Building success: education and industry are working together to build a skilled workforce in construction.

Today's secondary, postsecondary and career and technical education students stand poised at the center of industry trends that will benefit them enormously. The country is embarking on a construction boom. In fact, according to a 2004 report published by Brookings Institute, more than half of the buildings that will exist in 2035 have not been built yet.

As baby boomers approach retirement age, a significant portion of the existing construction workforce will be leaving. The demand for quality skilled craft professionals will be critical, and this will create a wealth of possibilities for young people who seize that opportunity. It is critical to the future of our industry that we reach out to our young people and expand career-training opportunities.

The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER), headquartered in Gainesville, Fa., was created specifically to address the workforce shortage facing our industry and to build awareness of the rewarding construction career opportunities by providing a structured career path through which students can make their goals a reality.

Ten years ago, 11 of the largest construction companies and representatives from leading contractors, manufacturers, and national trade associations came together to establish a quality standard for certification and training in various facets of the construction industry. Organizations competing against one another in business forged partnerships for the common goal of investing in training for craft workers, keeping all construction craftspeople safe, improving the image of the industry, and providing a means of career advancement. Their efforts resulted in the establishment of the nonprofit education foundation, NCCER, which is affiliated with the University of Florida, M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Building Construction.

With the support of industry and academia for a standardized training and credentialing program for our future workforce, a curriculum offering of five basic crafts in 1996 has evolved to more than 40 training programs, more than 45 entry- and journey-level assessments, safety training that leads to OSHA certification, and management and leadership preparation.

NCCER depends on a network of more than 500 accredited training sponsors, accredited training units, and accredited assessment centers to train craft professionals according to industry-driven standards. All of our master trainers, instructors and proctors are trained and certified to provide the best teaching and mentoring possible to individuals in all stages of their construction careers.

Industry and Education as Partners

As the accreditation body for the industry, NCCER establishes and enforces the benchmark for quality training. Working in partnership with industry and academia, NCCER has developed a system for program accreditation that is similar to those found in institutions of higher learning. This accreditation process assures that students receive quality training based on uniform standards and criteria. The process is made possible through a network of more than 500 training facilities in 50 states and eight countries. We train craft professionals according to quality educational and industry standards.

As part of its accreditation process, NCCER has developed the Instructor Certification Training Process (ICTP). This program ensures the uniform and consistent delivery of training. Through this process, NCCER certifies the Master Trainer. In turn, the Master Trainer certifies the local Craft Instructor. A typical Craft Instructor is a journeyman craft professional or career and technical educator trained and certified to teach NCCER's Contren[R] Learning Series. This network of certified instructors ensures that NCCER training programs meet the standard of instruction set by the industry. There are more than 3,100 Master Trainers and 27,000 Craft Instructors within the NCCER instructor network.

When Building Means Rebuilding

John Easley, state trade and industry program manager for Louisiana Technical College for the state of Louisiana says that initial statewide secondary/postsecondary articulation of their automotive technology programs was driven by a common task list that directly followed the student.

"In our current efforts to align many other program areas in the construction segment, such as welding, and electrician, the NCCER curriculum is the vehicle that will drive our success," states Easley.

Never has the construction industry in Louisiana been more in need of trained workers than it is today. Easley says that unless you see it for yourself, it is hard to understand the magnitude of what has occurred in southern Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. On the Gulf Coast, the tidal surge came in, leveled almost everything, and then carried most of it away. In New Orleans, it is different in that the debris was left behind, so cleaning up all that debris is the first task the NCCER-trained workers are tackling.

"A second thing," notes Easley, "is that FEMA has contracts with Shaw and Fluor, who are the main contractors in this phase, to put literally hundreds of thousands of little trailers in for people to live in until their homes are livable again. So a lot of our trainees are going out and helping hook up sewer and water for these little trailers."

Fluor has committed to train at least 1,000 displaced Louisiana residents in the NCCER core curriculum. "They don't guarantee them a job when they get through," explains Easley, "but so far every person who has gone through the training has been offered a job."

Easley adds that, "Through use of the NCCER national registry, those students who complete the training have their information put on the registry, and they are available to more than 400 companies who could potentially hire them."

There will be much work to be done in the area, however. According to Easley, an estimated 300,000 homes were destroyed, and the levee project alone is estimated at $32 billion.

"We haven't even been able to scratch the surface of what it is going to take to get through this problem," he says.

