ACT Newsroom & Blog

Significant loss. In a simple but profound way, significant loss describes the tangible and long-term impact the COVID-19 pandemic has leveled on our nation’s students—and in particular, the class of 2021. 

Those of us who work with students know the college application process can be stressful even in an ordinary year. But this year is different. And, despite the best efforts from those of us who work in education, we are now beginning to see the effect these various forms of significant loss are having on students applying to college.

Earlier this month the Common App reported that the number of college applications from first-generation students and those eligible for fee waivers were each down by 7% compared to last year. This means our most vulnerable students need us now more than ever...and it’s not too late to help!

Understanding the Impacts

No single cause or factor can adequately explain differences among groups of students, but research tells us societal factors, school resources, and family background play a role. From protests for social justice and an unprecedented presidential election to school closures and the move to blended and online learning to job losses and food insecurity, the events of 2020 have surely amplified these factors in the form of trauma, stress, and anxiety. According to a recent survey of high school seniors, 92% reported feelings of fear and anxiety about attending college. Their top concerns are:

• fear of not being able to afford college (69.7%);
• fear of making the wrong decision (51.6%);
• fear of grades and test scores preventing them from getting accepted (46.5%);
• fear of being emotionally/socially prepared (39.8%); and
• fear of moving away from home and fitting in (27.1%).

New data from our partners at Eduventures Research revealed that one-in-two students from the class of 2021 expressed concern about the ability to communicate with their high school counselor and teachers. Further, 65% of at-risk students reported having concerns about applying to college during the pandemic, including concerns about managing applications, wishing they could have visited a campus, and concerns about their grades in remote/hybrid learning. 

Today we celebrate an exciting milestone: more than five million ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificates® (NCRCs®) have been earned since 2006. The NCRC is a nationally recognized credential that validates foundational workplace skills by measuring a range of hard and soft skills relevant to any occupation, at any level, and across industries. The employment and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have only exacerbated the urgent need (for employers, current employees, high school students, work-based learners, the unemployed, and job seekers alike) to recognize this portable, evidence-based credential.

People earn a NCRC by achieving a score of three or higher on ACT® WorkKeys® assessments in Applied Math, Graphic Literacy, and Workplace Documents. Score levels determine whether an individual earns a Platinum, Gold, Silver, or Bronze NCRC, allowing job seekers to demonstrate they're fit for a particular job, and helping employers hire the right people for the right jobs. Scores can be used in hiring and advancement decisions, as well as to track employees’ growth in skills over time.

Each January, Site Selection magazine publishes Regional Workforce Development Rankings and a “State of the States” report to demonstrate the climate of workforce development, of which the NCRC is an important component. Site selectors, workforce developers, and businesses alike rely on this valid and reliable data to understand the quality of the workforce in a particular location.

Last year, ACT had the pleasure of interviewing Editor-in-Chief Mark Arend in a Ready for Work podcast episode about Site Selection and the workforce development climate. Give it a listen if you are interested in understanding why an organization would choose to invest millions of dollars in one area of workforce development over another.

At ACT, it is our mission to create thriving workforce ecosystems that foster economic growth. What sets ACT Workforce Solutions apart is our understanding of the workforce environment and unique solutions that support the success of the community. Workforce development is truly a community effort, but today we celebrate the five million individual NCRC certificate earners. We’re thrilled to celebrate your success, and can’t wait to see where your credential will take you!Learn more about the NCRC here.

Strategies for Crisis Management, Disaster Recovery, and Skills-Based Economic Recovery

No matter what kind of crisis or disaster comes your community’s way (and 2020 has brought many), there are steps you can take to build the resiliency you need and hone the skills and flexibility that will keep your economy thriving.

Here are three techniques for keeping your community resilient, followed by resources to help you along the way.

1. Promote holistic skills to give your community an advantage.

With six decades of helping communities find success, ACT has long known there’s no one path toward a great career or a happy life.

