Masonry Magazine September 2009 Page. 28
EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS
# MCAA EDUCATION AND CERTIFICATION UPDATE
BY JEFF BUCZKIEWICZ
MCAA Executive Director
The current economy can be a good reason to cut your education and training initiatives. However, the current economy also can be a great opportunity to fine-tune some educational needs and devote extra time toward accomplishing national certification. The MCAA certification program was developed, in part, to increase the opportunities for contractors to expand their knowledge base and, as a result, become more effective and profitable. In the last year, since the certification program was officially kicked off, the MCAA has approved 263 courses for future credit for mason contractors. The MCAA has added a tremendous amount of access to online courses - 103 programs and anticipates adding more courses in 2009-2010. In addition to adding these courses to the mix, the MCAA has partnered with Hanley Wood to offer a diverse and plentiful supply of courses at the World of Masonry, held in Las Vegas every year.
Last February, the MCAA and Hanley Wood created a new opportunity at World of Masonry: a hands-on demonstration area that gave attendees credit for attending these programs on the show floor. The goal of the MCAA during the next two years will be to double the number of offerings to contractors. Reaching out to areas of the country that could not otherwise be serviced through traditional classroom settings will be a primary goal. When a breakdown of the courses offered during the last year is analyzed, the discipline within certification that realized the most class offerings was safety. The safety offerings nearly doubled the next-closest discipline by the number of offerings. I believe this is indicative of our industry and the trends we are seeing within safety.
The MCAA now has certified nine contractors in about a one-year time frame. Most encouraging, there are more than 50 contractors currently registered and pursuing their certification statuses. We are confident that as the economy continues to rebound, we will see these numbers grow.
MCAA certified mason contractor Buddie Barnes from Dee Brown Inc. recently had this to say about why his company chose to become certified: "I have always felt that you lead by example, and you cannot ask other people to do something that you have not done or are unwilling to do. I know that it will not happen until sometime in the future, but when we do have enough contractors with a national certification, then the architects and owners will begin to require that the mason contractors on their projects have our industry certification. We all need to remember that you must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. So give the program some time, and you will see its effectiveness."
MCAA-APPROVED PROGRAM DISCIPLINE OFFERINGS:
* 8 courses are offered in the Bidding Practices discipline
* 23 courses are offered in the Codes and Standards discipline
* 56 courses are offered in the Ethics and Business Practices discipline
* 35 courses are offered in the Masonry Products discipline
* 106 courses are offered in the Safety discipline
* 34 courses are offered in the General discipline
* 1 course is offered in the Masonry Quality Institute discipline.