ASE Family supports Skills for America initiative

The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) has been the industry standard credential for automotive professionals for nearly 40 years, providing certification for auto, truck, collision and parts personnel across the nation. In addition, the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) has established the standards for automotive training program accreditation since 1982.

Both organizations are proud to be part of the solution being promoted by President Obama’s Skills for America initiative.

“The organizations within the ASE family, including NATEF and Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES), have been providing the industry-accepted credentials and school-to-work process for many years,” said Tim Zilke, ASE President. “In fact, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), which the President specifically mentioned in his speech, is one of our NATEF-accredited programs. The leadership of the ASE Family of organizations has been instrumental in helping to ensure the success of the students enrolled in Career and Technology Education (CTE) programs by providing the industry credentials and career pathways within the automotive industry that are central to the President’s initiative.”

The Skills for America initiative is designed to match up schools and businesses to help entry-level individuals graduating from CTE programs find better jobs while helping companies find the highly educated and highly trained people they need to prosper and remain competitive. “This is precisely what ASE, NATEF and AYES strive to achieve for the industry and the students in the NATEF-accredited training programs. The synergy between the ASE Family and other important programs like SkillsUSA has led to the creation of the National Automotive Student Standard Skills Assessment (NA3SA) to provide a standard student credential, which ensures the students are achieving the standards of knowledge defined by the industry as necessary for success,” said Zilke. “Our programs are proven, working, and a natural fit with Skills for America.”

“The ASE Vision encompasses a number of areas wherein the organization seeks to play an important role in helping both entry-level and senior technicians with end-to-end career management services,” Zilke continued. “To help achieve that vision, ASE has formed relationships with key organizations in the educational community. Since lifelong learning is one of the keys to success in the automotive service industry, the members of the ASE Family of Organizations are uniquely positioned to help recruit and train entry-level individuals and provide both technical and development training to working professionals throughout their career. Together, all of the organizations provide a structure to deliver information, advice and services to help technicians progress and grow.”

For more information about ASE, visit the Web site at www.ase.com.