Program/Practice Description: The National Work Readiness Credential (NWRC) is a nationally recognized credential that benchmarks foundational skill readiness for entry-level employment. To qualify for the credential, program participants must successfully pass four proctored assessments measuring a combination of applied, career-contextualized math, reading, listening, and situational judgement soft skills including conveying professionalism, communicating effectively, promoting teamwork and collaboration, and thinking critically and solving problems.

The qualifying assessments and credential were developed and first published in 2006 by the National Work Readiness Council (nwrc.org), a nonprofit workforce development, training and advocacy organization founded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a consortium of state workforce agencies in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia. Employers across industries, chambers of commerce, unions, educators, and workforce training professionals were engaged in the design at each stage of the five-year development process. In 2015, the Council partnered with WIN Learning (winlearning.com), a national career readiness solutions company, as the sole source provider of the NWRC.

Comprehensive online curriculum is now offered to support program participant skill development and preparation for the NWRC assessments. The four qualifying NWRC assessments are proctored, delivered online, and take 55 minutes each to complete. Upon successfully passing all four qualifying assessments, the program participant is automatically awarded an electronic NWRC that may be printed or downloaded and shared with prospective employers.

Innovations and Results: The NWRC is currently being implemented in 28 states by high schools, adult education programs, juvenile justice and corrections providers, and other community-based workforce development organizations. The NWRC is –

• providing educator and workforce professionals highly effective tools to advance student / jobseeker career readiness;
• giving program participants a competitive edge in pursuing post-secondary education / training and employment;
• saving employers time and money by taking the guesswork out of the hiring process; and
• accelerating the development of the work ready talent necessary to grow state and local economies.

Validity and Reliability: The underlying NWRC standards are based on the Equipped for the Future standards developed by the National Institute for Literacy (nifl.gov) in partnership with the Center for Literacy, Education and Employment (clee.utk.edu) at the University of Tennessee and supported by more than 20 years of employer-focused research into the skills required for entry-level employment and job retention. The NWRC assessments have been extensively field tested and determined to be valid and reliable predictors of readiness for entry-level work and on-the-job training.

Costs: Implementation partners pay an annual $500 participation fee. The four assessments required to earn the NWRC start at $18 per learner / $4.50 per assessment; the curriculum starts at $45 per learner; and a combination of assessments and curriculum starts at $55 per learner. The assessments and curriculum may be purchased separately and discounts are offered based on volume.