1 / 33

Innovations in Career-Tech Assessment

Innovations in Career-Tech Assessment. Presented by: Sandra Pritz, Senior Consultant National Occupational Competency Testing Institute. Why should career-technical programs assess academic skills?. State/national academic standards demand attention.

jacie
Download Presentation

Innovations in Career-Tech Assessment

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Innovations in Career-Tech Assessment Presented by:Sandra Pritz, Senior ConsultantNational Occupational Competency Testing Institute

  2. Why should career-technical programs assess academic skills? • State/national academic standards demand attention. • High school students must pass academic tests for graduation. • Workplace demands for technical literacy are increasing. • Academics in context tend to be student-friendly.

  3. How Should Career-Technical Programs Assess Academic Skills? • In the context of the students’ career-technical program • In alignment with state and national academic standards • In ways that help students translate to other tests they will need to take • Embedded In their career-technical tests, such as end-of-course or program

  4. Alternative assessments • Ask students to perform, create, produce something • Elicit applications of higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills • Connect with tasks that are meaningful in terms of the related instruction • Engage students in authentic real-world tasks Adapted from A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment (Herman,Aschbacher, and Winters, ASCD,1992)

  5. Portfolio Assessment • Involves assessing a collection of student work • Establishes a purpose, criteria (for what gets put in, when, and by whom), and how the collection or individual pieces will be evaluated • Engages students in assessment through gathering evidence of their progress and achievements that meet the criteria

  6. Value Added to Career-Technical Programs by Tests • External and effective • Critical competencies benchmarked to industry standards • Correlated to state and national academic standards

  7. Effective Tests- • are based on standards • provide transparent links between standards, learning objectives, and learning activities • help translate what is required into terms the learner can address • complement projects, portfolios, alternative assessments

  8. Critical Competencies Are Central • Students should recognize them as learning objectives with standards, move toward self-assessment. • Teachers should teach to them in learning activities. • They should be assessed—in multiple ways—with the results used to help focus instruction, for the group and for individuals.

  9. Process to Use Multiple Tests to Improve Instruction • Written tests—practice at all levels by including in assignments; mirror types of items on HSTW tests, include academics embedded in the technical industry/program.

  10. Electronic Technology Written • Students must be able to comprehend the following: • Read diagrams • Recognize symbols • Apply Ohm’s Law • Math Calculations needed: • Solve parallel and series circuits. • Solve algebra equations • Manage inverse relationships

  11. Performance Tests • Practice by including scenarios in assignments • Mirror real job tasks, time, tool selection, procedures • Open-ended, can apply a rubric, and can easily assess at higher levels • Some aspects yes/no, some scaled, some qualitative judgment by expert

  12. Precision Machining Performance • You will receive a piece of cold rolled steel 1.125” diameter x 6.62 long. • Following industrial safety rules, machine the part on the lathe according to the specifications given on the drawing provided. Check tools for condition and sharpness. • Requires student to: • -evaluate drawing to develop a work plan • -select speeds and feeds • - read blueprints

  13. Coupling Written and Performance Tests • Reflects reality better than one or the other alone • Provides for multiple forms of assessment • Gives all students a chance to succeed • Enables mutual reinforcement of learning • States and schools using NOCTI tests have documented improvement in instruction from using analyses of test results.

  14. Academic Skills Measured in Context Career and Technical Skills Academic Skills Academic Skills + Career Technical Skills Comprehensive Assessment

  15. Assessing Academic Skills in Context • NOCTI tests of occupational competencies also test some embedded academics. • Math, science, and language arts are required to complete most occupational items and performance tasks.

  16. Needs in Reading • Comprehend and interpret the materials of the occupational field • Compare, analyze, synthesize technical materials into a new set of information

  17. Needs in Math and Science • Use analysis techniques • Solve problems that require integration of more than one math concept and/or multiple steps • Estimate and check answers for reasonableness • Solve open-ended problems

  18. Science -- Carpentry • 4% of the written test items and 14% of the jobs of the performance test match NSES science standards at the 9-12 grade level. • Example question: Concrete wall forms must be made __________ (A. strongest at the top, B. strongest in the middle, C. strongest at the bottom, D. uniform throughout).

