PEOPLE IN CERTIFICATION
Overcoming challenges in education
Every good IT pro has a wealth of
experiences and Tokar drew on his.
“As I taught, I would tell stories all
about customers and technicians that
I had worked with. The kids loved it
and I still find and share new stories
about working in IT.”
The classroom had plenty of work-
benches and tools on hand, as well as
some older computers donated by in-
dividuals and businesses. Tokar soon
added even more equipment from his
earlier business. “I had a ton of old
printers, scanners, and computer stuff
in various storage rooms that made
excellent teaching tools,” he said.
Relying on his knowledge and ex-
perience while innovating, adapting,
and overcoming, Tokar was unaware
that the class had any sort of text-
books. “It wasn’t until my third year
teaching that administration called
to tell me they had new books for my
class,” he said.
During the ensuing decade, Tokar
has thrown himself into teaching and
has an impressive record of achieve-
ment. Most of his students are 11th
and 12th graders with a smattering
of interested and determined 10th
graders.
Beginning students take two class-
es, each of which meets daily for 90
minutes. The classes involve a lot of
hands-on work, which students find
advantageous. “The kids pick things
up faster when they complete online
labs and work with actual computer
components,” said Tokar.
At the end of the first year, students
have an impressive array of basic
computer skills. “They are able to
assemble a computer, install Win-
dows and Linux operating systems,
attach a computer to a domain, and
install various tools like anti-virus
and anti-malware programs,” said
Tokar. “They also know how to work
with command line interfaces, and the
basics of TCP/IP.”Building a successful IT programThe final exam for first-year stu-
dents is the TestOut PC Pro certifica-
tion exam. On average, 80 percent of
the students earn their PC Pro certifi-
cation. Those finishing in the top half
of the class receive a free voucher to
take the CompTIA A+ exam — almost
half of the students sitting for the
exam earn an A+ credential.
Tokar’s second-year classes are
more in-depth, focusing on network
topology and the OSI model. Each stu-
dent learns to install Windows Serverand set up their own domains with
e-mail, DNS, DHCP, and IIS. They
also design a website, make it live,
and set users and computers up in
their domains. Finally, they learn how
to set up Domain Trusts and attach
their servers to each other through
routers.
The second-year classes prepare
students for the TestOut Network Pro
and CompTIA Network+ certifica-
tions, with 70 percent of them earning
Network Pro and approximately 25
percent earning Network+.
A typical class size is between 17
and 18 students who come from a
wide range of socio-economic back-
grounds. Boys make up the over-
whelming majority of each class.
“Our department actively recruits
young women, but most girls in the
school just haven’t been interested in
the field,” said Tokar. “I have no idea
why, because the girls that do take
the class perform as well as the boys
and in some instances preform even
better.”
One year the school held a fair to
generate interest among the students.
In hopes of having more girls visit
their table, the IT department had
computers on display and robots inOne year the
school held a fair to
generate interest
among the students. In
hopes of having more
girls visit their table,
the IT department had
computers on display
and robots in operation.