A National Training and Certification Program for Transit Vehicle Maintenance Instructors (2015)

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7 Introduction As the complexity of transit vehicle technology advances at a quickened pace, experienced baby-boomer technicians retire in droves, and fewer younger workers entering the workforce are interested in pursuing mechanical jobs, finding qualified maintenance employees has become increasingly difficult. The diminishing pool of skilled workers dictates that the transit industry as a whole develop the training capacity needed to grow its own transit vehicle maintenance technicians. Along with having quality training materials developed in accordance with industry standards, the preparation and certification of technical instructors is absolutely crucial to enhancing the quality of training provided to those who maintain and repair bus and rail vehicle equipment. Absent the ability to effectively enhance technical knowledge and skills, transit tech- nicians will be ill prepared to keep transit equipment operating safely and efficiently, resulting in inconvenienced passengers, unnecessary costs, and reduced taxpayer confidence in public transit. The majority of transit technical instructors come from the maintenance ranks with little or no formal training. While they may have superior technical skills related to their craft, they are seldom if ever provided with training related to the skills required to become an effective technical instructor. Additionally, no standard mechanism exists in transit to evaluate instructor skills, qualifications, and performance. The question then becomes: How best to prepare and qualify transit vehicle maintenance instructors for the tasks that they are responsible for? TCRP Project F-19, “A National Training and Certification Program for Transit Vehicle Maintenance Instructors,” squarely addresses this question by establishing the competency levels and necessary skills required for individuals to qualify to be transit vehicle maintenance instructors so transit agencies do not have to develop programs on their own. Project deliverables include (1) a feasibility study, (2) a best practices report, (3) a training and certification program plan, and (4) a business plan for implementation of a vehicle maintenance instructor training and certification program. Developed through a stakeholder-driven process, this program will be extremely valuable and directly applicable to enhancing the capacity and quality of technical training in public transit. The research products provide a road map for implementing a national instructor training and certification program. The contractor ultimately selected to run the program, while having the ability to shape certain aspects of it, will greatly benefit from the core structural elements developed through this work. Included are various best practices and lessons learned from similar applications, comprehensive learning objectives from which to develop program curriculum, a fully defined set of courses to be delivered through the program, an assessment process to confirm instructor ability, a detailed organizational structure, and an operating budget based on various participation level scenarios. For individual transit agencies the benefit is straightforward— a national program gives them a ready-made structure in which to have their instructors properly C H A P T E R 1 Introduction and Research Approach

8 A National Training and Certification Program for Transit Vehicle Maintenance Instructors trained and certified. All of this will improve the quality of transit vehicle maintenance instructors, which in turn will elevate the skill and knowledge levels of the technicians they teach. Understanding that instructors have other responsibilities and time constraints, the program is designed to give candidates great flexibility in achieving certification. Through distance-based methods, transit agencies will be the primary location where most instructor training delivery will take place. Conferences, workshops, and local community colleges will also serve as essential venues. Candidate instructors will be given further flexibility in achieving certification by being allowed to receive credits for previously taken courses, and to take alternative courses through approved sources. The process to develop a system of training and certification for transit technical instructors established through this project leveraged the larger system of learning that has been emerging in the transit industry for over 10 years. The development of industry-wide technical training standards and systems in transit has been significantly advanced through the work of several joint national technical committees. These have included Bus Training Standards and Rail Car Training Standards Committees and similar Training Standards Committees for Transit Signals, Traction Power and Elevator-Escalator Maintenance Training. A full system of transit training— including apprenticeship frameworks, skill gap analysis systems, guidelines for mentoring, developing new courseware to fill existing gaps, written and hands-on tests and certifications as well as train-the-trainer programs—has been built on the foundation of these industry-wide technical training standards. This project to develop a national system of instructor training and certification incorporated essential elements of this broader body of work, and made good use of the extensive network of transit training SMEs already engaged in these industry-wide efforts and research projects supported by TCRP, the FTA, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The result is an instructor training and certification framework that is integrated with an ongoing system of frontline worker training and development. The need to carry this work forward and establish a nationally recognized training and certi- fication program for technical trainers in transit cannot be overstated. The ability to attract and retain a younger workforce will require instructors to engage students using modern techniques. No longer acceptable or effective are traditional delivery methods where instructors simply lecture or deliver PowerPoint presentations and hope that students will then somehow be capable of performing manual tasks. Interactive computer-based programs combined with classroom instruction, hands-on activities, and on-the-job training are proven instructional methods that instructors will learn through this program. If transit does not develop instructors with the abil- ity to effectively train technicians, it will lose this important workforce to the myriad of other transportation sectors desperately seeking the same limited pool of workers and offering more modern and appealing training techniques. Research proves (and our own personal experiences confirm) that when it comes to learning, teachers do make a difference. Several best practice examples found in Chapter 3 substantiate that student achievement in the workplace is directly related to instructor ability. In one auto- motive industry example, a study showed that 79 percent of technical instructors reported their teaching performance had been enhanced by an instructor development program. Despite the activities taking place in other trades, research conducted for this project clearly shows that the overwhelming majority of transit agencies do not have programs in place to adequately prepare instructors for their jobs. This project fills that void by creating a detailed structure that a future contractor could use to more adequately prepare transit maintenance instructors and issue certifications as recognition of their abilities. Given the minimum level of technical training investment made by transit, it is imperative that what little training is provided to technicians is in fact useful and effective.