That said, we’ve learned that there are key skills and capabilities that everyone needs to be ready for work. The ACT Holistic Framework––based on decades of robust data about career readiness––shows that it’s not just academic skills and field-specific knowledge that lead to success.

Instead, it’s cross-cutting capabilities like critical thinking and collaborative problem-solving––along with social and emotional skills like self-knowledge, sustaining effort, and keeping an open mind––that can help people thrive even when times are difficult. Mastering these skills allows people to pivot and grow.

What does this mean for community leaders? Thinking holistically about how to develop your workforce will help you promote a community where job applicants are more likely to have the broad range of skills and abilities that organizations are looking for. You may also need to debunk some myths about skills and skills-based hiring in your community. For more about this, listen to our myth-busting episode of the ACT Ready for Work podcast.

2. Develop tech capabilities for remote and flexible work options.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many employers have had to adjust quickly to remote or hybrid work. Many companies and organizations are exploring new ways of making sure their employees are safe, connected, and productive. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has expanded ideas of how and where work can be done. And this has led to some creative thinking about technology and the ways it can promote growth and positive economic outcomes, even through unpredictable and challenging times.

In fact, of the eight skills Forbes calls out as key for success in a post-pandemic world, four are explicitly technology-related. “Whether you work in a factory or an accounting office in a post-coronavirus world,” writes business strategist Bernard Marr, “you need to be comfortable with these tech tools as well as be able to work with them effectively.”

This advice goes both for individuals and the organizations where they work. Smart, strategic investment in training and tech capabilities can help offset losses in productivity due to the pandemic. It can also lead to new, interesting possibilities for growth, both during the disaster and beyond.

3. Foster adaptability in an uncertain world.

Every crisis or disaster is different. The tools that help you manage one crisis may not work for another. A natural disaster response, for example, will call for different resources and processes than a pandemic or a security threat.

But there is one thing that can always help: adaptability.

Adaptability can take many forms––the specifics will depend on your local community, your workforce, and the key industries in your area. Whether it’s developing hybrid models so your staff can work from home or onsite; gathering data to better understand your community’s different capabilities; implementing stackable credentialing programs that allow employees to shift roles and even industries throughout their careers; or any other number of initiatives, there are so many ways to support an adaptive workforce so you can weather any crisis that comes along.

One great resource for leaders looking to promote adaptability in their communities is Strategic Doing, a book about agile leadership, forming collaborations quickly, and making adjustments along the way. We sat down with Ed Morrison, author of the book, to discuss strategic workforce collaboration. Listen to the episode here.

Apply These Strategies

For more information about utilizing these workforce resiliency strategies, download our Toolkit, which includes a five-step framework to help you focus on your community and the progress you’re making towards building a truly resilient workforce ecosystem.

As the Biden team prepares its transition to the White House, it has already signaled promising priorities for learning, education equity, and student success. At ACT, where we are actively working to fight for fairness in education so that all students are able to chase their dreams, we are encouraged by these signals. It is with this in mind that we set forth our “equity wish list” for the next Administration and Secretary of Education.

Ensure that all students—in particular those who are Black, Latinx, or Native/Indigenous, from low-income families, are first generation students and students with disabilities—are given the access and opportunity to succeed in K-12, postsecondary education, and beyond.

Addressing the digital divide, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, is a critical matter that threatens the futures of countless students. Through our research, students have told us that they don’t always have access to connectivity or the devices necessary to support their learning; this includes both urban and rural schools.

ACT supports the Biden administration’s intention to greatly increase funding for Title 1 schools, as our research demonstrates that a focus on access and equity to rigorous coursework will help to close current achievement gaps among students. We share the belief that every student, regardless of economic status, race or ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity or geography should have the tools, support and resources to succeed. Where this does not occur—and that it too often impacts minority and socio-economically disadvantaged students—is where our focus must be to level the playing field and help ensure education and workplace success for all students. To this end, academic measures should shine a light on inequity, gauge progress towards eliminating it, and provide actionable data to inform instructional needs and guide individual interventions. With the educational upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this it now more critical than ever before.

