How to Launch Industry Certification Programs
Give students every opportunity to succeed
The 101 on CTE & Industry Certifications
This is your moment to transform your Career and Technical Education (CTE) program with a focus on preparing students for life after graduation.
By building a CTE program that leads to industry certifications, you can bring a sense of exploration to your curriculum. These programs go beyond illuminating the possibility of different careers, but lay out the pathways and exact steps on the map to get there.
High-quality CTE programs provide students with knowledge, hands-on learning experiences, and career skills training not typically found in traditional classroom settings. Students then apply the skills to real-world situations in life beyond high school giving them a head start on whatever they wish to do next.
To get started building your program, eDynamic Learning has the expertise to help you. As North America’s largest publisher of digital curriculum for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and electives, we support high-demand career fields that lead to industry-recognized certifications. We’re here to help you help students, by supporting and empowering educators who are guiding students on their journey to life after graduation.
What are Industry Certification Programs?
They’re the competitive advantage.
Completing CTE courses and industry certifications show a mastery of, or competency in, specific knowledge, skills, or processes measured against a set of accepted standards. Students who have access to CTE courses and industry certifications are better prepared for the modern workplace.
They learn valuable job skills before they even receive a high school diploma.
Enhancing employability
Promoting career advancement
Providing networking opportunities
Encouraging personal development
CTE programs are smart for students, and a good idea for us all. As a nation, there is a skills gap crisis making it important that more students are aware of all career options.
“According to the California Department of Education, there will be 47 million job openings in the next decade. One-third of these jobs will require a certificate or associate’s degree, and nearly all of them will require real-world skills that can be learned through CTE courses.”
Are your students ready to meet those demands? With an industry certification program, you can ensure that students are ready by offering career programs that lead to industry credentials.
The Lasting Benefits of CTE Programs
The skills learned through CTE put students on a path toward high-demand and high-wage careers, ultimately benefiting individual students and their communities. When those courses lead to industry-recognized certifications, students become a powerhouse of potential.
Benefit 1: A Powerful Differentiator
» Industry certifications improve college applications, demonstrating a dedication to learning and commitment to a professional field.
» They prep for internship or apprenticeship.
» Students can access better jobs with better wages (including part-time work if they are also seeking advanced degrees).
» CTE programs can attract students and provide a district with a competitive advantage over one that doesn’t offer career programs.
» CTE programs decrease absenteeism and increase graduation rates as students connect the relevance of education with employment and their future selves.
Benefit 2: Development of Critical Interpersonal Skills
In a research study conducted by Harvard University in conjunction with the Carnegie Foundation and Stanford Research Center, it was found that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft and people skills, and only 15% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge (hard skills).
“Three critical components that give young people a competitive advantage: robust academics, technical competency, and professional skills—also known as soft skills.” - Mark C. Perna, Speaker, Author, & Generational Expert CTE programs give students all three!
Benefit 3: Confidence in Career Exploration
Hindsight is 20/20, but with CTE programs students can literally work smarter, instead of harder or longer. The rising costs of higher education necessitates career exploration prior to jumping into a program. CTE courses enable students to feel confident in their curriculum choices as they navigate a pathway towards not just a career, but a high-wage, high-demand career.
Benefit 4: Enriches the Local Community
An industry certification can help students obtain jobs and help fill labor shortages in the region they receive them, positively impacting the area’s economic growth as those students are able to earn more, and spend more.
“Communities benefit from a skilled workforce that enters the job market with current knowledge and competencies aligned with the needs of the local economy.” - Lisa Rahn, Chief Product Officer at eDynamic Learning
As education leaders, you strive to prepare all students for life after high school. The great news is that whether they plan to go straight into the workforce, pursue an associates degree, or attend a four-year university, CTE programs can benefit their future.
Think Backwards to Go Forwards
eDynamic Learning takes a backwards design approach by starting with the industry certification exam requirements to create a structured career pathway. This ensures that students learn what they need to know when they need to know it. Exploration is essential, but the goal of your CTE programs should be to enable students to succeed after they complete the program. In many cases this means passing industry-recognized certification exams, so the curriculum needs to meet those exam requirements and equip students with the skills and knowledge they need.
We’ve found that there are often three main challenges to getting CTE programs installed
Creating Programs of Study Putting a Pathway in Place
We’ll dive into these challenges and demonstrate how eDynamic Learning can help you overcome any obstacles.
Creating Programs of Study
A large barrier for some educators can be the small class sizes within their CTE program. If career education currently takes place as just an elective, students most likely are not getting the full instruction needed to support an industry certification.
Students should begin high school with a plan in mind, taking a sequence of courses that build on each other. We’ve outlined pathways in alignment with industry certifications so you can see exactly the courses that would be involved in preparing students. You may be surprised to learn that some certifications can be prepared for in as little as one year if you are looking to take small steps into industry certification programs. Just like your students, it’s perfectly fine to start at the beginning.
Ensuring Students Will Achieve Success
Putting a Pathway in Place
Sometimes the biggest challenge is creating something from nothing. If this is a new process for your district or school, you’ve found the right materials. In partnership with educators and experts, we’ve outlined 12 career clusters supporting 34 pathways or sub-clusters for you to jump start and to make planning your CTE program easy.
View all 34 pathways and 67 career tracks for yourself.
With our flexible licensing models, professional development, and instructional services we can partner with you to implement any or all of these pathways as options for your students.
