After less than stellar test scores from high school juniors taking the HSAP test, this school year marks a new focus in standardized testing.
Shannon Mercer is working to get his Lexington winery up and running very soon.
"We have to work hard, start to look at how we can expand the market and then support that with as many people as necessary," Mercer said.">
That means the Mercer House Estate Winery will be needing more employees in the coming months.
The winery is one of almost 2,000 businesses across the state that support the National Career Readiness Certificate, given to 11th graders after taking a test called WorkKeys.
"We can tell a lot from people to a point and after that having some other tools to help find out where their strengths and weaknesses are, that's a tremendous asset," Mercer said.
The Education Oversight Committe decided to replace the High School Assessment program (HSAP) with WorkKeys, a test that measures what employers believe are critical to job success like applied math, reading for information and locating information.
"We felt like it was time to bring in a much more rigorous piece and therefore be better for the kids in the community and so forth and so on for having a test that was more up to date," Alex Martin with the committee said.
Students can receive anywhere from a level three to seven and earn a bronze, silver, gold or platinum certificate that employers will recognize.
"They can take it multiple times and that gives them a chance to determine whether or not they get to the silver level or the gold level because that in itself gives them opportunities to get in the work place," Martin said.
Martin believes this will help students become more competitive within the state's economy and beyond.
"If you take these tests and you do well it gives you a chance to be in the work place and that's where people want to be," Martin said.
WorkKeys is a test made by the ACT.
Students will take the test in the spring of 2015.
For more information on the test visit their website.
