Southwest High School and TestOut:
®
Motivating Students to Certify in IT
Case Study
Need: IT Training Curriculum to Guide Students to Certify
Less than three years ago, Arthur Celestin, originally from Haiti, came to Southwest High School in
San Antonio, Texas, to teach classes in a computer maintenance program. Southwest has more
than 3000 students in grades 9–12. Celestin teaches four different IT courses in the program,
including Principles of IT, Computer Maintenance, Telecommunications & Networking, and Computer Technician. One of the courses is mostly freshmen and helps prepare students for other IT
cluster courses the school offers, such as video game design, graphic design, and Web design.
Celestin makes it a top priority to guide students to gain IT certifications while in high school. The
school had been teaching an IT certification program for almost twelve years before Celestin came
on board, but not a single student had ever certified. Celestin set out to build the program from the
ground up with a focus on certification, including training for A+, Network+, and Security+. He
attended conferences and talked to other IT instructors about the teaching materials they’ve used. A
colleague from Holmes High School, also in San Antonio, recommended TestOut’s LabSim.
Solution: TestOut’s LabSim Gives Training and Practice
for Certification Exams
Celestin incorporated TestOut’s LabSim as a hands-on tool to prepare his students to pass certification exams. With LabSim, students watch video lessons and demonstrations taught by industry
experts, perform online labs that build practical skills, and take practice certification exams as
many times as they need to feel ready for the actual exam. Celestin said, “I know when students
are ready to certify: when they pass the LabSim practice exam with at least 90%. TestOut’s LabSim
is really helping with incentive to certify, with each component.”
Celestin has his advanced students for two class periods in a row. The first period he lectures and
does other teaching activities and hands-on labs, and during the second period his students
always use TestOut’s LabSim at least part of the time. “The instructors in LabSim videos help
reinforce what I do in lecture,” Celestin said. Sometimes he lets students work through the LabSim
course at their own pace, and other times he assigns specific sections by topic. “Each student has
different learning capabilities,” Celestin explained. “TestOut’s LabSim helps them to learn at the
rate they need and be able to repeat sections they don’t understand yet. When I assign sections of
the course by topic, all the students work on the material in that section—for example, a section on
memory/RAM. The students help each other with the material, especially on labs.”
According to Celestin, students like TestOut’s LabSim better than a textbook because it includes
different learning methods. In the section quizzes, students use LabSim’s features to get feedback
on their answers, and they document what they still need to learn and practice. Because TestOut’s
LabSim is accessible online, students can access their accounts anywhere, and some students
even keep practicing and studying with LabSim through the summer.
Another way that TestOut’s LabSim training has been a solution for Celestin’s courses is the
reporting features it includes. “I rely heavily on the LabSim reporting to help move my students
through the course. Each Friday I have the students pull up their reports on their screen. I go
around the class to grade them on their progress.” The reporting has also proven beneficial when
Celestin has a substitute teacher. “The sub doesn’t even need to know the content,” he said. “I
simply assign sections of LabSim to the students and then monitor their progress from home. The
students know that I can still follow up on their progress while I’m away. It keeps them on task.”
Results: Southwest Students Have Certified and
Excelled in Competitions, Jobs
With TestOut’s LabSim, 21 students have certified in A+, Network+, or Security+ since Celestin
began teaching at Southwest High School less than three years ago. “I motivate them by telling
them every day the importance of certification and what they can get from it. The blessing of being
certified is that they can leave high school and get a good job in IT. One student who is now a
senior is already working in IT, and that helps the other students see the benefit,” Celestin said.
TestOut’s LabSim has also prepared many students to excel in skills competitions while they’ve
been in high school. One student in particular was not only selected to go to a skills competition,
but was asked to lead the team because he had already passed his A+ certification exam. The
team went on to win the competition at the state level and placed third at the national level. “I
highlight the students’ successes at the school and also in front of administrators,” Celestin said. By
highlighting their success, Celestin has increased interest in the school’s IT program—not only with
the student body, but also with the school and district administrators.
“TestOut’s LabSim has been great for the students,” Celestin said. “It is always up to date, and it
really motivates them to certify.”
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