How to Enroll in the Right Electrician Trade School near Norvelt Pennsylvania
The initial step to learning to be an electrical tradesman or contractor is enrolling in an electrician trade school near Norvelt PA. But with so many vocational schools to choose from, just how do you approach making sure that you enroll in the right one? Particularly since there are so many points to evaluate. For instance, some students will begin by searching for schools that are nearby their residence. When they have located some that are within commuting range, they will select the one with the cheapest tuition. While cost and location are important, they are not the only qualifications that should be examined. Also critical are the accreditation and reputations of the schools, in addition to their job placement and graduation rates. These and other qualifiers should contribute toward your final decision when selecting an electrician trade school. We will cover that checklist in greater detail later in this article. But to begin with, let’s review a little bit about becoming an electrician and the educational choices that are accessible.
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Electrician Diploma, Certificate and Degree Options
There are several approaches to obtain electrician training in a technical or vocational school near Norvelt PA. You may select a certificate or diploma program, or receive an Associate Degree. Bachelor’s Degrees are offered at a few schools, but are not as prevalent as the first three options. Frequently these programs are offered together with an apprenticeship, which are required by most states to become licensed or if you intend to become certified. Bellow are short descriptions of the three most prevalent programs available.
- Certificate and Diploma Programs are typically offered by Pennsylvania trade and technical schools and take about a year to complete. They provide a good foundation and are aimed towards those who would like to enter an apprenticeship more quickly as a journeyman electrician.
- Associate Degrees involve 2 years to finish and are provided by Pennsylvania community colleges, commonly as an Associate Degree in Electrical Technology. They provide a more extensive education while supplying the foundation that prepares students to enter into their apprenticeship program.
As previously mentioned, Bachelor’s Degrees are available at some Pennsylvania colleges, but are less popular at four years than the other briefer programs. Many states mandate that an apprenticeship of at least 2 years and in most cases 4 years be completed before licensing. Because of that, most students are anxious to commence their paid apprenticeship, particularly if it’s not a component of their academic program.
Electrician Certification and Licensing Criteria
Electricians in Norvelt PA can perform a vast array of services, including testing, installing and replacing electrical systems, and making sure that the wiring in buildings and homes are up to code standards. After finishing an apprenticeship, journeyman electricians are mandated to be licensed in the majority of states or municipalities. The duration of apprenticeship varies by state, but typically about four to five years of practical experience is called for in order to take the licensing exam. The exams typically assess general knowledge and electrical theory, along with understanding of the National Electrical Code (NEC). Obtaining certification is also an optional means for an electrician to differentiate her or himself as a experienced and skilled professional. The certifications offered vary by state and may be earned in numerous specializations, such as cable splicing as an example. The certification process in most cases includes 3 levels of competency:
- An experience requirement
- Passing a written exam
- Passing a practical exam
Examples of certifying agencies include the National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee (NJATC) as well as the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET). It’s imperative that the electrician vocational school that you choose not only furnishes a strong educational foundation, but also helps prep you for passing any licensing and certification exams that you might need to pass in the future.
Enrolling in Electrician Online Schools
An option that you might have considered is enrolling in an electrician online school to earn a certificate or degree. Although online training programs are becoming more popular as a way of attending class without needing to travel, in this situation they are not entirely internet based. Virtually all electrician training programs require partial attendance on-campus to receive practical hands-on training. But since the rest of the classes can be accessed online, distance learning might be a more accommodating option for individuals that have limited time for education. And as a bonus many online schools have a reduced tuition cost compared to their on campus competitors. Driving expenses from Norvelt PA are also minimized and some of the study materials can be accessed online as well. All of these advantages can make online electrician trade schools more affordable and accessible. And a number are fully accredited, which we will deal with in our due diligence checklist.
Things to Ask Electrician Training Schools
Now that you have decided to obtain a diploma, certificate or degree, you can begin to refine your school options. Considering that there are numerous electrician tech and trade schools in the Norvelt PA region, it’s important to have a checklist of criteria that each program must meet. The initial 2 that we mentioned were location and the cost of tuition. If you have an interest in earning an degree online, then that needs to be a feature that your final school offers. And while all three qualifiers may be crucial when making your decision, there are other variables that must be taken into account as well. Below is a checklist of those additional qualifiers that you will need to assess prior to enrolling in an electrical tech school.
Accreditation. A large number of electrician trade schools have received either a regional or a national accreditation. They may acquire Institutional Accreditation, which focuses on the school’s programs overall, or Programmatic Accreditation, which relates to a specific program, for instance electrical technology. Make certain that the Norvelt PA program is accredited by a U.S. Department of Education acknowledged accrediting organization, such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In addition to helping make certain that you acquire an excellent education, it can assist in acquiring financial assistance or student loans, which are frequently unavailable for non-accredited schools. Also, a number of states mandate that the electrician training program be accredited for it to qualify for licensing.
High Completion and Placement Rates. Ask the electrician training programs you are looking at what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage of students who enroll in and finish the program. A low completion rate could suggest that students were dissatisfied with the program and dropped out. It could also suggest that the teachers were not qualified to instruct the students. It’s also imperative that the schools have high job placement rates. Older and/or more reputable schools may have a broader list of alumni, which may produce more contacts for the school to employ for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only validate that the school has an excellent reputation within the trade, but also that it has the network of contacts to help Norvelt PA students acquire apprenticeships or employment.
