Russell County High School students nearly doubled their "gold level" scores in the ACT's world renowned WorkKeys Assessment.

The WorkKeys assessment remains the only proven system for linking job skills with workplace success.

To earn a "National Career Readiness Certificate", students must take three assessments: Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading for Information. Scores from these assessments give students Bronze, Silver and Gold level certificate rankings.

• Bronze Level Signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 3 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary foundational skills for 35 percent of the jobs listed in the WorkKeys Occupational Profile Database.

• Silver Level Signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 4 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary foundational skills for 65 percent of the jobs listed in the WorkKeys Occupational Profile Database.

• Gold Level signifies an individual has scored at least a Level 5 on each of the three assessments and has the necessary foundational skills for 90 percent of the jobs listed in the WorkKeys Occupational Profile Database.

This form of "job readiness" testing/preparation is used in more than 35 states across the US and recognized in thousands of companies nationwide.

The certificate a student earns can be verified by employers for up to five years from the date of the last test taken, helping individuals find job opportunities wherever they live.

This year's scores have shown a sizeable increase in the percentage of Russell County students who have obtained scores high enough for a gold level certificate.