ACT provides instructional support through a series of guides for schools and training organizations. The purpose of the guides is to supplement or reinforce existing curricula. The reporting facet gives individuals, educators, and businesses information provided by the job profiles, skills assessment, and instructional support to determine career choices, plan training programs, and screen prospective employees. Work Keys is used statewide in 4 to 6 states, including Ohio, where 40,000 students took the test during the 1993-94 school year. The test is also utilized in various cities and districts in 37 states, including Omaha.
Costs vary per pupil, depending on the number and extent to which the assessments are used.
Dr. Hayden said that high school students, community college students, and adults moving from welfare to work are the most frequent Work Keys test-takers. ACT, organized in 1959, develops and publishes standardized tests in the United States, including the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the ACT college entrance exam. The organization claims that Work Keys is one of its fastest-growing programs in America. Through late 1996, 1.5 million Work Keys assessments had been administered.