Overview of Skills:
USASkillsUSA is a national membership association serving high school, college and middle school students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations, and for further education. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA helps each student excel.
Membership:
More than 360,000 students and advisors join SkillsUSA each year, organized into more than 19,000 local chapters and 52 state and territorial associations. In 2016, 20,365 teachers served as professional members and SkillsUSA advisors. Combining alumni membership, the total number impacted annually is over 420,000. SkillsUSA has served more than 12.5 million members since its founding in 1965.
Mission:
SkillsUSA empowers its members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. SkillsUSA improves the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce through the development of Framework skills that include personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics.
Vision:
SkillsUSA produces the most highly skilled workforce in the world, providing every member the opportunity for career success.
Partners:
More than 600 business, industry and labor organizations actively support SkillsUSA at the national level through financial aid, in-kind contributions, and involvement of their people in SkillsUSA activities. Many more work directly with state associations and local chapters. Commitment by industry to the annual national SkillsUSA Championships is valued at more than $36 million.
Programs:
SkillsUSA offers local, state and national opportunities for students to learn and practice personal, workplace and technical skills. These three components comprise the SkillsUSA Framework, a blueprint for career readiness. Local chapters conduct a full program of work and many students also attend a district or state conference. At the SkillsUSA Championships, more than 6,000 students compete in 100 occupational and leadership skill areas each June. These national technical competitions help establish industry standards for job skill training and entry-level workers. SkillsUSA is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a successful model of employer-driven youth development training.
SkillsUSA Connect Assessment Exam:
Formerly known as Skill Connect Assessments, SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Assessments, provides a path to other professional certifications and pave the way ahead for our future workforce.
The SkillsUSA Career Essentials suite provides assessments for career and technical education that are supported by industry, education and policy leaders. SkillsUSA Career Essentials: Assessments parallels SkillsUSA’s successful philosophy of hands-on, authentic methods. The system helps instructors prove the benefit of their programs and helps students develop rewarding careers.