Kraig Stevenson illustrates the benefits of ICC’s HSTTP

International Code Council Government Relations Senior Regional Manager Kraig M. Stevenson, CBO, presented “Enhancing Entry Level Skills of Future Building Trade Professionals” during the Washington Association of Career and Technical Education’s (WA-ACTE) 2017 Annual Summer Conference held August 6-9 in Spokane, Wash. Stevenson spoke on the Code Council’s High School Technical Training Program (HSTTP) and the benefits of incorporating the HSTTP into career and technical education curriculum for the construction trades.

The ICC High School Technical Training Program is a flexible program designed to enhance current vocational curriculum. The program demonstrates hands-on construction techniques and helps to prepare a code-knowledgeable workforce that is ready to enter the construction profession and inspection professions directly out of school. With code training, students will have an advantage for advancement in their selected profession and are aware of careers as code professionals. Building lesson plans use the International Residential Code (IRC) and the IRC Study Companion to educate students about construction codes. Certificates of Achievement (COA) are issued to students who complete the program as recognition of proficiency.

Conference attendees, construction trade instructors and ACTE administrators were guided on how to access detailed information on the HSTTP, how to enroll a school into the program, how students qualify for COAs under the program guidelines, and how easy and flexible the HSTTP is to use. The guided activity demonstrated how code information and resources used in the industry help to build a code knowledgeable and skilled workforce ready to enter construction careers. The lesson plan demonstration and application of the codes modeled by Stevenson showed attendees how to use, evaluate and apply the technical requirements of the IRC to define proper application of the code’s requirements.