The career and technical education (CTE) community has a pivotal opportunity to transform America’s workforce landscape by reimagining how we assess and validate occupational skills. By developing innovative, scalable approaches to performance-based testing, we can uncover hidden talent, bridge skills gaps, and connect workers with meaningful career pathways across all economic sectors and geographic regions.
Why does this matter? The United States faces persistent workforce challenges, with employers struggling to find skilled workers while millions of Americans remain underemployed or unemployed. Traditional methods of assessing skills often fall short in identifying the true capabilities of our diverse workforce. At the same time, rapid technological advancements and evolving industry needs demand a more agile and responsive skills verification system. At NOCTI/Nocti Business Solutions (NBS), we believe in recognizing and valuing technical skill development, and we understand the verification of skills can be the cornerstone of effective teaching and learner success. We also know the value of approaching assessment through multiple means, and advocate that an effective assessment portfolio includes performance testing.
Developing a scalable, logistically feasible performance testing system for the entire nation is a complex undertaking. Key hurdles include:
- Ensuring consistency and quality of assessments across diverse regions and industries.
- Engaging industry evaluators in both urban and rural areas and in partnership with local, regional, and state business leaders.
- Managing costs for both test administration and test-takers.
- Aligning assessments with rapidly evolving industry needs.
- Building ‘social capital’ through skill recognition for learners that is valued by employers.
Forming Our Task Force
Overcoming these obstacles is essential and has become the impetus for our effort to organize a national task force led by Dr. Jeff Allen from the University of North Texas and Ms. Jane Oates, Senior Policy Advisor for WorkingNation. Performance-based assessments provide a more equitable and accurate picture of an individual’s capabilities compared to traditional academic metrics alone. This is crucial for unlocking the full potential of America’s workforce and ensuring economic competitiveness. NOCTI/NBS has invited key national organizations and invested CTE leaders committed to these beliefs to the table to find a strategy moving forward. Through this charge, we believe we can bridge the skills gap across all economic sectors, enhance workforce mobility and career advancement, and support innovation through better talent management. We are excited to engage partners from a variety of state and national organizations, including:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)/National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE)
- Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)
- Advance CTE
- SkillsUSA
- New York City Department of Education (CTE)
- The School District of Philadelphia
- Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)
- Recreation Vehicle Technical Institute (RVTI)
- American Culinary Federation (ACF)
- FANUC
Our Call to Action
The time has come for the CTE community to lead a national movement in reimagining skills assessment for our current and future workforce. By working together to develop innovative, scalable solutions, we can create a more equitable and effective system that recognizes talent wherever it exists. This effort has the potential to not only transform individual lives but also to bolster America’s economic competitiveness on the global stage.
Let us commit to:
- Develop best practices for skills verification across all sectors and regions.
- Pilot new assessment models in diverse communities and industries nationwide.
- Advocate for policy changes and funding to support widespread implementation.
- Engage with employers to ensure the relevance and adoption of new skills verification methods.
- Build industry recognition and cultivate labor market advantage for learner outcomes.
Does this work resonate with you? We welcome you to bring your voice to the discussion and to join our target teams. Reach out to us to explore opportunities: nocti@nocti.org.