The Training

NCCER's curriculum, the Contren[R] Learning Series is developed in partnership with subject matter experts (SMEs) representing not just the experience within a craft, but various companies, regions, schools, training academies and trade associations. Diverse industry training needs are incorporated into a single curriculum so that it is applicable anywhere in the nation. Contren[R] is modular based, and the modules are clustered into levels for each craft. The modular format gives students the flexibility to study in a variety of training venues and gives the instructors the flexibility to teach the curriculum in the order that best fits their needs.

Before students receive credit for Contren[R] training, they must satisfy both a written and performance component for each module. Each level of Contren[R] is aligned with apprenticeship and on-the-job-training standards as set by Apprenticeship, Training, Employer and Labor Services (ATELS). The curriculum also aligns to the national skill standards set forth in Perkins funding.

"This is the reason the Contren[R] Learning Series is such a perfect fit in a CTE setting," says Ed Prevatt, a former carpentry instructor and current workforce development senior manager for NCCER. "The curriculum is structured like a logical story through which students progress and move through different phases of a problem."

For secondary institutions and career and technical education, we have developed the National Construction Career Tests (NCCTs). These tests are built from the Contren[R] Learning Series, and, similar to our curriculum process, the test items are developed and validated by a regionally diverse SME committee. However, with the NCCT committees, we make a special effort to recruit secondary instructors to help us develop and validate tests that are fair and appropriate to the high school level. Students who take the NCCT receive a transcript of their results. NCCER offers NCCTs in core curriculum (introductory craft skills), carpentry, construction technology, electrical, HVAC, masonry and welding.

Looking to the Future

NCCER runs multiple initiatives to attract young people into the industry workforce. We allocate an array of resources and efforts into improving the image of the construction industry by creating awareness of career opportunities through print ad campaigns, Web sites, videos and an annual Careers in Construction Week campaign, which will be held this year October 16-20.

An exciting component of our industry image campaign is the Build Your Future video, which takes the viewer inside the exciting and rewarding careers in construction. Sponsored by Monster[R] and the industry, the video reaches an estimated two million students and includes interviews with craft professionals, construction managers, and company owners at construction sites nationwide. Build Your Future is distributed at no cost to schools, contractors or association chapters.

NCCER is currently developing a new Careers in Construction book designed to educate students, career counseling professionals and parents on the alternative career paths in construction. For further research and industry resources, students can also visit our careers Web site at nccer.monster.com.

Careers in construction will still need to be filled, if Louisiana's John Easley is correct in his assessment of future industry needs. He believes that the situation in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Mississippi will be more than just a local problem.

"It's going to have a tremendous effect on the labor pool," he notes. "The premium pay for skilled workers going into New Orleans is having a draining effect on the rest of the state."

Repairing and rebuilding in the area is going to take a long time and a lot of people, and that is going to have far-reaching implications.

"I think it's going to have a national effect," he says. Then after a moment of reflection, he adds simply, "I know it will."

This would seem to make NCCER's mission even more vital. During the first 10 years of NCCER's journey, our mission has expanded and evolved from dealing with immediate training issues in the existing workforce to proactively preparing and shaping the next generation of craft workers. The industry partners with us in anticipating economic and occupational trends so that we can offer the tools for young craft workers to succeed in the industry as we continue our mission to build a safe, productive and sustainable workforce of craft professionals.

Partners in the Mission

These are the organizations that are partnering with NCCER in its mission to promote the construction industry and prepare its future workforce.

American Fire Sprinkler
  Association
American Petroleum Institute
American Society for training &
  Development
American Welding Society
Associated Builders &
  Contractors. Inc
ABC Texas Gulf Coast Chapter
Associated General Contractors
  of America
Association for Career and
  Technical Education
Carolinas AGC, Inc.
Citizens Development Corps
Construction industry Institute
Construction Users Roundtable
Design Build Institute of America
Electronic Systems Industry
  Consortium
Merit Contractors Association of
  Canada
Metal Building Manufacturers
  Association
National Association of Minority
  Contractors
National Association of State
  Supervisors for Trade and
  Industrial Education
National Association of Women
  in Construction
National insulation Association
National Ready Mixed Concrete
  Association
National Systems Contractors
  Association
National Technical Honor Society
National Utility Contractors
  Association
North American Crane Bureau
North American Technician
  Excellence
Painting & Decorating
  Contractors of America
Portland Cement Association
SkillsUSA
Steel Erectors Association of
  America
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
University of Florida
Women Construction Owners &
  Executives, USA

Don Whyte is the president of the National Center for Construction Education and Research (www.nccer.org). For more information, please contact NCCER Workforce Development Solutions Director Jamie Van Voorhis toll free at 1-888-622-3720, ext. 306, or by e-mail at [e-mail].