Happy Black History Month from Certiport!

At Certiport, we are determined to help students of color rise to new levels of success and education, while listening and learning from others on the best ways to become true anti-racist advocates. Shifting our classroom and education mindset is crucial to correct racial and economic inequities. 

For this week’s episode, we had the privilege of sitting down with two amazing professionals from the Chicago Public School system: Dr. Nadine LeBlanc and Robert “Rob” Lee. 

Dr. Nadine L. Leblanc’s professional career spans more than 25 years as an educator, building a track record of outstanding performance in teaching as well as in administration. Her most recent efforts are on a project she has labeled “Racism, Response and Responsibility” as an act of resistance to the systemic issues that still threaten Blacks within the U.S. The project includes an equity initiative called “When Black and Brown Men Teach” which engages male educators of color in the Business and IT department in Chicago Public Schools, while they mentor and coach male students of color. She lives and breathes her philosophy that is etched in the belief that all children can and will learn, given the opportunity and resources.

Rob Lee has been teaching at Michele Clark Magnet High School for the past three years and has been an instrumental part of the When Black and Brown Men Teach program. Born and raised on the westside of Chicago, Rob has always had a knack for technology and that knack drove him to make a career switch from the transportation industry to technology. He received his bachelor’s in information technology from the University of Phoenix and his Master's in Information Security from Phoenix University. He started his career at CPS in 2014 and has been dedicated to his students every day since. 

In this special episode, we talk about the “When Black and Brown Men Teach” initiative, what Rob and Dr. LeBlanc have done to help their Black students thrive, and how creating brave and authentic classrooms can show Black students that there isn’t one way to be a successful Black professional. 

You can learn more about empowering students of color on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2020/August/Empowering-Students-of-Color. 

Read through additional information about the “When Black and Brown Men Teach” initiative here: https://blog.cps.edu/2021/11/17/black-and-brown-men-teach/. 

Dr. LeBlanc has also graciously offered her Journey to Justice presentation, for teachers who want to spark conversations and trainings at their schools: https://certiport.filecamp.com/s/JourneytoJustice_DrLeBlanc/d

Did you know that National Entrepreneurship Week is right around the corner? That's right! National Entrepreneurship Week is a non-partisan, congressionally chartered initiative founded in 2006 that takes place the third week of February annually. The National Entrepreneurship Week team is dedicated to creating a rich network of partners that engage, educate, and build equitable access to America's Entrepreneurship Ecosystem.

We were lucky enough to sit down with two members of National Eship Week team: Amber Ravenscroft and Joe Kapp.

Mrs. Amber Ravenscroft serves as Co-Chair of National Entrepreneurship Week and Manager of Innovation for The EdVenture Group (https://www.theedventuregroup.org/). She has authored and directed three Appalachian Regional Commission POWER awards, including EntreEd's America's Entrepreneurial Schools and Colleges and ESTEAM projects and The EdVenture Group's Simulated Workplace Entrepreneurship Education Pathway project. Amber is a 2019 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Masters in Education Entrepreneurship program, which combines entrepreneurship, business, and education pathways to develop sustainable and scalable programming. The M.S.Ed. is the only international graduate program combining these sectors, bringing a unique perspective to her work at The EdVenture Group.

Amber serves in a leadership capacity within many entrepreneurial ecosystem organizations. She also serves as Co-Chair of the USASBE K-12 Special Interest Group and is a member of the Entrepreneur and Practitioner Advisory Board for The Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. Amber has served as a thought expert and mentor for national student pitch competitions and programs and has spoken at multiple education conferences on the importance of entrepreneurship education, innovation, and workforce development.

Joe Kapp, a serial entrepreneur and national keynote speaker, wears a number of professional hats. He is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, having started and sold his first business, in college. Mr. Kapp has significant experience working with community colleges around the United States on developing economic and entrepreneurial projects. Mr. Kapp has worked nationally with local communities to serve as an economic development catalyst and change agent. He has served as adjunct faculty and Entrepreneur-In-Residence at Eastern WV Community and Technical College.

Mr. Kapp recently founded Behavioral Business, LLC., a consulting firm that uses a entrepreneurial mindset to lead and direct clients. Mr. Kapp is co-founder of the national non-profit, the LGBT Technology Partnership.

Mr. Kapp previously owned a successful asset management firm, where he worked with numerous business clients and managed over $80 Million in client assets.

Mr. Kapp has over 10 years of experience in the technology industry, Mr. Kapp has also served as the President of a Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC. Recognized nationally, he has authored numerous articles.

