The National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF) has been celebrating its 25th year in existence in 2008. As the year draws to a close, the organization is looking back and noting several milestones that helped it grow into a highly respected organization within the automotive industry offering national educational standards.
The first milestone occurred in November 1983 when the first three automobile training programs became ASE-certified. The programs at these three schools-Sheridan Vocational-Technical Center (Hollywood, FL), Tri-County Joint Vocational School (Nelsonville, OH) and Northeast Wisconsin Technical Institute (Green Bay, WI)-pioneered a new process that measures training programs against nationally recognized education and industry standards. These programs have maintained their certification for a quarter-century.
In subsequent years, NATEF developed similar systems for assessing collision repair (1989) and medium/ heavy truck training programs (1992) at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Today, NATEF has 2256 certified programs in four categories-automobile, collision repair & refinish, medium/heavy truck and automobile/alternate fuels.
Bill Kersten, NATEF president, said: "As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, NATEF is looking forward to an expanding role within the automotive service industry. Our recent alliance with AYES and SkillsUSA to develop a standardized end-of-program test for auto, collision and truck secondary and postsecondary school training programs is just one example of how NATEF continues to fulfill its role of improving the educational process and ensure we have the well-trained, entry-level technicians the industry needs today and tomorrow."
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Source: Motor