Introduction and Research Approach 9 Overall Research Approach To adequately address the complex matrix of issues associated with the training and certifica- tion of transit vehicle maintenance instructors, the Project Team deemed it necessary to honestly represent the present range of practices in this industry and elsewhere. Based on the best prac- tices, the team then set off to propose a series of options that are most likely to be implemented by transit agencies, and ultimately would be successful in reaching the objective of quality train- ing and meaningful certification of transit trainers. The research process was guided by both practical analysis conducted within the context of the instructional systems development process and generally accepted academic research practices. This practitioner-based approach assures the best combination of reality of practice and pro- fessional standards. The Project F-19 panel members, practitioners with rich experience from transit and related industries, provided excellent guidance to the overall direction of the project and highlighted for the Project Team considerations for extra research sensitivity. Throughout this project, the Project Team worked in close coordination with the experts on the Project F-19 panel to ensure that the results are as effective as possible in the industry. To assure the highest degree of success, this project engaged transit maintenance personnel and instructors through multiple SME working groups. To utilize existing resources, the SME Working Group meetings were held in conjunction with Bus Maintenance and Rail Car Training Standards Committee meetings, as well as the 2014 APTA Bus and Rail Conferences. Ongoing interaction with the SME Working Group assured immediate and effective integration of industry expertise and provides consistency with existing National Training Standards. This research process began with the identification of the environmental factors in the transit industry that influence the ultimate implementation and success of any technical training for instructors. These non-technical factors included the existing population of various groups of instructors, a wide range of current industry practices, as well as the level of interest from industry stakeholders to implement a national instructor training and certification program. Research findings from these earlier tasks of Project F-19 provided a foundation for the Project Team to proceed with the design of the program and business plan development in later stages of the project. Research in this specific field of inquiry was guided by a long and rich history of similar programs in numerous apprenticeships and related training programs for frontline technical workers over many generations of workers in transit and other industries. While the transit industry has many unique features that relate to the economic, regulatory, collective bargaining, and technical nature of the enterprise, the maturation of training, especially technical training and the training and certification of instructors has evolved within a context of consistent application of standards-based best practice independent of industry-specific content. Identifying and codifying key points of best practice in existing apprenticeships and other similar instructor certification programs allowed for valid integration into transit-specific content and practice. The complex issue of instructor qualifications was researched in a way that allows a multi- dimensional perspective based on a variety of factors. A rubric of skills developed from existing populations and expected future instructors provided data necessary to design both a process of certification for resident qualified instructors and a valid path to certification for others. An essential aspect of this approach is that all program elements were designed with the intent to allow review of each course and all associated program elements for college credit. This includes, at a minimum, course rigor, implementation time, evaluation processes and other associated procedural and content–specific elements needed to satisfy academic requirements

10 A National Training and Certification Program for Transit Vehicle Maintenance Instructors for either articulation with an existing academic institution or review by a credit recommendation service. Finally, this research expanded beyond the traditional analog classroom as a technical learn- ing standard and embraced the new generation of technical learning options available today. Within this research element the relationship between technical integration in the workplace and similar technical integration within the learning environment has been explored. Major Tasks and Organization of the Final Report Based on the overall research design, this research effort is divided into six major tasks as listed below, with the respective chapters included in parentheses. In each chapter of the report, an overview of the chapter content is immediately followed by a review of the data collection process. Findings from the research task are then presented. A brief conclusion is provided at the end of each chapter, with an overall conclusion of the report in Chapter 6. Task 1: Feasibility Study Conduct a feasibility study of a proposed national certification system for a vehicle main- tenance instructor training and certification program (Chapter 2). The feasibility study will include, at a minimum: • An estimate of the number of transit agencies and participants likely to participate each year, • Identification of organizations capable of developing a vehicle maintenance instructor training and certification program, and • Identification of organizations willing to offer the program. Task 2: Best Practices Report Produce a report on best practices used in both the public and private sectors to train and certify instructors. The report will focus on what lessons can be most usefully adapted for a national transit vehicle maintenance instructor training and certification program (Chapter 3). The report will also include a comparison of best practices for training and certification delivery and appropriate case studies. Task 3: Interim Report Prepare an interim report for review by the panel summarizing the results of early tasks and providing a detailed outline and description of the proposed training and certification program and business plan. Task 4: Training and Certification Plan Prepare a training and certification program plan to include recommendations for curricu- lum design, development and implementation (Chapter 4). The plan will explain in detail the recommendations for: • Core competencies that lead to becoming a certified transit vehicle maintenance instructor, • Curriculum objectives and specific subject areas for certification, • Methodology for validating attainment, and • Qualifications for transit vehicle maintenance instructors to apply and enter the program.

Introduction and Research Approach 11 Task 5: Business Plan Prepare a business plan for implementation that is institutionally sound for the long term (Chapter 5). The business plan will include, at a minimum: • An organizational structure for the program, • Project management details to initiate and maintain the training and certification program, and • A budget to implement and operate the training and certification program. Task 6: Final Report Prepare a final report that documents the results of this research and provide background materials used in preparation of the final deliverables.