Mr. Kapp holds a Master's degree in Government Administration from the University of Pennsylvania and his Bachelor's degree in economics from Florida State University.

In this episode, we talk about what's happening for National Entrepreneurship Week 2022, how states and countries can prioritize entrepreneurship, and why you don't need to start your own business to be an entrepreneur. Joe even calls out how some of the best entrepreneurs are educators! If you're interested in bringing creativity, grit, and workforce-ready skills to your classroom, then you need to give this one a listen.

You can learn more about National Entrepreneurship Week on our blog (https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2022/February/Ready-for-National-Entrepreneurship-Week-2022) or on the National Entrepreneurship Week website (https://www.natleshipweek.org/).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 5.4 million new business applications were filed in 2021. This is a record year for the entrepreneurial spirit, which is great news for your students.

Whether your students are starting a bakery or launching the next billion-dollar startup, our Entrepreneurship and Small Business (ESB) certification validates a students' understanding of core business principles, including the essentials needed to launch and maintain a successful business. In this week's episode, we sat down with our entire ESB certification team to talk about why entrepreneurship education is crucial for future economic growth, how ESB certification validates entrepreneurship skills, and what resources are available for teachers to bring this certification into their classroom.

During the episode, our team mentioned various ESB resources. You can find the links, conveniently, listed below.

1. Entrepreneurship and Small Business Exam Objectives: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/Exam-details/Objective-domains
2. ESB Academy (for helpful tips on curriculum, practice tests, and advice from fellow educators): https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2022/January/Welcome-to-ESB-Academy-2022
3. ESB Badging: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/ESB/Certification/Badging
4. ESB Educator Resources: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/ESB/Certification/Resources

ESB Blog Posts: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/Entrepreneurship-And-Small-Business

Looking for messaging to reinforce the value of communication skills with your students? In our final CSB Academy webinar, we talked with two amazing HR professionals: Tasha Scott and Scott Chabot.

Tasha is a Global Talent Acquisition Manager and Manager for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion program at Pearson. In her Global Talent Acquisition Manager position, she leads and learn from 20+ amazing recruiters and talent professionals in Sri Lanka, India, Greater China, South Africa, Australia, and UK. Tasha has a master's degree in Human Resources Management from Lindenwood University.

Our second panelist is Scott Chabot. Scott is an HR Business Partner at Pearson, and has been with Pearson for over twenty years. Scott has responsibility for supporting employees throughout the employment life cycle. This includes onboarding, training, employee relations, and performance management. Scott has a degree in Sociology from St. Cloud State University, a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification and is a certified Change Management Practitioner by PROSCI.

We talked with Tasha and Scott to find out what communication skills your students will need as they transition into the workforce, and why communication is the most demanded skill year over year.

You can find ideas for helping your students practice their business communication skills on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2022/January/Creative-Communication-Projects.

Employers around the world are demanding English proficiency and are rewarding employees with English skills. According to a report by Cambridge Assessment, companies provide faster progression through job grades, salary increases, and more senior roles to employees with English communication skills.

Certiport is dedicated to helping people succeed through certification, and we are thrilled to announce the newest certification in the Communication Skills for Business portfolio: the CSB English for IT certification. The Communication Skills for Business (CSB) English for IT exam validates a candidate's ability to work in an IT setting or in an entry-level IT job using English. As this is the newest certification in the CSB program, we wanted to share the details of the exam with our listeners. Learn from CSB Program Manager, Shawn Moon, about the certification, and what curriculum and practice test resources are available.

Interested in learning more about the English for IT certification? See the details on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2021/June/CSB-English-for-IT-Certification

You can also visit our website: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/CSB/Certification/Overview

You know when something is so good, you just want to tell everyone about it? That's how we felt about our latest CSB Academy webinar with Jennifer Stubblefield. We couldn't keep this one to ourselves, so we wanted to make sure our listeners had a chance to get Jennifer's advice.

Jennifer Stubblefield is Certiport's new Customer Success Manager, current KBEA President, a former KY business educator, and the 2019 CERTIFIED Educator of the Year. Plus, she's the face and voice behind the LearnKey Communication Skills for Business curriculum. We got a peek inside Jennifer's treasure chest of experience during this episode. We talk about her favorite projects for teaching communication skills in the classroom. We discussed everything from Fortune 500 projects and portfolios to elevator pitches and the importance of an undershirt in mock interviews. If you teach any business course, you'll want to listen, save, and share this episode. Just trust us on this one.