The nation needs to provide more opportunities for first-generation college students to be prepared for, transition to and fund a postsecondary education. President-elect Biden is himself a first-generation student, and so understands the unique challenges first-generation students face. It’s critical that these students are supported academically, financially, and emotionally. Students should have the opportunity to know they are prepared for a postsecondary education and will not be saddled with insurmountable debt. It is also critical that we impart to them the navigation skills needed throughout their education and career journeys that will be critical to their success.

Providing affordable postsecondary education, flexible Pell grants, and dual enrollment will help to ensure access and opportunity for all students, regardless of their education pathway after high school. ACT recognizes the importance of equity of choice—that career success might look different for each student. All students deserve to have the information and skills necessary to help them explore their options within whatever education and career pathway they ultimately choose.

Support students’ mental and social-emotional growth, as an integral part of the learning process.

We support the Biden administration’s vision of bringing needed supports for students and parents into the schools. Academic readiness is critical to student success, and teachers should have the ability to focus on teaching. President-elect Biden’s pledge to invest in mental health professionals will allow teachers to spend more time teaching while our schools help ensure students become physically and emotionally healthy adults.

Addressing the trauma and learning loss relative to the COVID-19 pandemic is paramount to preserving the very foundation of education. Students in high-need communities and, in particular, those from Black and Latinx backgrounds and those who have disabilities, who are suffering from the effects of the pandemic at higher rates, must be supported and equipped for success via comprehensive and culturally relevant social emotional learning efforts.

It is our belief that the whole learner must be supported in order to be successful, and that includes addressing students’ mental health and social and emotional development. Students have expressed, as noted in ACT research, that they need greater access to school counselors and mental health professionals at school. Rural students, in particular, have less access to these kinds of supports than their urban and suburban peers. Increasing the number of school counselors, psychologists, social workers, nurses, and other professionals who are able to support the diverse and complex needs of students will be vital for student growth and success.

Social and emotional learning is a critical component to the development and success of the whole learner. Curricula and tools that support that development—and the teacher professional development to accompany it—are key factors in ensuring that the whole student is nurtured and empowered for success.

Teaching is a critical profession to the health and future of our democracy, and we must protect and ensure it is attractive to diverse groups—both educators new to the profession, as well as those currently doing the hard work in schools across the country. Teachers must have the resources, tools, incentives, recognition and professional development supports needed to achieve success.

In order to ensure a robust and representative teaching profession, we must make certain that those currently in the teaching profession are supported and that those considering this career see it as a viable and attractive option. Students reported to ACT that they are not interested in teaching, in large measure because salary and career advancement can’t compete with other professions. This is a critical barrier to attracting and retaining educators—especially and including those from diverse backgrounds.

ACT believes that we must incentivize training, support, and professional development for teachers and principals to deepen and extend their ability to engage the whole learner, as an integral way to support and empower teachers for success.

Advance and sustain career and technical education as a transparent pathway to workforce engagement, 2-year or 4-year postsecondary success, and/or high-value credential and skills acquisition.

The demand for high-quality CTE programs is increasing and the evidence is strong that quality CTE can provide a powerful motivation for students to graduate from high school and go on to postsecondary education. Teachers and educators are also placing a greater emphasis on the benefits of contextual education that CTE programs can bring. In the full analysis, the opportunity for CTE growth is strong and the potential for increased student success is high.

Given this backdrop, we encourage further efforts to build a national system of data transparency and data accessibility for CTE programs while also building campaigns to promote CTE as an efficient pathway to fast growing industries and long-term educational success. CTE programs provide students with access to internships, apprenticeships and other avenues for workforce training and relationship building. Flexibility in funding models to incentivize and support these efforts are essential components to building a diverse learn and earn ecosystem for the 21st century.

It is our fervent hope to work in collaboration with the incoming administration and next Education Secretary on these priorities that will not only strengthen the educational system today, but help preserve and protect a robust democracy for the future.