Ensuring Students Will Achieve Success
eDL career tracks built to lead to certifications are backward designed to ensure student success. Just as core curriculum is derived from state standards to ensure students are learning what they need to, we need to ensure students are learning the material they will be assessed on in industry certifications. And our CTE course pathways come with the eDynamic Learning P.A.S.S. Promise. We’re so confident your students will pass these exams, that we will pay for them to retake the tests if they don’t.
How To Set Up a Program of Study Leading to Industry Certification
You’re on your way to creating a CTE program that leads to Industry Certification, and eDynamic Learning can help make it easy to launch. Provide even more amazing opportunities for your students, and your community in four easy steps.
CTE and Industry Certification program check list
Identify which careers excite your students most and skills gaps in your region to inform CTE offerings
Decide pathways that lead to industry-recognized credentials
Know how Perkins V can fund CTE programs and what other funding opportunities may exist at the state and local level
Understand if your state offers an incentive program for districts with students who pass certification exams
Involve guidance counselors and other key members of the school team early in the pathway planning process
Find instructors to support those pathways
Promote the pathways to students, families, local employers, and the community
The best time to begin is now. Let’s get started checking off this to-do list.
Step 1
Choose Industry-Recognized Certifications
First, ensure that these are certifications desired by your students and support local employment needs. Students will be more motivated to jump into these opportunities. You can also gain insight from relevant Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) and professional associations.
Need more ideas? Here are industry areas supported by eDynamic Learning
» Digital Technology
» Advanced Manufacturing
» Health & Human Services
» Education
» Management & Entrepreneurship
» Marketing & Sales
» Hospitality & Events
» Agriculture
» Arts, Entertainment & Design
» Energy & Natural Resources
» Financial Services
» Public Services & Safety
Build Pathways & Create Curriculum
View our pathways
Now that you know your destination, you can chart the best route. Determine which courses need to be offered within a pathway to ensure it fits into your program, whether that be one year or up to four years.
Ask the relevant questions such as, “Is practical experience required? What about internships? Are there hands-on skills or lab requirements?” These elements should be built into the pathway to ensure students don’t miss a step on their journey. Then, identify the skills and knowledge that will be assessed to ensure material can be covered in your curriculum.
We invite you to work smarter, not harder by using award-winning, expert-created Digital Curriculum from eDynamic Learning that’s backwards designed to meet industry certification requirements. In addition to courseware, eDynamic Learning offers Knowledge Matters simulations for business, hospitality, marketing, and healthcare, which provides learners with an opportunity to put theory into practice in a virtual environment.
Step 2 Step 3
Find Instructors to Support those Pathways
Teachers with passion for their curriculum would be the desired educators for any subject. There is also an advantage in drawing from a pool of industry professionals. In some cases, you may find that finding and hiring a teacher is either cost-prohibitive (not enough students enrolled in a unique option) or proving difficult (not the right alignment of talent available locally).
The good news? eDynamic Learning can be a partner in this search by providing instructional services: certified teachers, who can provide instruction on the over 250 courses in their catalog, including 34 CTE pathways that prepare students for more than 100 industry certifications.
Did you know?
Recently, the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) authored a White Paper detailing strategies for addressing teacher shortages in CTE. It explores considerations and provides examples for addressing CTE teacher shortages in the short and medium term through such methods as bringing industry experts into the classroom, sharing faculty across subject areas and institutions, and providing virtual instructors.
This white paper shares how CTE programs and institutions have innovated to ensure students have access to industry expertise and qualified teachers. Download ACTE’s “Staffing Outside the Box: Strategies for Addressing CTE Teacher Shortages” today.
Promote! Attract Students & Families
It’s time to talk up your program to everyone who will be part of it
Share the value of CTE and industry certifications, highlighting the potential job opportunities as much as possible.
Need to add in some reassurance? eDynamic Learning’s CTE course pathways come with a Preparing & Assessing Skilled Students (PASS) Promise. Meaning we’re so confident students will pass these exams, that we will pay for them to retake the tests if they don’t.
Learn more about PASS Promise here!
How To Facilitate Certification
Ease test-day jitters with simple steps you can communicate to students and their families.
» Identify the certification sign-up process and when results are provided.
» Research certification exam details, requirements and cost.
» Provide certification sign-up instructions to families or determine a school process to facilitate sign-up on behalf of students.
Use the results timeline to manage your communications and remind families that with the PASS Promise from eDynamic Learning, their student will be eligible for a free retake if needed.*
*Requirements apply. Please see edynamiclearning.com/industry-certifications for additional details.
Teaching is my passion and I have thoroughly enjoyed introducing my students to the IT field using these courses. In the Unit 2 of the Principles of IT course activity, they are asked to create a website using Google Sites. My students loved this activity. In fact, my students were so excited about creating their own websites that they asked if they could share their website with one another. My students had a blast sharing their websites and were so encouraging of one another. I have had students tell me how much they love my class and they regularly thank me for teaching them. This is what makes my job so rewarding.
We take pride in the fact that our solutions and services are designed to empower educators and students alike, enabling them to take a transformative journey of exploration, engage in learning, and participate in real-world experiences.
Interested in learning how eDynamic Learning curriculum can transform your classroom and prepare students for the workforce, entrepreneurship, the military, college or whatever path they take? Contact the curriculum experts at eDynamic Learning to help build or scale your programs of study that lead to industry certification.
This is your opportunity to turn school into an opportunity for exploration for your students. Together, we can help them take the journey.
-Kimberly Schor, Technology Instructor Have Questions?
Contact us today so we can help you succeed in connecting students to career pathways.