COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 49

September 17, 2004

ADMINISTRATIVE

TO:	Division Superintendents
FROM:	Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction
SUBJECT:	Industry Certification Academies and Data Collection for Teacher/Student Industry Certification Credentials Division Report

From January through August 2004 the Department of Educations Office of Career and Technical Education (CTE) has been conducting Industry Certification Training and/or Testing Academies in various regions of the state. Funding for these academies is supported through the Governors Education for a Lifetime initiative. These certifications are value added to help CTE teachers become better qualified to teach current market skills and allow them to provide students the opportunity to obtain student-selected verified credits by achieving the same industry certification credentials while passing related CTE programs and/or courses.

The Department of Education must report the number of CTE teachers who have obtained (or who have previously earned) industry certification credentials through both personal, local, and/or state-supported training efforts as well as the number of teachers who need training/testing to achieve a credential. These data are important to plans being developed for industry certification training academies in various regions of the state for the 2004-05 school year.

Effective with the graduating class of 2004, students were eligible to use industry certifications for verified credits to meet the graduation requirement. The Department of Education also has a need to report all students who obtained industry certification credentials during the 2003-2004 school year.

Please use the Web-based spreadsheet located at http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/CTE/certification/ on the Career and Technical Educations website for Education for a Lifetime-Path to Industry Certification to input these important data. All credentials listed on the data collection spreadsheet are considered eligible for student-selected verified credit as either industry certification pathway examinations, full certification programs, or licensures. Please follow the data input instructions to e-mail the completed spreadsheet by October 15, 2004. The submit option will e-mail the spreadsheet to Blair Seaford at hseaford@mail.vak12ed.edu.

For your information, the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) is being contracted to report normative data regarding the NOCTI job ready assessments that were administered in Virginia during the 2003-2004 school year. NOCTI assessments that have been board approved also are eligible for student-selected verified credit.

Questions should be addressed to Gordon Creasy (gcreasy@pen.k12.va.us), specialist for industry certification and licensure, at 804-225-2057, or Blair Seaford (hseaford@mail.vak12ed.edu), data specialist, at 804-371-2924.

JLD/GC/sgj