Ohio Expands Options for Students to Earn Industry-Recognized Credentials

Columbus – Ohio’s high school students now have 49 more industry-recognized credentials at their fingertips, thanks to the input of companies and industries throughout the state. The Ohio Department of Education added the credentials to guide career-based program development and help students understand and prepare for Ohio’s in-demand jobs and careers. Some students go right into the workforce after earning credentials. For others, the credentials allow students to earn money to help finance college.

“We owe a big thanks to Ohio’s businesses for their input on these credentials. This invaluable information is helping show students all the great opportunities for their future success,” said Paolo DeMaria, superintendent of public instruction. “With these new credentials, students can create road maps to a career and even to higher education opportunities.”

Finding, hiring and retaining high-quality employees is a monumental task for businesses. Industry-recognized credentials help employers validate the knowledge and skills of potential employees and saves valuable time in assessing the skills of job applicants.

“ODE’s innovation to allow HUMTOWN PRODUCTS to have insight and input to these new credentials is revolutionary in connecting education to business,” said Mark Lamoncha, president and CEO, HUMTOWN PRODUCTS. “Without them, we are just hiring people that show up to work at a job. These credentials align the graduates with skills that they can perform as a professional in a career.”

Two examples of the new credentials include:

Certified Registered Central Service Technician
Central service technicians work primarily in hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities to sterilize medical equipment for patient care or surgery. They must be familiar with all tools used in surgery and other activities within the hospital, as well as methods of sterilizing these tools and equipment, as maintenance may vary from one item to another. Average hourly rate is $14.56 per hour. Range is $23,921-43,313. Source: PayScale.com.

Certified Logistics Technician
A logistics technician makes sure that all supplies and equipment for a certain location are taken care of. This usually involves the choosing, ordering and distributing of important equipment. In order to maintain the best organization, all supplies and equipment must be accounted for when doing inventory. These inventory reports must be completed with the highest amount of accuracy for everyone at the specific location to get the supplies they need. Average hourly rate is $16.71 per hour. Range is $26,837-59,864. Source: PayScale.com.

One way students can earn a high school diploma is by earning an industry-recognized credential and achieving a workforce readiness score on the WorkKeys assessment. Here is the complete list of  industry-recognized credentials in 13 career categories. Each one links to the sponsoring organization, which can be national, statewide or regional. The sponsoring organization determines the qualifications and testing that the credential requires.

Interested students and families should contact their local school districts about the opportunity to earn a credential and be job ready upon graduation. There are some credentials that high school seniors can earn in one year through the Senior Only Credential Program.