Quarterly Online

President's Message

Hello Everyone!

Having a wife who teaches at the secondary level keeps me well aware of the fact that it is testing time for many of our readers around the country. The NOCTI staff is also very aware of this because order entry, scoring and our servers are busy, busy, busy! This quarter has arrived with many new testing agreements and many more schools focusing on the power of data driven, end-of-program technical assessment. The ability of technical assessment data to improve instruction is phenomenal, especially if viewed longitudinally.

We are excited about the “buzz” some of our new assessments in the pathways have created. The state of Michigan has decided to try a pathway test on a statewide basis. The city of Chicago is looking at implementation and a number of states have been experimenting with these assessments as part of their newly implemented Programs of Study (POS). We would be happy to talk to your state leaders about “trying out” these pathway level tests FREE OF CHARGE, but the request needs to come from state CTE leadership to make that happen.

Later this spring we will be presenting at a number of different state and national conferences. The NACTEI Conference (National Association for Career & Technical Education Information; www.nactei.org) is probably underway as you are reading this and the Career Clusters Institute is coming up June 14-16 in Denver (www.careerclusters.org). NOCTI will be presenting two Pre-Sessions at Career Clusters – one dealing with test construction and one dealing with pathway/program of study testing. This year we will be giving a voucher for assessment related services to each NOCTI Pre-Session registrant. The voucher coupled with the information you’ll receive easily covers the cost of registration.

I should mention that we have been involved in writing numerous grants lately and some of the concepts that we are currently working on are very innovative, to say the least! Unfortunately, in this brief message that’s about all I can say. Speaking of grants, our work with Dr. Jim Stone and the National Research Center has been going extremely well. Just two days ago the project leaders had a chance to meet with numerous interested agencies in Washington, D.C. Among the agencies that were interested in our work were the National Science Teachers Association, the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Energy, the President’s Domestic Policy Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and numerous others. The interest in career and technical education in Washington is palpable and that’s great news for all of us in the field!

We continue to work on our web page in an effort to make it even easier and quicker for our clients to find information they need. I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you to continue to check the “Teachers’ Corner” (www.nocti.org/teacherscorner.cfm) and our link to the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE). Click here or look for the NRCCTE logo on our home page.

John Foster
President/CEO
NOCTI and The Whitener Group
Measuring What Matters

All of us at NOCTI sincerely hope that your assessment and graduation activities go well in the coming weeks and that you have a celebratory and safe closing to your school year! We look forward to continued service to the CTE community. On behalf of the entire NOCTI staff, I extend our sincerest wishes for a relaxing summer!

The Power of Performance Testing... The NOCTI Advantage

Career and Technical Education offers students a unique opportunity to apply what they have learned as part of the educational process. The application of a learned concept is considered the highest standard for assessing student achievement.

NOCTI offers two assessment options: The first option is the written/multiple choice assessment, which can be delivered online or in the pencil/paper format. This testing format measures what course content a student understands and can recall in a traditional classroom testing environment. If a school is interested in a complete picture of the students’ knowledge and skills, the second option, which uses the written/multiple choice coupled with the performance assessment, is a powerful tool.

“Performance-based assessments represent a set of strategies for the application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students,” states K.M. Hibbard, A Teacher’s Guide To Performance-based Learning and Assessment, 1996. “This type of assessment provides instructors with information about how a student understands and applies knowledge. Also, instructors can integrate performance assessments into the instructional process to provide additional learning experiences for students.”

The benefits of using performance assessments in combination with the more traditional forms of assessment are to provide a more complete picture of student achievement. NOCTI’s well-developed Performance Assessments can reveal a variety of problem-solving approaches, thus providing insight into a student’s level of conceptual and procedural knowledge.

NOCTI Performance Assessment score report data consistently indicates a higher level of student achievement when compared to written score report data. The option to combine the written and performance scores can provide school districts with additional data for reporting purposes.

NOCTI can provide a nationally validated performance assessment with each of their multiple choice assessment titles. A rating rubric is provided so evaluators can objectively and distinctly critique each student’s level of performance utilizing the predetermined scoring system. Detailed information is provided by NOCTI regarding the materials needed for each performance assessment and instructions for preparing each work station for the performance assessment.

The Written and Performance assessment option is what separates NOCTI from other assessment organizations. NOCTI offers a holistic assessment process which can easily be implemented into a school’s improvement plan.