(Rock County, WI)
A report highlighting the use of the County’s web-based career preparation and readiness platform, which is powered by Career Cruising, was released today. The Spring 2018 Inspire Rock County Report provides a snapshot of the activity, engagement, and trends generated from this workforce development tool. A brief summary of the report is provided below.
The number of students and/or young adults actively using or building-out their Academic and Career Plans (ACP) continues to increase. Of the 15,000+ student ACP’s, nearly 9,500 of those portfolios have at least one saved career. Meanwhile, more than 6,000 of those ACP’s have identified a higher education institution to pursue post-high school graduation. In both cases, these numbers represent a 21% increase from corresponding figures a year ago.
With respect to the number of career-related page views, where students are literally “cruising careers”, about 232,500 page views were recorded during the school year: a 22% increase from the previous year. During this same time period, student and instructor logins climbed by 28%.
The combined volume of message board posts, which represents one measure of career engagement between students and the business community, pushed past the 6,400 mark. If fall 2018 semester follows the trends from this spring, year-end totals for 2018 are expected to match and/or exceed the 2,000+ benchmark set back in 2017. With the merger of the Inspire Rock County and the extended Inspire Madison Region databases, students now have access to more than 650 career coaches.
In terms of work-based activities, data collected from the school districts of Beloit, Janesville and Milton demonstrates that Fall 2017 – Spring 2018 was extremely active. More than 1,800 business partners stepped forward to participate in approximately 900 events, ranging from mock interviews to career exploration days. Combined, these events reached 15,875 high school students. In addition to these customary engagement activities, the Rock Internship Program was launched this spring as one of several new earn-and-learn offerings. Over two-dozen students are participating in this 4-week internship experience, which kicks-off on June 12th with a Signing and Orientation Day event.
For more information about career preparation and readiness in Rock County, please visit www.InspireRockCounty.org and/or connect with your local school district representative.