If you’ve never attended CERTIFIED, you may be wondering what it’s like and what you’ll learn. CERTIFIED is the only education conference dedicated exclusively to exploring the full promise of certification in the classroom—by providing administrators, teachers, and industry experts with an engaging, energized forum for professional development, sharing their ideas, and experiences. It’s an opportunity to listen, learn, and collaborate with a community of educators who share your passion for using certification to improve education and change lives.
See what breakout sessions will be available at this year’s event.
Certification in Action: Exploring the Art of the Possible at Shorter College
What impact can certification programs have on real people working to improve their lives and careers? Shorter College, an HBCU community college in North Little Rock, Arkansas, is exploring new answers to this important question—with an innovative program that combines the Microsoft Office Specialist certification with real-world applications, engagement structures, and the latest teaching and learning methods. Join this session with Dr. Angee Valentine, the interim director of the Reimagine Workforce program at Shorter College, to learn how this approach is changing lives and creating new opportunities for participants to improve their college, employment, and career readiness skills.
A New Path Forward: Building CTE Growth and Success in Underserved Sectors
The past two years have posed unique challenges for school districts and community schools everywhere, and Broward County, Florida is certainly no exception. In this session, curriculum facilitator Serge Treyger will outline the steps Broward County Public School’s CTE department took to overcome those challenges—by creating an innovative new CTE program, growing and expanding CTE participation in underserved sectors, and documenting their progress and success. You’ll walk away with valuable insights and best practices you can use to develop CTE pathways for your middle schools and community schools that offer exciting new avenues for certification.
Project Management in the Classroom and Beyond with PMR Certification
The demand for project management skills has never been higher, which translates into attractive new career pathways and opportunities for your students. Join this session to hear business education teacher Carol York discuss how she is using the PMI Project Management Ready certification to immerse her students in project management knowledge—and help them use those skills and connections to succeed in school and in the job market. You’ll learn how you can add project management to your existing program—or create a standalone course—that aligns with Certiport’s “learn, practice, certify, advance” model and incorporates Certiport’s courseware, practice tests, and certification exams.
Get Up and Running with CertPREP—Your Tool for Certification Success
In this session, high school teacher Melissa Cooper will explore the benefits of using CertPREP to prepare students for their certification exams—and walk you through the process of using this valuable tool successfully in your classroom. This includes outlining the process of setting up a CertPREP administrator account, creating access codes, and setting up student groups. Melissa will also show you how to track students’ progress to determine test readiness, create custom tests for objective reinforcement and remediation, conduct quarter assessments and semester exams, and even use CertPREP to motivate and engage ESE and low performing students.
Promoting Industry Recognized Credentials Across Academic Focus Areas in Higher Ed
Industry recognized credentials (IRCs) provide new career pathways for K-12 students, but they also create new opportunities for students of all ages who attend community college—many of whom work either part- or full-time while earning their degrees. For these students, receiving an industry recognized credential can provide a fast, practical gateway to promotions and new career options. In this session, Kimberly Eckenrode, the career and technical education pathways director at Nashua Community College in New Hampshire, will draw on her unique experiences to explore processes and best practices IRC champions in higher education can use to identify opportunities for students to earn credentials across many different academic focus areas.
New Product and Technology Updates at Certiport
A lot can happen in a year! This session will review the latest plans for Certiport products, services, and programs. The breakout will focus on what these changes mean for you and your school’s certification programs. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to explore the latest Certiport news and updates — and look at future certification product trends.
Using the My Pathway Program to Drive New Levels of Career Success
My Pathway is a new program from Certiport that helps students map specific certifications to the skillsets they need to maximize their potential and achieve their career goals. In this session, high school teacher and certification advocate Ashley Faulkner will share her experiences with My Pathway—and describe how she is using this exciting new program to help her students explore career options based on different certification pathways, validate their decisions to earn specific certifications, and turn the certification process into new levels of career success.
