High-quality CTE: Student Assessment

Click the + sign next to each category below to explore resources that align with the Student Assessment element of the ACTE Quality CTE Program of Study FrameworkTM.

This policy brief presents initial findings from a comprehensive study being undertaken to examine noncredit CTE programs offered within the Virginia Community College System. This brief looks at program participants, credential attainment rates and likelihood of pursing credit-bearing education.

This study examines the impact of industry-recognized credentials on Texas high school students’ employment and postsecondary outcomes. The findings shares differences in outcomes by industry-recognized credential field of study as well as attainment trends over time.

This report describes employers’ views of alternative credentials during the hiring process including their value, how often they are recognized and barriers to acceptance.

These guidelines, produced by an industry-led committee, are intended to help students, counselors, educators, parents and employers use certifications that are truly valuable to students and industry nationwide.

This research analyzes the relationship between passing a CTE technical assessment and college enrollment.

This report discusses the current landscape of digital badges such as their key characteristics, current market trends, institutional leaders and common program areas that provide badging.

Using data from the Florida Department of Education, the researchers compared college enrollment and degree attainment for certification earners to non-earners. Relative to non-earners, certification earners had higher rates of immediate enrollment at two-year colleges and higher rates of earning an associate degree.

This report discusses 16 types of credentials and assesses the number of different credentials that exist in the United States as well as the providers that offer them.

Starting in 2017, the Virginia Department of Education began requiring students graduating with the Standard diploma to earn a CTE credential. This study from REL Appalachia examined the CTE credentials Virginia high school graduates most commonly earned from 2011 through 2017.

  • Understanding Certifications – Good et. al, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, George Washington Institute for Public Policy & Workcred, December 2020

This report helps readers understand certifications by providing definitions and describing how they differentiate between other credentials, their purpose, value, quality assurance guidelines, certification bodies and more.

This brief reviews existing evidence on industry certifications and offers guidance for states and other entities on identifying high-quality industry certifications.

This notice published by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration describes defining key characteristics of credentials such as industry-recognized, stackable, portable and accredited as well as discusses different types of credit for prior learning options.

This bulletin contains a discussion of the privacy considerations surrounding the use of online/remote proctoring and how a testing organization controller should evaluate its needs in the selection of vendors.

This publication reflects upon six challenges that individuals face in pursuing postsecondary credentials, such as few stacking and articulation opportunities, and offers approximately 30 state and federal policy solutions to address these hurdles.

This series explores the pros and cons of each of the three options for the Perkins V secondary program quality indicator, including credential attainment, and examines different ways states are measuring and validating them.

Using grades on multiple-choice homework assignments, quizzes and a final exam as performance measures, the authors tested hypotheses concerning the performance improvement of students at Kingsborough Community College who were allowed to revise and resubmit homework.

This publication describes researchers’ qualitative analysis of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System EPIC initiative, an online, competency-based curriculum that expands access to computer and medical information technology credentialing programs, and evaluates the program’s implementation and outcomes.

The Workforce Data Quality Campaign surveyed all 50 states and the District of Columbia to learn the extent to which states are collecting individual-level data about non-degree credentials, incorporating that data into their longitudinal data systems, evaluating attainment by subpopulation and identifying credentials of value.

This journal article describes research findings on assessment accommodations and universal design within the context of emerging interactive digital assessment tasks that employ simulations in STEM subject areas.

This report shares results from ACTE’s Certification Data Exchange Project, which sought to expand and improve data exchange between industry certification organizations and state longitudinal data systems, and discusses lessons learned and recommendations for future data-sharing and -matching efforts.

Colleges are helping students who possess alternative credentials, such as MOOCs and badges, apply these experiences to a degree through prior learning assessment and other methods. This publication includes a number of case studies.

The Employability Skills Assessment was developed to provide an alternative measure of work ethic needed for success in employment. This study tested goodness-of-fit for a model used to interpret assessment results.

This review of research on simulation-based assessment in health education finds that simulation-based assessment is best when multiple simulations are used and when simulation is used in combination with other assessment types.

This research examined the incidence and nature of various assessment practices used by community college faculty for basing the course grade. In addition, the study examined the percentage of course grades based on traditional and authentic assessment and factors that may influence the use of assessment techniques.

This report describes the key findings of a national survey of state approaches to college and career readiness.

