Instructors are an important part of any successful CDL school, but no one is born knowing how to be a great commercial driving school instructor. Preparing students to be safe and professional commercial drivers takes knowledge of the ins and outs of commercial driving, as well as a solid understanding of how to teach effectively.
CVTA’s Instructor Certification Program (ICP) can help your instructors gain the skills and knowledge they need to prepare students for successful careers as commercial drivers.
The ICP offers five levels of training, ranging from introductory to advanced. At each level, the program focuses on practical skills to help instructors be more effective as they prepare students to get their CDL and become professional drivers.
Levels of the ICP
Each level of the ICP consists of several different courses that teach instructional skills as well as techniques for tailoring a driving curriculum to students’ needs. Not sure what level of CVTA’s ICP is right for your instructors? Here’s a quick summary of each one:
- Basic Instructor Certification: In this foundational level, instructors learn the skills they need to be immediately effective. This certification helps instructors develop their skills in teaching and working with different students, so they can train diverse pre-CDL students.
- Senior Instructor Certification: This level refines instructors’ skills so that they are better able to work with students from all backgrounds and impart the skills needed to become safe commercial drivers.
- Master Instructor Certification: Instructors gain further expertise in important teaching skills in this level. Courses focus on topics like how to vary instruction methods and how to appropriately deal with students’ behavioral issues.
- Senior Master Instructor Certification: Courses for this level focus on helping experienced instructors better understand assessment types and different student learning styles. To receive this certification, instructors complete all courses in the Senior Master Instructor level and have at least 450 hours of professional instruction experience as documented by your employer.
- Safety Professional Certification: This optional level uses Dr. Ronald Knipling’s book Safety for the Long Haul as its main text. The courses help instructors understand key safety concepts, communicate them to students, and explain why they matter.
Who Should Take the ICP?
The ICP is designed for instructors who work with pre-CDL students in a variety of contexts, from CDL schools to carriers’ in-house training programs to government agencies. If your organization prepares driving students to get their CDLs and become safe commercial drivers, the ICP can give your instructors the training they need to be more effective.
How to Get Started with the ICP
CVTA’s ICP is available entirely online, so your instructors can work through the self-paced courses whenever it is convenient for them. This asynchronous delivery method provides flexibility for busy professionals, allowing them to get the most out of CVTA’s industry-leading curriculum.
Our ICP is priced to be affordable for everyone who wants to improve their driver training skills.
Take Your CDL Training Program to the Next Level with CVTA’s ICP
Everyone in the commercial driver training industry shares the responsibility to ensure that we’re training drivers to be safe, smart, and successful on the road. To achieve that, instructors need to have the right tools and skills to work with diverse students effectively and communicate the important concepts of safe commercial driving.
CVTA’s ICP can help you raise the level of instruction you’re offering pre-CDL students. Get started with CVTA’s Instructor Certification Program today! If you have questions or would like more information, reach out to Cindy Atwood at ccatwood@cvta.org or 703.642.9444.