Implementing a Certification Program in Your Classroom
Learn how to incorporate a certification program into your classroom from our highly experienced Statewide Deployment Team. We will discuss blending certification objectives into your class standards, effective pacing, and course sequence, managing technology requirements, and marketing your program to increase enrollment and develop internships. The Statewide Team has worked with teachers, administrators, IT Staff, and DOE Staff in over 22 states to effectively incorporate certification programs into more than 3,000 K12 and Higher Education classrooms. Join them during this interactive discussion to learn best practices from their experiences and a Q&A session from educators that own and develop the most successful certification programs in the country.
Beyond Entrepreneurship: Using the ESB Certification as a Platform for Marketable Skills
In 2021, Florida added the Entrepreneurship and Small Business (ESB) certification to its CAPE Funding list, an important development that high school teacher Nichole Ross had been advocating for since the program launched in 2017. In this session, Nichole will discuss her efforts to educate teachers and students about the full value the ESB program offers—and the broad range of marketable and transferable skills it provides. This includes sharing how she introduced her students and fellow teachers to the course, got students and their parents engaged and excited, and helped her students get certified. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of the impressive variety of marketable skills the course offers that will enhance any career path, along with practical tips for implementing ESB certification successfully in your school.
Using LearnKey and CertPREP to Increase Microsoft Office Specialist Certifications
LearnKey and CertPREP are both valuable tools for preparing students and boosting certification success rates in your school. In this session, Brandy Sevin—who works as an instructor and program coordinator at Fletcher Technical Community College in Schriever, Louisiana—will describe how she and her team have integrated LearnKey courses and CertPREP trainings into their classrooms to increase the success rates of students who take their Microsoft Office Specialist Associate and Expert exams. Don’t miss this chance to pick up valuable tips for using LearnKey and CertPREP together to enhance the certification programs at your school.
Leveraging Learning Partners to Achieve Certification Success
In this session, Melanie Haynes, a multimedia and business instructor at Eden Career Tech Center in Ashville, Alabama, will discuss how educators can leverage a wide range of Certiport learning products to address the challenges that often limit students' certification success. This includes exploring practical ways to incorporate learning products into your classroom instruction to set students up for success in their certification pursuits. Melanie will also discuss how to integrate these learning products into your course plans—and provide valuable tips and resources from her own classroom experiences.
Certiport’s Microsoft Office Specialist and Adobe Certified Professional Championships
Certiport’s student competitions bring technology certifications to life for your students, provide them with a positive platform to showcase their skills and give them a unique opportunity to earn valuable rewards and recognition. In this session, Matt Richards, Certiport Competitions Manager, will outline everything you need to know about the annual Certiport Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) and Adobe Certified Professional (ACP) student competitions. You’ll learn who can participate, how you can encourage your students to get involved, what they’ll experience, and how you can help them make the most of these fun and educational events.
What’s on My Plate and Who is at My Table?
When was the last time you took a deep look at your personal “Board of Directors?” Do ever feel overwhelmed with all the many hats you have to wear as a teacher? When was the last time you tasked yourself with the job of letting something go because you were spread too thin? Have you ever taken a deep look at who (in your professional world) has helped you to get where you are, and/or acknowledged who is acting as a roadblock to you? Participants in this session should expect to leave with a heightened sense of “what’s on their plate and who’s at their table” accompanied by a revived pep in their step to head into the 2022-2023 school year.
Connecting Project-based Learning to Microsoft Office Specialist Certifications
How do you help students apply their Microsoft Office skills to the relevant, real-world issues and challenges they care about? Join educator, professional development consultant, and instructional technologist Oscar Carrera to find out. In this session, Oscar will demonstrate how you can use project-based learning principles and approaches to engage your students and motivate them to successfully complete their Microsoft Office Specialist certifications. You’ll learn how you can create dynamic learning environments that bring your certification programs to life, make the skills students are learning more interesting and relevant, and drive higher certification success rates.
Ready to see the full schedule and register for this year’s event? Get all the details here.