  19. NOCTI Academics Correlation Project • 7 NOCTI job-ready tests correlated to academic standards for math, science, and language arts - National standards (NCTM, NSES, NCTE) - State standards (NY, CA, FL) • Several business/industry tests correlated to national standards

  20. Academics Identified • Written tests contain embedded academics that match standards in all three disciplines. • Performance tests contain a higher percentage of embedded academics than written tests, and the items tend to be at higher levels of proficiency.

  21. Employability Skills • Competency lists like SCANS can be used to embed matching employability skills in tests • Bloom’s taxonomy* can be used to embed higher order skills in tests * Bloom’s taxonomy progresses from knowledge to comprehension,application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation

  22. Bloom’s Taxonomy -- Carpentry

  23. SCANS Skills -- Carpentry

  24. Sample of Carpentry Written Test Item with Technical and Academic Content at Proficient Level If a benchmark is established at 100’-0” and the bottom of the foundation is at 96’-4”,the bottom of the foundation is _______ the benchmark. (A. 6’-4” above, B. 3’-8” above, C. 6’-4”below, D. 3’-8” below) Math: proficient, 2 national standard matches Reading: basic, 1 national standard match Bloom’s: analysis SCANS: acquires and evaluates information

  25. Sample Carpentry Performance Job At Advanced Technical Level with Integrated Academics Using the appropriate tools, equipment, and material, install an interior window frame in the rough opening provided. Case the top and part of both sides of the frame using mitered corners. Use a table saw or power miter box to cut trim. Math: proficient; 4 national standard matches Reading: advanced; 1 national standard match Bloom’s: synthesis SCANS: selects technology

  26. Ways NOCTI can help • By providing performance as well as written tests, NOCTI can help assess academics at higher levels. • NOCTI can respond to the need to reinforce academic and employability instruction through assessment, can customize tests and test reports to isolate academics scores. • NOCTI can provide states the service of cross-correlating its tests to their state standards.

  27. Ways NOCTI can help (cont.):Workplace Readiness Test • NOCTI Workplace Readiness Test measuring employability skills is being up-scaled • A large and stellar Subject Matter Expert Team has rated the critical competencies • Career Cluster Foundation Skills will be assessed

  28. Ways NOCTI can help (cont.):Workplace Readiness Test • Employability skills are focus of NOCTI best-selling Workplace Readiness Test since 1996. • Up-scaled test in process to meet changed needs of business & industry • Research and synthesis of standards literature (e.g. MSSC, SCANS, EFF) • Review by >30 leaders, 3 focus groups • New assessment to be developed by fall • Will be formatted to align with career clusters

  29. For Tech Prep Programs • NOCTI’s critical competency lists can be used to document curriculum alignment for secondary and post-secondary articulation. • NOCTI can validate student mastery of competencies at the secondary level for transition to and possible credit at the post-secondary level.

  30. States Career Cluster Initiative Moves to Assessment Stage • NASDCTEc has named NOCTI a developer and the provider of its cluster, pathways, foundation tests. • NOCTI is administering the test developed for the National Health Sciences cluster. • NOCTI is developing 3 pathways tests in construction for PA, to be used nationally. • NOCTI is developing a Workplace Readiness foundation assessment.

  31. What Do I Receive from NOCTI? • Score Reports • Coordinator’s Report • Individual Student Reports • Customized Reporting Available—e.g. integrated academics • Statistical Information • Group Data • Site Data • State Data • National Data • Student Certificates • Personalized Contact Assistance Note: All results are broken down into duty, category and total scores.

  32. Pre and Post Test Gain Analysis

  33. Thank You Contact NOCTI for more information and to discuss your interests--- www.nocti.org or 1-800-334-6283

More Related