Apprenticeship Programs. Numerous electrician technical programs are taught in conjunction with an internship or an apprenticeship program. Those participating trade and technical schools will help place you in an apprenticeship program inside their network of electrician businesses or labor unions. Ask if the schools you are reviewing have working partnerships with Norvelt PA area electricians or electrical professionals. An apprenticeship not only provides a rewarding experience by furnishing hands-on training, but it also supplies job opportunities and helps to establish relationships in the area electrician professional community.
Modern Facilities. Make certain that the campus facilities and the tools that you will be trained on are up-to-date and what you will be working with in the field. If you are already in an internship or an apprenticeship, check with the electrical specialist you are working under regarding what you should be looking for. If not, ask a local Norvelt PA electrical contractor if they can give you some suggestions. Also bear in mind that unless you are able to move, the school must be within commuting distance of your Norvelt residence. Remember that if you decide to attend an out-of-state school, besides the added relocation costs there can be increased tuition fees compared to in-state residents.
Smaller Classes. It’s important that you get as much individualized training as possible, which can be difficult in larger classes. Ask if you can sit in on a couple of the classes so that you can see how big they are and witness first hand the interaction between teachers and students. Talk with several of the students and get their comments concerning class sizes and instruction. Last, speak to some of the instructors and learn what their level of experience is and what certifications or degrees they hold.
Flexible Scheduling. Confirm that the class schedules for the schools you are evaluating are flexible enough to handle your needs. If you can only go to classes in the evening or on weekends near Norvelt PA, verify that the programs you are reviewing provide those options. If you can only attend part-time, make certain that the school you select allows part-time enrollment. Also, ask what the policy is to make-up classes should you miss any because of work, illness or family issues.
Training Electrician Norvelt Pennsylvania
Selecting the ideal electrician training program will probably be the most important decision you will make to begin your new career. You originally came to this website due to an interest in Training Electrician and wanting more information on the topic Residential Electrical Training. But as we have addressed in this article, there are a number of things that you will need to examine and compare between the training programs you are considering. It’s a necessity that any electrical training program that you are reviewing includes a considerable amount of hands-on instruction. Classes should be small in size and every student should have their personal equipment to train with. Classroom instruction needs to provide a real-world context, and the curriculum should be up-to-date and conform with industry standards. Courses differ in length and the kind of credential provided, so you will have to ascertain what length of program and credential will best satisfy your needs. Every training program provides unique options for certification also. Perhaps The ideal means to research your final list of schools is to go to each campus and speak with the teachers and students. Take the time to sit in on some classes. Tour the campus and facilities. Make certain that you are confident that the program you decide on is the right one for you. With the right training, hard work and commitment, the final outcome will be a new trade as a professional electrician in Norvelt PA.
More Electric Locations in Pennsylvania
Norvelt, Pennsylvania
Norvelt is a census-designated place in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community was part of the Calumet-Norvelt CDP for the 2000 census, but was split into the two separate communities of Calumet and Norvelt for the 2010 census. Calumet was a typical company town, locally referred to as a "patch" or "patch town", built by a single company to house coal miners as cheaply as possible. On the other hand, Norvelt was created during the depression by the federal government of the United States as a model community, intended to increase the standard of living of laid-off coal miners. Award winning writer Jack Gantos was born in the village and wrote a book about it [2]
As part of the sweeping National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA), Congress allocated $25 million for the creation of "subsistence homesteads" for dislocated industrial workers. Over the course of the program's eleven-year history, the federal government seeded nearly 100 planned, cooperative communities. Norvelt, in southwestern Pennsylvania, was the fourth. The idea for the program was a throwback to the Jeffersonian ideal of a back-to-the-land movement, popularized by Americans who promoted small-scale subsistence farming as an antidote to economic exploitation and the alienation of modern life.[3] The idea gained strength in the 1920s among a wide variety of progressive organizations, including church-related groups such as the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) which was the social services arm of the Quakers.[2] During the 1920s, the AFSC had become deeply concerned with the violence that resulted from labor strife, particularly in the bituminous coal fields of Appalachia. So AFSC volunteers traveled to the bituminous-coal regions in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to help the families of striking and unemployed coal miners. The AFSC also believed in the necessity of economic and social justice as a means of insuring lasting peace in this section of the United States. To that end, it clothed and fed the families of unemployed miners during strikes, and later launched subsistence gardening and vocational retraining programs. After the onset of the Great Depression, these experiences placed the AFSC in the forefront of the movement for cooperative communities, so much so that the United States Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes recruited AFSC staff to guide its subsistence homesteads program.[4]
The Great Depression was an opportunity to put these ideals into action. Supporters lobbied for the creation of a government-sponsored resettlement program that would place unemployed industrial workers in farmstead communities. Promoted as a relief measure, it quickly became weighted with the much more ambitious goal of cooperative living.[2] In 1934, Interior Secretary Ickes named Milburn Wilson to head the newly created "Division of Subsistence Homesteads". Wilson, in turn, selected the AFSC's Clarence Pickett to help administer the program. As the AFSC's executive secretary, Pickett already had overseen vocational reeducation and cooperative farm programs for unemployed coal miners in West Virginia. The AFSC's work supplied the prototype for the federal program. In the years that followed, AFSC lent its support to the federal program and later sponsored its own cooperative community, Penn-Craft in Fayette County.
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