Artifact #78 - Benchmarks

Harrisonburg City and Rockingham County Schools set high standards for their students so that they excel in the classroom and become highly employable upon graduation.  Two benchmark standards that help to achieve the school systems' goals are:

1.  80% of MTC graduates will achieve a 80% or better completion rate on state-mandated competencies.  In Fire and Rescue last year, 100% of students were completers.

2.  80% of MTC graduates will leave school with a state or nationally-recognized certification.  In Fire and Rescue last year, 100% of 2nd year students achieved Firefighter II certficiation

Artifact #79 - Certifications for 2008-2009

Out of the approximately 24 fire fighting programs offered in the Commonwealth of Virginia we feel like we have one of the best.  We do not have data on other programs' certifications, but we do know that we are one of few schools in the state that offer Fire and Rescue as a fully credentialed program.  We follow the state standards and guidelines as outlined by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of Fire Programs (DFP) and Virginia Department of Health, Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS).  Students are able to graduate from this program certified at the level of Firefighter II and Emergency Medical Technician-Basic meaning they exceed the minimum requirements for employment, not all programs offer this opportunity. 

While there are other school divisions who compete at the Skills USA contests, the rules of competition are written to allow all levels of fire fighting training to compete.  As an example of this, our students are trained to meet the certification standards while others are not.  Some school divisions choose to not allow their students to wear self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).  Over the past 4 years that this program has been offered at MTC, we have placed first in the State Skills USA competition for Fire Fighting and First Aid/CPR contests advancing on to the National Level.  It should also be noted in these 4 years of advancing on to the National level, our students have placed 2nd in Fire Fighting and also 2nd in the First Aid/CPR competition.  This we feel speaks for itself in terms of where we rank in the state and in the quality of our program.

 Also, a review of our credentialing data indicates that we offer a significant number of industry-mandated certifications, and in most instances in 2008-2009, we had 100% pass rate.