Industry certifications are an increasingly critical part of a career and technical education program (CTE). Because industry-recognized certifications give earners a significant advantage in proving their abilities, they’re often viewed as a first step in a successful career in many CTE pathways.
For this reason, CTE programs across the country are looking for ways to integrate more industry certifications into their programs to certify as many graduates as possible.
But how exactly can teachers and administrators go about implementing industry certifications? And what steps can you take to ensure success for students?
In this article, we’ll consider six steps to implementing industry certifications:
- Assess Your Program Needs
- Consider Costs
- Align Your Courses to Industry Certifications
- Train Your Teachers
- Encourage Support for Your Students
- Evaluate Certification Results
When you’ve finished reading, you’ll have a better idea of specific strategies you can adopt to integrate certifications in your program to create opportunities for future CTE graduates.
1. Assess Your Program Needs
At first, implementing industry certifications can feel like a daunting task, but it becomes easier when you start by simply assessing your program's needs.
To start, take a high-level view of your CTE program. Look at all the courses and pathways you offer or plan to offer soon. Do most of your students pursue one or two pathways? Is there an equal distribution of learners across many fields?
Understanding your program will help you recognize where you can start integrating certifications into your program.
If your program is not currently preparing learners for certifications, or has only implemented a few certifications, it’s best to start by pursuing certifications in the pathways where you have the most students enrolled. This helps you maximize your immediate impact by certifying as many students as possible.
However, if you’ve already incorporated several certifications and are looking to expand your offerings, try looking for pathways for which you have few existing certifications. Focusing on offering certifications to these students could increase the popularity of these pathways while better preparing learners for professional opportunities.
Next, you’ll also want to consider any incentives your state has established for implementing industry certifications. In many states, CTE programs which demonstrate high achievement on certifications could be eligible for additional funding or other benefits.
Regardless of if you currently have many certifications or few, you’ll want to consider your program’s capacity to implement these certifications. Some certifications are easy to implement and could dovetail perfectly with existing CTE courses within your program.
On the other hand, other industry certifications could require expanding your course offerings, hiring new teachers, and purchasing new equipment. While this could very well lead to a growing program and expanded opportunities for learners, it may also take more time to plan and budget for these certifications.
Ultimately, taking a broad view of your school’s current offerings will help you make informed decisions about how to best meet your CTE program’s needs both now and in the future.
2. Consider Costs
Once you’ve evaluated your program needs, it’s critical that you consider the costs involved in implementing industry certifications.
Most CTE programs cover the cost of testing their students, at least for each learner’s first attempt at earning a certification.
Schools cover these expenses through a wide range of funding options available to them. Often, schools apply monies from the federal Perkins V Act. Others apply resources available to them through state-specific CTE grants.
Nonetheless, it’s important to understand that not all industry-recognized certifications cost the same. Often, the cost per student could be relatively nominal and easily absorbed by your existing CTE budget. On the other hand, some certifications could cost hundreds of dollars per attempt. Multiplying this by the number of learners could lead to budgetary considerations for your program.
Ideally, administrators should consider certifications which represent a high value to their programs and future graduates. Credentials with strong support in a specific industry and in your local area will be worth your program’s time and money when certified graduates find rewarding jobs that enrich your community.
3. Align Your Courses to Industry Certifications
Perhaps the most impactful step you can take to ensure student success is to align your CTE courses to specific industry-recognized certifications.
Most industry-recognized certifications are designed with certain CTE pathways in mind. This makes it simple to choose courses that best align with a certification and make that credential the culmination of a semester or year of study.
Ideally, students should be ready to take a certification test at the end of a course or sequence of courses in your program. Have your teachers cover certification standards during each class week so that all material is discussed. When exam time approaches, encourage them to host review sessions to prepare learners for test day.
Since your students have been studying certification content all along, they'll be well prepared to sit for the certification exam. When your courses align well with industry certifications, you’ll be on your way to increased pass rates and better job placement for certification earners.
4. Train Your Teachers
Making sure your instructors are ready to prepare students for a new credential doesn’t happen overnight. That’s why it’s important to train your teachers to ensure they are ready to incorporate a new industry certification into their daily instruction.
Since standards for industry certifications often overlap with course requirements set out by state departments of education, there’s a good chance your instructors already have the core knowledge necessary to prepare students for certification success.
However, there’s other steps you can take to help each teacher feel confident in including certification content in CTE courses.
Consider offering professional development opportunities where teachers can learn more about specific certifications and their standards. These sessions allow instructors to learn in a laid-back environment and ask questions about certification requirements and assessments.
You can even go a step further and encourage teachers to earn the certification themselves before preparing students. Teachers who’ve already earned the certification can prove a great asset to their students since they already understand the knowledge and skills required for success.
For certifications on the iCEV Testing Platform, instructors are able to earn the credential at no cost.
Providing teachers with training opportunities will ultimately help them feel more confident in the classroom, making them the leaders their students need as they prepare for certification test day.
5. Encourage Support for Your Students
Once you start preparing students for an industry certification, it’s important to make them aware of the value of this credential and to get them excited about earning it.
You can encourage students by proving how the certification will make a difference in helping them secure a rewarding professional career.
Let businesses and other community partners know about the new certification and encourage them to hire certified graduates. Talk with parents about supporting their children so that as many learners as possible pursue certification.
Finally, support students daily in the classroom with passionate instruction that underscores the value of being industry certified.
6. Evaluate Certification Results
After your first group of students has completed their certifications, it’s time to start evaluating certification performance using data.
Of course, you want as many students as possible to become industry-certified, but when you analyze the performance of your program, you may find that certain courses, teaching strategies, or schools within your district are better at preparing learners for test day. Over time, you may find patterns which can help you decide which industry certifications represent an excellent return on investment, and where you can refine your program to certify even more students in the future.
Using a CTE-specific data management solution such as Eduthings allows you to track the performance of each certification you implement.
When you analyze each certification individually, you’ll be able to glean insights that help you make the most of certifications in your CTE program. From there, you can decide where you can expand your program to offer even more opportunities to the next generation of learners.
Explore Industry Certifications for Your CTE Program
Industry certifications are a vital part of a thriving CTE program, and implementing additional certifications can lead to an abundance of career opportunities for your students.
Now that you’ve considered these specific steps to implementing certifications in your program, the next step is to find certifications that are the right fit for your pathways, teachers, and students.
The iCEV Testing Platform offers a wide range of certifications created by industry leaders in fields ranging from agricultural science to business education. In addition, iCEV provides certification preparation materials for many more credentials not hosted on the platform.
When you visit the certifications page, you’ll learn more about these certifications and preparation materials so you can find credentials and resources to suit your CTE program:
