From your perspective in the industry trenches, what's the tangible purpose of ASE accreditation?
Brian Lacroix: ASE accreditation to me is really our playbook and our implementation for continuous program improvement. How do we engage advisory committee members? How do we help grow our program? How do we ensure we have the latest tools and equipment? All of that is done, practiced, and demonstrated through the accreditation process—by engaging all the stakeholders necessary to help make our students successful and help fill that need. All those key parts of the recipe are in that Education Foundation accreditation.
So, when a student starts an accredited program, what advantages do they have over someone starting a non-accredited program?
Lacroix: The students really have a clear understanding of multiple pathways in the industry. We talk about technician training, but at the end of the day, there are lots more roles within a dealership or shop setting, and our training programs do allow for that jumpstart going in. So, the students are aware of that; they know how to grow themselves. They understand the value of their certification and the pride that they take in their role. That needs to occur for their continuing technician training.
They have a team that's working for them: the teachers, the administration of the school, and the advisory committee, which consists of former students and their industry partners. Everybody's coming together to make sure they have everything they need to be as successful as possible—modern labs, a safe environment, and all the required tools and equipment. Additionally, in a secondary program, there's alignment with any kind of post-secondary education.
How important is the advisory board to developing well-rounded students who are ready for the future?
Lacroix: The advisory committee is probably one of the most important success factors of any training program. We want to make sure that the advisory committee is not just employers. We've got past graduates, parents, other training organizations, and other representatives of the industry. Everybody's coming together, sharing their best practices and their needs, and collaborating on how they can best help the next round—the next generation of technicians and automotive industry professionals.
Whether it's donations of tools, equipment, or training aids, or guest speakers coming in and helping with a program review, all those things are valuable. You always wonder what you can do better next time, and that's really the key factor to help you. How can we scale something, and how can we push it out to some of our other programs within the transportation industry at our neighboring schools?
How do you balance this well-rounded, standard-developing, very rigorous set of curriculum—which is meant to give students the skills they need—with the constant stream of technological and industry changes?
Lacroix: That's something that early on in my teaching career I struggled with, and we just had to step back and look at it. Let's not look at this like we've just got an additional play that we have to add to our playbook. Let's rethink how we are teaching the basics: Is there stuff that we can re-teach and change the basic understanding at a foundational level?
All of a sudden, we're talking about high-voltage systems. High voltage has been around for a long time, and it used to be something as simple as an ignition system in an ICE vehicle. But now we can talk about, "Hey, we've got high voltage in multiple places in these vehicles," and incorporate that into diagnostic processes using certain diagnostic tools and equipment. Just starting at the basic level, so that's their new foundational knowledge.
When a shop owner sees that a graduate is coming from an ASE-accredited program, what does that instantly tell them about that applicant?
Lacroix: They know that student has already reached a high level of success in hands-on performance within their training program. When a shop manager sees a student going to work, they can show their credentials. Our students are leaving with lots of ASE entry-level certifications, safety training, and awareness. They've got quite a portfolio with them, along with the soft-skill training.
That's one of the pieces that is typically missed when an employer just hires somebody off the street. We've got foundational tasks, things like technician responsibility, basic employability, how to act every day, and how to communicate with fellow technicians and your coworkers. All those pieces that really can be the difficult ones for technicians to grow in a new setting—our students have had that training. So, in addition to that, all of our students have had time as an intern with a shop somewhere. They've been in the industry, they know how to act, they know what the roles and responsibilities are, and they've got an idea of what's expected of them on day one. The accreditation process can be a career training catapult, so to speak. As a new technician, they have a role in their training plan. They know what they need to do to continue their certification and all the continuing education to become a lifelong learner—which is the key to lifelong success.
