The Governor's Office in Austin, Texas, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Texas Workforce Commission are coming together to expedite the time it takes students to earn a certification for high-skilled fields of work. Governor Rick Perry announced their plan known as the Skilled Workforce Initiative this past Tuesday in Harlingen, Texas. Many certifications will be obtained quicker by using competency-based tests to prevent students from being lectured upon subjects they have already mastered. This quicker, more efficient means of obtaining a certification is a result of the demand for more high skilled workers in numerous industries.
Recently the manufacturing sector in Texas has seen job demand almost double in just the past three years. Furthermore the industry is projected to grow by 10 percent by 2020. In order to keep up with the demands and growth of the many industries in Texas, more high skilled workers will be needed faster.
The framework of technical training is being developed by the Texas State Technical College System along side its fellow state agencies and Texas' industrial employers. The model will be sure to produce the same high quality trained workers as before but in less time. It will also be more affordable and will be targeted to very specific skills in demand. Skills that workers already have will be considered and credited to certifications.
The first effort with the initiative will target jobs for advanced manufacturing and industrial business sectors. The design of the program however will be very versatile and may be applied to any other industry or sector. Once an industry's needs are met the program will be adjusted accordingly.
Specific groups such as veterans, displaced workers, and career-focused high school graduates will be targeted by the initiative to maximize their potential for the job market. Many of these candidates for jobs have experience and training but no certification. This initiative hopes to change that and get more Texans employed.
The College Credit 4 Heroes program launched earlier this year specifically rewards veterans for the training they have received, during their military service, through institutions and some community colleges. This is a great example of using a competency-based approach to consolidate course requirements to arrive at a degree or certification.
Sen. Dan Patrick, the Texas Chair of the Senate Education Committee, was praised by Governor Perry after he sent a letter to the State Board of Education encouraging them to double the number of approved Career Tech courses available to students in Texas. These courses prepare students to be ready to work upon graduating in numerous fields. With the efforts of all of these committees, boards, commissions, and agencies, Texas is well on it's way to broadening the opportunities for potential employees and employers. Competency-based certifications should help Texans quickly receive skills to meet our state's growing industry demands.
A classmate of mine posted an interesting and well-written article on competence-based certification in Texas on his blog. It can be found here. I really enjoyed reading the blog post for many reasons. First, I had not heard of these new, modified regulations for certification, nor had I really thought about the increased need for such workers. Secondly, the grammar and structure of the article made reading and understanding his ideas simple. Lastly, I'm glad to know that red-tape is being cut down and qualified workers are receiving certifications needed to further their careers.
ReplyDeleteI have at least two suggestions for the author of this blog post. The first is that he could make his personal opinion on the matter clearer. While he did a good job reporting the facts, I couldn't clearly tell if he was in support of this new competency-based certification or not. He didn't speak against it at all, so I believe he is for it. But he also didn't make clear arguments for it either. Additionally, I would have liked to know about his sources. He has great information, but I don't know where it came from at all. His ideas would carry more weight if I knew they were backed by strong sources.
Thanks for the blog post and for informing me on an interesting new development in Texas policy.