The One Where PC Pro Conquers Alabama
Posted by TestOut Staff on
What do actress Courtney Cox and TestOut PC Pro have in common? No, it’s not Michael J. Fox — although Family Ties was a great show. The connection is actually through the Alabama Department of Career and Technical Education (CTE). It’s a state-run program that combines the academic courses that students will need for success in college with the technical courses that they will need to prepare for a career. The tech aspect of the program is designed to improve the technical and academic preparation of students and to provide a transition plan for those who want to enter a tech-related field.
Unfortunately for IT, ‘Bama girl Cox’s good looks led to dancing with Bruce Springsteen and a successful career in Hollywood before she even finished college. Millions of computer-geek hearts were broken, and my Admiral Grace Hopper poster is a sad substitute. But I digress
TestOut’s connection to Alabama’s CTE program is that PC Pro recently received official recognition for inclusion on the state’s Career Readiness Indicator (CRI) list. This means that Alabama CTE officially recognizes our certification as on the same level as CompTIA’s A+ certification, and makes it an approved curriculum for preparing students for A+ certification.
It also means that IT instructors in Alabama can pull funding from the state to teach the course, which is sure to increase the number of students using PC Pro. The CRI list is a difficult one to crack, and a lot of instructors have pushed hard and waited a long time to get PC Pro approved. Achieving this is a testament to PC Pro’s quality and content.
This is another significant accomplishment for TestOut and the dedicated employees who have built the company’s reputation. TestOut has been on a roll lately, achieving the coveted CompTIA CAQC status for PC Pro. CAQC approval was the final push needed for approval by the state.
Some states, like California, that use TestOut products don’t publish an officially approved list for courseware. With the addition of Alabama, TestOut products are now officially approved for teaching in 12 states — Alabama, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Alaska.
After creating the programming language COBOL, Admiral Hopper said, “We're only at the beginning. We've been through the preliminaries. We've got the Model T. That's where we are now.” With the recent improvements and upgrades being made to their offerings it’s clear that TestOut courseware is meeting a need for quality and accurate content in IT training, and will continue doing so in the years to come.
As they say in Alabama, “ROLL TIDE!”
About the Author — Calvin Harper is an associate editor for GoCertify and a veteran of the publishing industry. He thinks that Chandler didn't deserve Monica.