CET's Fourteen Precepts
CET’s fundamental purpose is to provide effective training to individuals facing many barriers to employment. The program is comprehensive, individualized and generally adaptable to each person’s needs. The CET model is based upon the following 14 Precepts:
- Training is open entry and open exit.
CET offers rolling admissions; trainees can start once they have completed eligibility and financial aid appointments. New starts begin each week or as seats become available. - Training is tutorial and highly individualized.
The instructor/trainee ratio is approximately twenty-to-one. Trainees find their own pace through the curriculum, and advanced trainees tutor newly enrolled trainees. - Training emphasizes and promotes the development of good work habits.
CET’s Career Development curriculum emphasizes proper work habits and practices. Each skill division stresses the requirements of their specific industry. - Training and counseling are based upon the realities of industry.
CET partners with a wide section of businesses and hosts an Industrial Advisory Board to ensure classroom practices mirror the practices of the workplace. - Instructors are the primary counselors for trainees.
Instructors serve as “supervisors” in the employment simulation of each skill division. Trainees learn that the instructors are advocates to help them address barriers to employment. - No testing is required as a condition for entering training.
Trainees do not need a high school diploma or GED for enrollment, though federal student aid requires completion of secondary education. Adult Education instruction is available onsite. - Trainees remain in training until they start work.
Trainees utilize the Career Services room to launch their career search and network with employers, and “graduate” upon obtaining employment. - Trainees who are absent from training are contacted by phone or through home visitation.
CET expects consistent attendance and good communication from trainees. Tardiness and absences are addressed as they occur by the Skill Instructors. - Reality counseling by staff confronts trainees with alternative solutions, but leaves the final decision up to them.
Natural consequences are discussed, and critical thinking is encouraged. - Training at CET is hands-on, job related and remedial training is integrated into skill training.
Hands-on training occurs a minimum of 60% of the time. Basic skills instruction is integrated into skill training. - Trainees are assured help in finding a decent and meaningful job.
The Career Coach prepares trainees in soft skills, resume preparation, and interviewing skills through the Career Development curriculum. - Training offered in a particular skill division expands and contracts with the job market for the skill.
The curriculum in the skill areas is fluid and changes to meet the demands of the industry. - Small administrative units coupled with small training teams of instructors enable all decisions relative to a particular trainee to be made at the working level.
Unit Teams meet weekly to discuss trainee progress or barriers and set specific plans in motion to address any concerns. - Home visitation (Alumni follow up) is intensified after job placement to help the trainees retain stable employment.
Follow-ups occur monthly for 12 months to assist the trainees with any problems at work and to provide additional assistance to find new employment as needed.
