foundational and job-specific skills necessary to be successful throughout a lifetime. Measuring individual skill signatures and employer skill requirements using a common language found in the ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks will help solve the long-standing problem of skill mismatches and gaps by aligning postsecondary curriculum with skills that meet employers’ needs. Executive Summary— Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks 4 WORk READInESS STAnDARDS AnD BEnCHMARkSTable of ContentsOverview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5The k–Career Continuum: Success for a Lifetime...............................5Ready for College and Ready for Work: Same AND Different? ................6A Definition of Work Readiness ................................................7The Source of Truth about Job Skill Requirements: Job Analysis and Occupational Profiles........................................8What Are the Skills Needed for Work Readiness? .............................9Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks .................................9Task List for Accountants .....................................................10Task List for Welders .........................................................10The Role of Foundational Skills for Work Readi