Last week, Florida educators interested in manufacturing
education attended a 1½ FLATE workshop about new aspects of the Manufacturing
Skills Standards Council Certified Production Technician (MSSC-CPT) credential.
A packed agenda was centered around the undated standards from the MSSC Panel
of Experts for the CPT as well as a new hands-on tool to support MSSC student
learning, “Skills Boss”. The integrated
small trainer was designed to provide hands on activities that support the MSSC
workplace standards. The Skills Boss
will be especially helpful for those who have little or no experience in the
manufacturing workplace, including high school students.
The workshop included six hours of hands on activities led
by D.C. Jaeger and Amatrol personnel working at 4 stations on exercises that
support each of the four MSSC assessments. An industry panel of employers at
lunch on Friday detailed how some companies used MSSC CPT, their need for skilled,
knowledgeable workforce, and how they partner with colleges and schools. Ken
Jones from the Hillsborough County Manufacturing Alliance, James Moore from
CardioCommand (medical devices) and Mercedes Heredia from Mitek (steel plates
for construction) made up the diverse panel.
An opening panel of educators who have been using the MSSC CPT for a few
years, discussed how they integrated the CPT into their program of study, what
grade level students took each of the four assessments and the importance and
challenges of including hands on activities particularly to support their high
school students.
Leo Reddy, MSSC Chairman and CEO, also attended the workshop
and addressed the attendees on Friday giving some information about MSSC’s new
pre-apprenticeship program and the upcoming CPT+ credential that will include
hands on skills as part of the overall assessment. MSSC Implementation of this
new credential will begin within the next six months. He also spent time listening
to the high school MSSC educators to learn more about their working environment
and the students they have in their classrooms.
Ted Norman, former State Supervisor of Manufacturing and currently FLDOE
Director of Apprenticeship, Adult and Career Education, provided updates from
the Florida Department of Education and how the state curriculum frameworks
provide smooth pathways from middle school, through high school and into
aligned post-secondary programs.
FLATE could not provide a workshop like this without help
from various contributors and we want to thank them all for their participation
and support: MSSC and D.C. Jaeger for meals; D.C. Jaeger, Amatrol and HCC for
equipment, workshop materials and instruction; and FACTE (Florida Association
of Career and Technical Education) for educator participant travel. Thanks also
to our speakers, Leo Reddy, MSSC, Ted Norman, FLDOE, and our industry and
educator panelists for taking time to share their experiences. Over thirty
manufacturing educators from around the state participated and found the
workshop to be of great professional development value. Over 95% of the attendees
agreed that the all aspects of the works were very good or excellent. Comments
included: “Excellent workshop!” and “We are looking at starting the CPT
program. This was excellent information for us”.
For more information about MSSC, visit their website or, locally in Florida,
visit the D.C. Jaeger site. To learn more about FLATE and our educational
resources visit the FLATE website, sign up for our monthly FLATE Focus Newsletter, or contact Dr. Marilyn
Barger, FLATE Executive Director at barger@fl-ate.org.
Resources and presentations from the workshop will be posted on FLATE’s wiki.
