NATEF accreditation boosts CTE Auto Tech program

Clare-Gladwin CTE Auto Tech Paraeducator Suzanne Ledford and Instructor Rich Hollister display the NATEF certification documents.

Students learning Automotive Technology in the Clare-Gladwin Career & Technical Education program will continue to enter the workforce prepared, experienced...and certified.

That last part is especially important, so CTE officials were pleased to learn that the auto program recently attained re-certification with the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation. To achieve this coveted recognition, the CTE Auto Tech program underwent rigorous evaluation by NATEF, which employs nationally accepted standards of excellence in areas such as instruction, facilities and equipment.

“For our students, this gives them a head start to a successful career,” said Instructor Rich Hollister. “All dealerships require employees to meet Automotive Service Excellence standards, and the NATEF training program gives them the skills required to be ASE-certified. NATEF is a nationwide certification program, so our students can use those credentials throughout the U.S. to gain employment.”

Hollister said the accreditation process is quite involved.

“The curriculum is reviewed to make sure it meets national standards,” he said. “The funding, the teaching staff and the facilities are also reviewed to make sure that we have the proper equipment, tools, training space and employment opportunities.”

Accreditation must be renewed every five years. For Hollister, who’s been teaching CTE Auto Tech for nine years, this is his second successful trip through the process. He’s proud of what the NATEF recognition says about the program and its students.

“I think this shows that we are reaching to be more successful and want to acquire the training to produce qualified members of the job force,” he said. “There is a lot of hard work involved, and we’ve been working on this for the last five months. To get ready for this and still be able to have our students be as successful as they have been with testing shows me that we had a great team this year.”