Caldwell County Schools

• 2025-2026 CCS Curriculum Guide
• Math Options Chart

What is ACT WorkKeys?

ACT WorkKeys is an ACT assessment that is administered to all North Carolina Career and Technical Education Concentrators the year that they will graduate high school.  A CTE Concentrator is a student who has completed a career pathway program of study through their high school or Career and College Promise courses. The ACT WorkKeys assessment measures employability skills that are critical to job success. These skills are essential to any occupation, skilled or professional, at any level of education and in any industry. CTE Concentrators participate in the following ACT WorkKeys assessments at their high school during the designated testing windows:

• Workplace Documents

• Applied Mathematics

• Graphic Literacy

By taking the ACT WorkKeys tests, students can earn a Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) and a National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC). CRCs and NCRCs are awarded at four different levels: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.

For more information on how to become a CTE Concentrator or if you have questions on whether your child is eligible to take the WorkKeys test, please contact your school Career Development Coordinator (CDC).

• NC Department of Public Instruction – Career and College Promise
• What is Career and College Promise?
• CTE Pathway
• Explore CCC&TI Career and College Promise Pathways

• Occupation Exploration in NC
• Exploring Careers for Students (K-12)
• Career Development Resources
• NC Careers

Work-Based Learning Opportunities

Work-based Learning (WBL) is an integral educational strategy within the Career and Technical Education (CTE) system, dating back centuries. It provides students with real-life work experiences, allowing them to apply academic and technical skills while developing crucial durable employability skills. Work-based learning experiences for developing career PARTICIPATION include:

1. Cooperative Education (Cooperative Work Experience): A creditbearing component within the CTE curriculum, this structured program seamlessly blends classroom instruction with hands-on, paid work experiences aligned with students' career goals. Enrollees in cooperative education programs must concurrently (or within the same academic year) participate in the associated CTE course. 
2. Internship:  A highly structured, time limited credit-bearing work-based learning experience where a student participates in the daily operations of a work site under the direct supervision of a business mentor. The internship provides a realistic environment within which a student intern learns about a particular industry or occupation and applies knowledge and skills learned in the classroom. The work experience should contribute to the student's career pathway helping the student to narrow their career choices. Internships can be paid or unpaid and can be compensated in various manners.
3. Pre-apprenticeship: A credit-bearing recruiting and screening tool designed to prepare the student to succeed in a registered apprenticeship. It gives the employer and student the opportunity to determine if the apprenticeship is the right fit for the future apprentice. Pre-apprenticeships have the same components as an apprenticeship, but all three components are not required. It could consist of on-the-job learning, related instruction, or a combination of both, and may be paid or unpaid. Students performing work independently and positively impacting a company’s return on investment (ROI) must be paid. Students participating in pre-apprenticeship earn a state certificate. 
4. Apprenticeship: An innovative credit-bearing system of skilled occupational training that combines practical work experience, on-the-job learning, with related academic and technical instruction, and wages earned for skills gain, called a progressive wage scale. All three components are required. Through this earn and learn model, students also earn a state and national credential, or Journey Worker Credential, upon completion of an apprenticeship.