PTDI Certifies/Recertifies Courses at Five Truck Driver Training
Schools in Texas, Michigan, and Wisconsin
Alexandria, Virginia – The Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI) is proud to announce that three schools located in Michigan, Texas, and Wisconsin have received initial certification of their truck driver training courses and two additional schools in Texas have received program recertification for five years. The schools receiving first-time program certification are Baker College of Cadillac, Michigan, and Schneider Training Academy in Green Bay and in Dallas. Receiving five-year recertification were ATDS in Elm Mott, Texas, and Houston Community College Northeast Commercial Truck Driving Center in Houston.
Robert Hunt, director of ATDS, said he pursued recertification for his program to continue to attract "better educated students" and to maintain the school's pride in having met all the standards of the PTDI certifying body. Through the past five years, he said, "PTDI has helped us stay above the industry," and despite the rigorous process, "we're finding [PTDI certification] is slowly paying off, not just for us but for the people that want long-term benefits."
The benefits to carriers that employ graduates of PTDI programs, he said, include hiring drivers who are "better quality trained and better prepared for the industry. We believe that students going through PTDI programs result in less turnover, and they gain more confidence [in their abilities]."
"We're located in the middle of Texas and I get calls all the time from prospective students who can't get hired by certain trucking companies unless they have graduated from a PTDI-certified program," Hunt said.
Now that more schools are seeking PTDI certification, Hunt said carriers nationwide have a broader base to hire from, and that makes him feel better about the quality of drivers on the road. "That's one of the main things I've been worried about," he said, "but we're finally seeing these carriers waking up, as more people are saying that [PTDI certification] is important."
"PTDI certification will make a difference in our program as well," said James Stark, dean at Baker College of Cadillac. "The big thing about PTDI is that they really up the scale of requirements on students' behalf, teaching the students management, responsibility…qualities any employer is looking for."
In addition, students receive proper training and preparation, and as a former employer with an industrial background, Stark said, "those are the things I looked for in hiring a person; not just someone who could fill the job but fulfill it.
"PTDI certification is an extra endorsement that the other person competing for that job doesn't have. It says 'the hoops I had to jump through were much higher than someone graduating from another program.'"
Don Osterberg, vice president of safety and training for Schneider National, agrees that graduates of PTDI programs can "differentiate themselves" from the competition. "Only drivers who have demonstrated ability go through our program," Osterberg explained. "The certification acknowledges that we train [our students] not only to drive a truck but to be a professional driver. Public safety and advocacy groups understand this is a competitive industry, and we've chosen not to modify or truncate our program [at Schneider Training Academy]."
Noting that PTDI lends credibility to their program, Osterberg said, "It's one thing to think that you have a high-quality training program but another to have validation of it."
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