RECERTIFICATIONS

This has been a very busy four months. This year my automotive program had to be re certified from NATEF and AYES. The NATEF re certification finished up about four weeks ago. About three weeks ago Ms. G scheduled her observation visit to my class for November 28th at 1:30, which was fine. About two weeks ago, the lady from AYES also scheduled on the 28th at 10:00. Needless to say Wednesday was a very hectic day, but all went well. During Ms. G's visit the students were scheduled to work in groups in the lab. Everything went great. Also, our AYES re certification went well. All the hard work has paid off and now we are re certified in both areas.

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND

CEFGA visit

Hey Gang,
I had a visit from a CEFGA rep yesterday (Construction Education Foundation of Georgia). My program hasn't been through industry certification yet. CEFGA is the outfit that oversees the process for the construction related programs throughout most of the state. I've been to 1 CEFGA workshop. The instructors are great, they run a top-notch program and they mean well. But.....I have a problem with the so-called "state mandates". They have a cookie-cutter approach as to how a construction shop should be set up. The second level course, Intro to Building, covers all 4 trade areas, Carpentry, Plumbing, Electrical and Masonry. The state expects you to teach all 4 areas simultaneously! With the mentality of the majority of the kids I have I think it would be a mad house, if it isn't already! Coming from the industry after 25 years I have my doubts as to the real validity of the certificates that the students receive as a result of completing certain units that are covered in each trade area. In all the years that I was involved in the industry a certificate didn't mean anything. Performance spoke volumes to an employer. The first level construction course, as directed by the state, is almost entirely held in the classroom. Very little time is spent in the shop, were the kids most want to be, were they become more proficient with the different tools. I should think that working and strengthening their ability to perform should take precedent over just learning about the different tools. With all of this said I'm having a problem with the whole structure of this accreditation thing. There is $15,000 dollars of grant money available to finance the process. The catch is that you pretty much have to spend it the way they tell you. Please give me some real positive input on this subject if you can because if this is nothing more than the state programing the robot that they think I am, then I'm going to have real problems with it.

Speaking of extraordinary gentlemen

Gary B. came out to my school today and stayed to about 7:30 working with the Certification team from NATEF. We called him last week ,so he had very little notice but he made it and helped us considerably.
Just wanted to pass on a special thanks to gary.

Program Accreditation

This week had been a happy one as one of my colleague got his program accredited. As I celebrate this success, I am still asking myself some questions about the true meaning of the program certification. My first thought goes to the students. I value the fact that parents, political leaders, businesses need to be certain the students that they will be hiring are being well-taught and are getting the best education through the programs that we are teaching; but what about providing the kids with the opportunity to prepare for the real test, exam or certification required by the same industry or business?
The healthcare science teachers prepare their students for CNA exams with the support of types of funding but about the other programs? Why should students have to leave our programs and go pay tremendous amount of money for certain programs?
I know that everything can not be done but a little certified paper attesting that the student has successfully accomplished the training in a particular area would be better than a mere letter of recommendation.