SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Spanish Fort High School’s career and technical education programs recently went through the first business industry certification by the state of Alabama.

Currently, Alabama is the only state that requires that this certification be performed. The state reviews the pre-engineering program, the business-marketing program and the high school family and consumer science programs, Thomas B. Rhodes, III, said.

Rhodes is the Career/Technical Education Coordinator for the Baldwin County Board of Education. Since SFHS is new, this was the first time the school went through the certification, he said.

“All of the programs met certification,” he said. “We have one hundred percent in Baldwin County certified.”

Ten years ago the Alabama State Board of Education mandated that all career technical education programs become business industry certified, and a review document was developed.

Every career and technical education program went through the business industry certification (BIC), he said.

“Ever since then we have been under that mandate,” Rhodes said.

All of the Baldwin County teachers are already certified to teach, he said, but the career and technical education programs require a different certification.

According to Rhodes, a formal review is done every five years by business experts and educators. In between the five year intervals for formal review, every school is responsible for staying in continued compliance, so they get an informal review every year, he said.

“Every teacher is required to be updated on the latest, greatest changes in their field” to earn business industry awareness hours, Rhodes said.

It is part of the certification, he said. A review team, which consists of people who represent businesses related to the program and educators, is brought in.

For the business and marketing portion a representative from the banking industry may be involved. For family and consumer sciences, a representative from textiles and design may be part of the team.

Rhodes chose the educators to serve on the team, but the educators cannot have taught or lived in Baldwin County. The review team checks all the documentation and verifies that appropriate courses of study have been followed, he said.

Every program is required to have a cocurricular career technology student organization as part of the course of study. This organization assists students in developing leadership and other skills, Rhodes said. He said it all goes back to the teachers about what they do in supporting the group in performing community activities and fundraisers for charity. The organization always have service projects to perform, he noted. Competitions are held where students can compete on a state and then national level on specific things they have learned, he said.

“It is one hundred percent or nothing — it’s tough,” he said. “The certification has helped improve the level of instruction for our students.”

Though the program has been of benefit to the state, the students are the ones that benefit the most by meeting standards, he said.

“It helps standardize career tech instruction throughout the state,” he said.

According to Rhodes, a lot of other officials are now expressing an interest in requesting certification in their states.