More info about Certiport:

Get all the details about Certiport here: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/

Find out more about our CERTIFIED Educator Conference here: https://certified.certiport.com/.

Ready to connect? Join CERTIFIED: Certiport's Educator Community here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8958289/.

"It's important that we design with and not for our students." We love this nugget of truth from Damiano Mastrandrea, CTE Director at the Brooklyn STEAM Center. Unfortunately, in many instances, educational systems fail the very young people they are designed to serve. So what can you do to change the narrative? How can you make your classroom a place where young people thrive and grow? Damiano has some ideas.

Damiano works tirelessly managing the CTE portfolio of the Brooklyn STEAM Center's five programs, to ensure that they are highly relevant and rigorous and manages the workplace learning opportunities for students.

In this episode, we dive deep into the student population at the Brooklyn STEAM Center, what foundational pillars are in place to help students thrive, and how to educate and serve traditionally disadvantaged young people. We promise you'll walk away motivated to engage with your students, or colleagues as Damiano would say, in a whole new way.

Interested in learning more from Damiano? Check out his latest CERTIFIED breakout session here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDJqbgQkrQE.

You can also learn more about the Brooklyn STEAM Center here: https://www.brooklynsteamcenter.org/.

Students shouldn't leave their CTE programs without a polished and professional resume. It's impossible to transition to the workforce without one. Building a resume can require some handholding and lots of advice. So we brought in our expert, James Boshier, to help give you all the steps you need to help your students build a fantastic resume. James is the Head of Product Success at Resume-Library. As Head of Product, he owns the Resume-Library roadmap and works out what new features are added to the site.

In this episode, James gives advice on building and polishing the best resume, what students should know about cover letters (spoiler alert: they're on the way out), and how candidates should conduct themselves in a job interview. He also talks through all the resources that Certiport candidates have access to when they're ready for the job search.

You can learn more about Resume-Library on our blog: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/2021/May/Why-Your-Students-Need-Resume-Library.

Resume-Library also has an entire blog dedicated to career advice. You can find articles and relevant content for your students here: https://www.resume-library.com/career-advice/.

If you're interested in checking out the newly launched UK CV Builder James mentioned, you'll find that here: https://www.cv-library.co.uk/free-cv-builder.

What are your students' dream jobs? Maybe cybersecurity, drone programming, web development, and video game design? With those destinations in mind, what are the directions to get there? Serge Treyger, Broward County Public School's Career and Technical Education Curriculum Facilitator, shares how initiatives and partnerships with the business sector in his district, and industry recognized certifications created pathways to student success. He will show how career and workplace learning opportunities are built through business and industry partnerships. Find out how you can give students a clear road map to follow their passions and achieve career success.

Serge graduated from Florida Atlantic University in South Florida with a BA in Social Science Education. In 2015, Serge completed his MS in Educational Technology at Florida Atlantic University. Serge taught various career-themed, computer language, and history courses for 7 years at Margate Middle School before joining the district's Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department as a curriculum facilitator in 2018. Serge has worked supporting teachers in various CTE programs with a special focus on Industry Certifications and teacher training.

Serge is a CERTIFIED alumni and three time presenter. You can see his latest session here.

Autodesk's mission is to empower innovators with design and make technology so they can achieve the new possible. Since your students are the innovators and creators of tomorrow, it's important to empower them with skills they'll need to succeed. That's where the Autodesk Certified User program comes in. The Autodesk Certified User (ACU) certification is an industry-recognized credential that can effectively start students' careers as designers, engineers, and makers.

In this episode, we were able to chat with Tanner Morris. Tanner Morris is Certiport's Product Manager over the Autodesk Certified User program. At the end of a good workday, he can usually be found building Duplo towers with his kids, keeping the Autodesk spirit alive. Tanner gives us all the details about the Autodesk certification program, including what topics are covered on the current exams, what resources are available for educators, and how to bring these skills to life for your students.

You can learn more about Autodesk Certified User certification at www.certiport.com/autodesk.

Tanner also mentioned some amazing resources during this episode, that you can find linked below:

1. Autodesk Certified User Exam Objectives: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Educator-resources/Exam-details/Objective-domains
2. CAD Academy (for helpful tips on curriculum, practice tests, and advice from fellow educators): https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Autodesk/Certifications/Resources?ot=collapse55
3. Autodesk Certified User Badging: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Autodesk/Certifications/Badging
4. Autodesk Certified User Educator Resources: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Certifications/Autodesk/Certifications/Resources

Autodesk Certified User Blog Posts: https://certiport.pearsonvue.com/Blog/Autodesk-Certified-User