Prosoft Announces State of Tennessee Expansion of CIW Program; University-Level Implementation Completes Articulation Model Development

Business Wire, April 23, 2004

Business Editors/Education Writers

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2004

ProsoftTraining (Nasdaq: POSO) announced today that the state of Tennessee has implemented a statewide articulation model for Prosoft's CIW program, completing the integration of CIW throughout the education system in the state. The model adopted in Tennessee enables students across the state's educational systems and geographies to receive secondary and post-secondary credit for their CIW studies. The action positions the CIW certification to be further integrated into academic curricula throughout the state.

The State of Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee Technology Centers (TTCs), Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Tennessee Technological University and the University of Tennessee at Martin have entered into a partnership that promotes student transfer and articulation. The partnership will facilitate the transfer of CIW credit from high school and TTC classes to associate of applied science course credit, and will subsequently ensure the effective transfer of the associate degree course credit to meet bachelor's degree requirements. The agreement further provides a functional pathway for high school and TTC students to gain advanced standing, based on CIW curricula completion and successful performance on CIW certification exams. The state's articulation model builds on the existence of a common CIW curriculum throughout the state at the high school, trade and technical, and community college levels.

Robert Gwin, Prosoft's chairman and CEO, stated, "I believe the actions taken in the state of Tennessee can and should be a model for other states to follow. Tennessee has been at the forefront working with us to integrate industry-standard certifications into academic curricula, and today's announcement is the result of tremendous creativity and diligence by numerous educators and administrators in the state. Job-skill training in relevant technologies, benchmarked by recognized standards such as CIW, must become a core part of the public education system in America, and we will continue to focus on driving that outcome."

John M. Townsend, Ph.D., Ed.D., executive director of Tech-Prep, Tennessee Board of Regents, stated, "This partnership is a great stride forward for the state. This model clearly delineates a pathway from high school to all levels of post-secondary instruction, which benefits all students in the state. Our work with Prosoft at various levels of the state's education system has enabled the CIW program to become the basis of a model that we believe could be followed with other topics of instruction."

Robert J. Clougherty, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Technological Scholarship at Tennessee Tech University, stated, "Using the CIW certification as a common standard from high school through the baccalaureate level allows us to be more effective and to maintain a consistency throughout the student's education. Students who enter our program with a CIW background are ready to enter the upper division Web design courses and don't have to repeat the same materials. In addition, when students hit their senior year and pursue internships, we're not sending them out with no abilities -- we're sending out students who have earned a Master CIW Designer certification."

Michael Southall, trade and industrial instructor at Cleveland High School, whose Web design class won a Skills USA national competition after completing an early stage of the CIW program, observed, "The articulation agreement is very important to high school students in the state. They now have the opportunity to move seamlessly into technical college, community college or the university system by gaining credit for their high school CIW work toward a degree. In addition, for those who choose to pursue meaningful work following graduation, the CIW program provides them with a recognized certification for specific job skills."

Kerri Kuhlmann, vice president and head of Prosoft's Certification Solutions Group, stated, "The implementation of CIW into the educational system in Tennessee has progressed rapidly over the past year. The state's actions included requiring teachers to earn the CIW Associate certification in order to receive federal Perkins funding for Web page design courses; re-creating the state's traditional trade and industrial Web courses using the CIW skills objectives; and now creating statewide articulations across the entire education system. Today's announcement should result in additional CIW adoption by schools throughout the state because it benefits students who are pursuing specific job-skill knowledge while continuing on a post-secondary education path."

Prosoft's Certification Solutions Group was established to focus on integrating industry-standard certifications, including Prosoft's own certifications, into mainstream academic curricula. Changes in the economy and the increased standardization of technology job skills have resulted in a shift from employers providing their workers with technology training to employers demanding workers who have already learned and demonstrated key job skills. Through its Certification Solutions Group, Prosoft works with education systems across the nation to meet these needs through integrated programs such as CIW, which provide statewide implementation resources including teacher training and certification, course materials, assessment products and in-classroom testing options. In unique ways, each of the states of Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma, Virginia, Louisiana and Colorado have also formally endorsed the CIW program solution as an educational standard in their state education systems.