Introducing a New “Learn and Earn” Certification Model

We all know the traditional model of earning a certification: the school proctors an exam, usually from a testing company that sells the exams. Teachers are forced into teaching for the exam to try to increase student scores. More than half of students suffer from moderate to high test anxiety, which adds to the burden of teachers preparing students for exams. Students prepare by cramming for the exam, using test prep guides and even memorizing questions—and after completing the exam they often forget what they learned. Exams can cost $70-$120 per student, which can be a burden for schools and families.

Our Learn and Earn approach enables students to earn their certifications as they work through our career and technical education courseware. At the end of the course—based on their grades, completion of the projects, and building their career-ready portfolio—the learner is rewarded with their certification without needing to sit for any high stakes exam. The Learn and Earn path means there is no exam, no exam fees, and no test anxiety. Instead, students learn hard and soft skills, build real-world projects, and demonstrate technical aptitude that they can take with them into future educational and career opportunities. Our courses funnel students into high-demand and high-paying career pathways including web design, mobile game design, video game design, web animation and more.

CTeLearning partnered with the Web Professionals Global Organization to build this better model. We have been working closely with WebProfessionalsGlobal.org since around 2011 and producing curriculum that aligned to their certifications since 2013. We worked with their executive team to address the primary concerns we heard from educators: the first barrier was trying to schedule a proctored exam at the end of the semester when time is short, and the second barrier was exam fees. Although teachers want to provide opportunities for their students to earn industry certifications, it is not always financially feasible for a school department to underwrite the costs for students.

After signing NDAs, and promising to secure all of the organization’s content and testing intellectual property, we took all of the industry exam domains and exam questions and weaved them into a group of our courses that were already aligned to specific certificates. This was no easy feat, but it meant that we were able to show the association that students who completed the curriculum, fully, were meeting all of their certification requirements. A partnership between CTeLearning and Web Professionals Global Organization as well as select association members underwrites the certification fees for every student who completes the curriculum and meets the minimum requirements for the certificate.