September 12, 2005

John C. Foster, President/CEO
NOCTI and The Whitener Group
500 North Bronson Avenue
Big Rapids, MI  49307

Dear John:

I am delighted to write a letter of reference for the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI).  SkillsUSA has worked with NOCTI for the past twenty years and we’ve found NOCTI to be an excellent resource to validate the occupational skills of our students at both the high school and college levels.   NOCTI is an integral partner in assisting our schools to better meet the occupational standards that our workforce is demanding.  Using the data from NOCTI assessments, schools can diagnosis student achievement.  Through pre and post-assessment, NOCTI provides educators and schools with an individual diagnostic tool for student remediation and schools are able to capture the gain in a student's learning.

Our partnership has focused on two key areas.  NOCTI is the official testing organization for our national competitive events program, the SkillsUSA Championships.  This annual competition is the showcase for Career and Technical Education in America.  Over 10,000 local, regional and state competitions are held and over 200,000 students are involved as a precursor to the nationals.  Nearly 5,000 students compete at the national level in 80hands-on technical skill and leadership events. To assess technical knowledge, NOCTI has done an excellent job as the provider for the knowledge assessments for this prestigious event.

In SkillsUSA's most recent partnership with NOCTI and the National Association for State Directors of Career and Technical Education Association (NASDCTEc), our organizations have created an instrument to identify and measure a student's workplace readiness skills. The development of the Workplace Readiness Certification program will enable the future workforce to maximize their competitiveness.  This partnership has been supported and endorsed by many Fortune 500 business and industry partners who see the need for improved job ready performance.

NOCTI is well respected nationally by education and the business community.  It is indeed a pleasure to be working with such a quality organization.   

Respectfully,

Tim Lawrence, Executive Director

SkillsUSA

703-737-0601   tlawrence@skillsusa.org

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SkillsUSA  ·  P.O. Box 3000  · Leesburg, VA  20177-0300
Telephone: (703) 777-8810  ·  Fax:  (703) 777-8999
Web address:  www.skillsusa.org