This blog series provides readers with insight on the valuable content that is being shared at the NASDCTEc Spring Meeting. Guest bloggers are partner organizations, supporters and other experts that will be present at the national gathering in Washington, DC in April. We encourage you to join Certiport’s hospitality suite on Thursday evening, April 9th! Details available at the Certiport exhibit table at the Spring Meeting.
In today’s digital age, most schools with successful career and technical education (CTE) programs don’t have to be convinced of the merits of offering industry-recognized certification.  The benefits are clear from engaging students to validating standards to college and career readiness.  However, most educators are overloaded and may not have time to start something new.
Take these simple steps to start now:
First, look at the courses you are offering and see if there is an industry-recognized certification that fits into the current curriculum.  If you don’t have to recreate the wheel it will be very easy to implement.  Do you have a digital literacy or intro to technology course?  Try IC3 Digital Literacy certification.  Teaching a database course for more advanced students?  Look into the Microsoft Technology Associate exam in Database Fundamentals.
Next, funding can be a hurdle to climb.  Get creative – look at Perkins and other grants, or pass the cost on to students.  Once schools see the benefits of certification, they often end up building it into their standard budgets.
Finally, partner with the certification provider and let them help.  They have worked with hundreds, or thousands of schools just like yours and can guide you through the process.
Sean Carchidi, a Computer Maintenance and Repair Teacher at Mercy Vocational High School in Philadelphia found out how easy it can be to add industry-recognized certification to a CTE program.  He says, “Finding the Microsoft Technology Associate certifications completely revolutionized the Computer Technician program at the Career and Technical school where I work…When I saw all of the certifications MTA offers, I started researching how to implement it as part of the curriculum. MTA will help shape the future of the class as we are always exploring new certifications!”
At Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, we have more than 13,000 testing centers set up around the world.  We know how simple it is to become an Certiport Authorized Testing Center today and start offering any of our certifications such as the Microsoft Technology Associate certification program, the Adobe® Certified Associate certification program, or the IC3 Digital Literacy certification.
This June 18 – 20 Certiport will hold the inaugural 2015 CERTIFIED Educators Conference to help you explore the power and potential of technology certification in your classroom.  CERTIFIED will be the place to learn how simple it is to implement certification and hear from others who have done it successfully.
To learn more about how Certiport can help your CTE program teach and validate in-demand workforce skills with industry-recognized certification, visit Certiport at booth or www.certiport.com.
Thank you to Certiport for sponsoring the 2015 Spring Meeting!