A study was conducted in one urban Alaska high school regarding juniors’ perceptions of college and career readiness related to WorkKeys scores. Findings indicated a gap between student perceptions of college and career readiness and college-ready WorkKeys scores.

This baseline study of secondary CTE students in Pennsylvania indicated that students who participated in capstone cooperative education experiences scored significantly higher on summative assessments, as measured by NOCTI scores, than those students who did not participate.

Faculty can take specific actions to develop a strong local assessment system, with performance assessment as its cornerstone. The publication includes stories from the field.

The State of New York Agriculture Science Education secondary program is required to have a certification exam for students to assess their agriculture science education experience as a Regent’s requirement towards graduation. This paper focuses on the procedure used to develop and validate two content sub-test questions within a Criterion-Reference Test framework.

SREB reviewed and evaluated more than 200 employer certification examinations. The full report contains a brief description of and observations about the nature of these examinations.

The guide was designed to help CTE leaders make difficult decisions as they offer remote, blended and socially distanced learning during COVID-19. It is organized around the elements of ACTE’s Quality CTE Program of Study Framework, including guidance related to student assessment.

This framework proposes a consensus definition of quality non-degree credentials and criteria developed in consultation with 12 leading states and national organizations that states can adopt for their own quality assurance systems.

This paper from the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations outlines a broad framework to guide the development of standards and processes to evaluate quality of non-degree credentials.

This guide provides a set of strategies, tools and questions for taking action to develop or strengthen a performance assessment system in the context of Linked Learning pathways.

A valuable preparation tool, NOCTI Blueprints contain competency lists, percentage breakdowns, sample questions and skill-based job examples. Teachers and students use Blueprints to identify the skills and knowledge needed in a particular career path and to focus study on areas needing improvement.

This book defines different credential types, describes the proliferation in credentials and unpacks the implications of this abundance. It concludes with 12 propositions for action.

This book explores multiple aspects of data-driven improvement in instruction, and specifically targets the importance of gradient disaggregated objective technical skill data and its systematic use to continually improve instruction. The concepts and specific ‘how-to’ examples in this book are valuable for secondary, postsecondary and adult educators.

This webinar discusses how to manage a NOCTI credential program, including practitioner responsibilities, accessibility, interpreting score reports and proper assessment administration.

This webinar provides an overview of credentials, including what a credential is, developing a quality credential, how a credential meets industry standards, how credentials are awarded and how to incorporate credentials into CTE programs.

In this webinar, a panel of experts discusses the role of student assessment in remote, blended and socially distanced learning.

This webinar reviews five quality programming components that CTE administrators can use as a benchmark for assuring quality CTE is being delivered in their schools.

Featuring panelists from Wisconsin, Utah and Colorado, this webinar focuses on how CTE practitioners can offer CTE credentialing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This webinar provides an overview of prior learning assessments and the variety of ways individuals, particularly adults, active military and military veterans, can obtain credit toward a degree program.

Join Candice Mott, CTE performance accountability coordinator from the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, as she discusses student assessment.

This webinar discusses how to determine whether the assessment that a credential is based on is high quality, including examples using student assessment data from CTE programs.

This webinar discusses how to incorporate micro-credentials to recognize technical competence through projects, programs, courses, assessments and digital badges.

This webinar discusses how educators can utilize pre-test reports to gain a better understanding of student performance and improve student growth and achievement.

This webinar discusses competency assessment as an essential element of competency-based education models. Presenters include Dave Wilcox, Global Skills X-change; Jane M. Weissman, Interstate Renewable Energy Council; Dr. Deborah Everhart, American Council on Education; and Walt Jimenez, Professional Examination Service.

This course focuses on how you, the instructor, can identify and implement alternative assessments that support expected course outcomes and allow students to demonstrate their level of competency for a skill or task.

This course discusses how to develop learning outcomes and assessments to measure student success in bodywork programs, with evaluation tools and rubrics as well as national standards in the field.

This course reviews how to effectively evaluate student learning in an online environment. The course touches on the use of technology tools, how to complete formative and summative assessments, advantages and disadvantages of objective and subjective assessments, as well as how value-added assessments can be used for course revision.

This series of courses addresses online instruction and assessment, including using rubrics to enhance online learning and crafting effective assessment opportunities in an online course.

This course covers the instructional techniques necessary for the non-traditional classroom, including strategies for assessing student progress.

This course examines several aspects of assessment including how to create good tests, how to ask effective questions and how to get your students to actively participate in their learning by asking questions themselves.