By Tom Martin
To you, our incredible Board members, thank you for your support of our team this past year. You allowed us to provide more opportunities through now IRC+ to ensure that every student in our CESA is as career and life ready as they can be!
CESA 3’s Career and Life Ready team works tirelessly for our region to streamline and strengthen Industry-Recognized Credentialing (IRC) for students in Southwest Wisconsin. Our new comprehensive IRC+ service directly supports you our schools, professional educators, and—most importantly—students by aligning credentials with high-demand, high-wage workforce sectors like manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, IT, and business.
Why This Matters
According to recent research (Walker et al., 2024), earning an industry credential can significantly boost a student's future earnings:
In manufacturing, a credentialed worker can earn $1,300 more in their first year and $4,300 more by year six compared to a non-credentialed peer.
For students entering the workforce immediately, our Premium IRC+ Model has the potential to increase their cumulative earnings by $21,000 by age 24—right here in Southwest Wisconsin.
While wage enhancement has merit, what further drives CLR is:
1. Bridging the skills gap - industry-recognized credentials get at skills gaps to enhance students’ ability thus verifying then that individuals are job-ready, helping employers confidently hire and train talent through our Youth Apprenticeship program.
2. Fueling regional economic growth - communities that invest in credentialing pipelines often see lower unemployment, more stable industries, and better long-term regional growth. In large part to you, CESA 3 enrolled over 600 Youth Apprentices during the 2024 – 25 year! This is a huge statement that tells the world that Southwest Wisconsin is adamant about growing its own future, fortified by the proof of credentials as key factors into Youth Apprenticeships.
3. Strengthen Public-Private Partnerships – whether a county advisory council, our work with Southwest Wisconsin Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, or with you, CLR is laser focused on enamoring these and other partnerships for our region. Credentials become then one of the key outcomes of those partnerships, speaking to a synergy that’s been created and continues to build, now through IRC+!
What IRC+ offers:
Access to CTE Incentive Grant-approved credential programs, including the state’s only direct-to-district credential kit delivery service! CLR team members deliver thousands of dollars of equipment right to your door, saving your professionals time and effort!
Expert support for integrating IRCs into your CTE programs and academic pathways: since 2017, CESA 3 has been a leader when it comes to when and where credentials make sense in one’s curriculum. Our first and most popular credential, Precision Measurement Instrument (PMI) came as a reaction from industry in that our students were not able to measure proficiently. Through the years, CESA 3 has advised numerous professional educators on when and where our family of credentials makes sense.
Test administration and data tracking to ensure accountability and Perkins compliance – CESA 3 handles all credentialing registration and reporting! All professional educators do is submit a student roster and CESA 3 takes care of the rest. This allows your professionals the time necessary to teach instead of performing administrative tasks.
Strategic connections with regional employers and post-secondary institutions – our partnerships allow us to know what is needed and our focus has now moved to automation and programming. The ability for our students to not only understand how to program but troubleshoot automative technologies will become a paramount occupational passport for your students.
The ability to invest – CESA 3 may soon add another four schools to soon serve 42. With only one PMI kit, there is no way every district gets an opportunity to empower students. IRC+ then is your investment in CESA 3 to purchase more equipment in a cooperative model to provide greater access, opportunity and ultimately regional growth.
More Than a Credential
With IRC+, students graduate not just with a diploma, but with the real-world skills and verifiable credentials employers value.
So, for $3,500, IRC+ provides all the above plus access to CTE Incentive Grant funds. If you certify just five students, you already paid for IRC+!
Want to Learn More?
Let’s talk about how we can upskill our students together—ensuring they are career and life ready in a rapidly evolving workforce.
Contact us today to discuss how your district can be part of the IRC+ movement.
Tom Martin is a CESA 3 Career and Life Ready Coordinator.