Feb. 2, 2016—On Tuesday, the Collision Repair Education Foundation announced a new designation program called the Collision School Readiness Benchmark.
Under the new program, schools will be classified into three tiers: Tier 1: Advanced; Tier 2: Proficient; or Tier 3: Developing. The designation will be determined by the Foundation based on information provided by the schools on the capabilities of their programs based on responses from the Collision Repair Education Makeover grant application.
The criteria will focus on the number of hours of instruction, curriculum in place, along with what tools, equipment, and supplies a school uses to prepare their students for employment in the collision industry. If something is missing, a grant application will allow a school to request that item. The goal is to help every school acquire the resources to eventually achieve a Tier 1 designation.
“In June 2015, the Foundation Board of Trustees made the decision to adjust the Foundation’s mission to focus not only on grants and donations, but also on bridging the employment gap. The new focus will be on getting the right grants/donations into each school to better prepare the students for entering the collision industry. This new designation program ties into the new focus and will better determine what items each school is in need of that will be ultimately benefit the students,” said Clark Plucinski, executive director for the Collision Repair Education Foundation.
For more information on the Collision School Career Readiness Benchmark, contact Melissa Marscin, director of grant programs.
