What to Ask Electrician Tech Schools<\/strong><\/h3>\nOnce you have decided to obtain a diploma, certificate or degree, you can start to refine your training options. Because there are so many electrician vocational and trade schools in the Ashland MA region, it’s important to have a checklist of criteria that each school must satisfy. The first two that we discussed were location and tuition expense. If you have an interest in earning an degree online, then that needs to be an option that your final school offers. And while all three qualifiers may be critical when making your selection, there are other factors that need to be taken into account as well. Following is a checklist of those additional qualifications that you will need to assess before selecting an electrical technical school.<\/p>\n
Accreditation. <\/strong>A large number of electrician technical schools have received either a regional or a national accreditation. They can acquire Institutional Accreditation, which focuses on the school’s programs overall, or Programmatic Accreditation, which relates to an individual program, for instance electrical technology. Verify that the Ashland MA program and school are accredited by a U.S. Department of Education approved accrediting organization, for example the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. In addition to helping guarantee that you acquire a superior education, it may help in securing financial aid or student loans, which are in many cases unavailable for non-accredited programs. Additionally, a number of states mandate that the electrician training course be accredited for it to qualify for licensing.<\/p>\nHigh Completion and Placement Rates. <\/strong>Ask the electrician training programs you are reviewing what their completion rates are. The completion rate is the percentage or portion of students who enroll in and finish the program. A lower completion rate might indicate that students were dissatisfied with the program and dropped out. It might also signify that the teachers were not competent to instruct the students. It’s similarly important that the schools have high job placement rates. Older and\/or more reputable schools may have a broader list of graduates, which may result in more contacts for the school to employ for their apprenticeship and job placement programs. A high job placement rate can not only confirm that the school has a good reputation within the trade, but additionally that it has the network of contacts to help Ashland MA graduates acquire apprenticeships or jobs.<\/p>\nApprenticeship Programs. <\/strong>Many electrician trade programs are taught together with an apprenticeship or an internship program. Those participating trade and vocational programs will help place you in an apprenticeship program within their network of electrical companies or trade unions. Find out if the schools you are considering have referring relationships with Ashland MA area electricians or electrical specialists. An apprenticeship not only provides a rewarding experience by supplying hands-on training, but it also furnishes employment opportunities and helps to build relationships in the regional electrician professional community.<\/p>\nModern Facilities. <\/strong>Confirm that the school facilities and the equipment that you will be instructed on are up-to-date and what you will be using on the job. If you are presently in an internship or an apprenticeship, talk to the electrical tech you are working under concerning what you should be expecting. If not, ask a local Ashland MA electrical contractor if they can provide some suggestions. Also bear in mind that unless you are able to move, the school needs to be within driving distance of your Ashland home. Remember that if you decide to enroll in an out-of-state school, in addition to relocation costs there might be higher tuition charges compared to in-state residents.<\/p>\nSmaller Classes. <\/strong>It’s important that you get as much individualized training as possible, which can be challenging in bigger classes. Ask if you can sit in on a couple of the classes so that you can observe how big they are and experience the interaction between instructors and students. Speak with a few of the students and get their comments concerning class sizes and instruction. Last, speak to some of the teachers and learn what their level of experience is and what certifications or degrees they hold.<\/p>\nFlexible Scheduling. <\/strong>Make sure that the class schedules for the programs you are assessing are flexible enough to meet your needs. If you can only attend classes at night or on weekends near Ashland MA, verify that the schools you are looking at offer those options. If you can only attend on a part-time basis, make sure that the school you select offers part-time enrollment. Additionally, find out what the protocol is to make-up classes should you miss any due to work, illness or family issues.<\/p>\nConsidering Attending an Electrician School near Ashland MA?<\/h3>\n
Following is a little bit of background information about the Ashland MA area.<\/p>\n
Ashland, Massachusetts<\/h3>
The area now known as Ashland was settled in the early 18th century and inhabited prior to that by the Megunko Native Americans, to which Megunko Hill owes its name. Previously known as \"Unionville,\" Ashland was incorporated in 1846, bearing the name of statesman Henry Clay's Kentucky estate. It is considerably younger than many of the surrounding towns, as Ashland's territory was taken in near-equal parts from the previously established towns of Hopkinton, Holliston, and Framingham.\n<\/p>
The construction of the Boston & Worcester Railroad, later the Boston & Albany, in the 1830s was key to the early development of the town. Decades later, two other rail lines opened stations in Ashland. Along with the Sudbury River, the railroad helped to attract numerous mills to develop a bustling boot and shoe industry. However, by constructing three reservoirs along the river in 1878, the Boston Water Board inadvertently stymied further growth, most notably by halting the construction of the Dwight Printing Company's granite mills.[3] Although the mills closed, starting in the 1890s the Hopkinton Railroad Company, providing a connection to Milford, and the Natick Street Railway, which operated streetcars between the towns of Sherborn, Framingham, and Natick, offered service in Ashland.[4] These rail lines were gone by the 1920s, rendered obsolete by automobiles.[4]<\/p>
Around the same time that the local rail lines were in decline, the inventor Henry E. Warren developed the Warren Synchronizing Timer in 1916, which made synchronous electric clocks possible by keeping alternating current flowing from power plants at a consistent sixty cycles per second.[5] Warren founded Telechron, which, in partnership with General Electric, manufactured electric clocks in Ashland until 1979.[6] A Warren Synchronizing Timer is on display at the Smithsonian's Museum of American History in Washington D.C.,[7] and the Ashland High School sports teams are coined \"The Clockers.\"\n<\/p><\/div>\n