Maryland and PGAMA promote PrintED

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has embraced PrintED, a national accreditation and certification program, as a powerful tool to improve career and technical education in the area of graphic communications. It is encouraging local schools to pursue PrintED accreditation and providing them with the financial support to accelerate the process.

‘The printing industry has been changing tremendously and we wanted to facilitate the upgrade of graphics and printing programs in Maryland to industry standards,’ explained Rosemary Bitzel, regional coordinator, Systems Branch, in MSDE’s division of career technology and adult learning.

‘The Printing & Graphics Association Mid-Atlantic (PGAMA) told us about PrintED, and it was the only accreditation program that met the state’s criteria.’

PrintED gives prime emphasis to aligning curricula and program content with actual current needs of industry, and promotes this alignment by encouraging industry participants to be deeply involved in local education program.

‘More and more local school systems are considering the benefits of having a certified graphics program,’ said Roman Budzinski, vice president of PGAMA, ‘and the state wanted some way to determine that technology students were learning what they needed to learn to meet the needs of employers.’