Professional Development / Statement of Organizational Capability

Accomplishments--Thirty Years of Experience

VTECS is nationally recognized for its expertise in developing standards and assessment systems based on a valid occupational analysis process. In the early 1990’s, John Wirt, author of Testing and Assessment in Vocational Education, published by the Office of Technology Assessment, U. S. Congress, 1994, asserted that “VTECS has had the most influence of any organization in the United States on what has occurred in occupational curriculum and assessment development.” According to research conducted in 1993 by Joan Wills, Director of the Workforce Development Center, Institute for Educational Leadership, forty states and thirty-two foreign countries have utilized VTECS products, processes, tools, and technical assistance leadership to enrich their analysis, instructional, skill standards, and assessment efforts.

Historically, the VTECS organization has:

• Provided leadership to over 40,000 workers in the analysis and validation of the duties, tasks, and skills needed in some 200 occupational domains representing over 1,000 occupational titles.
• Developed and distributed the VTECS DIRECT™ software system designed to manage VTECS occupational and instructional information including item banks. VTECS DIRECT™ is used in over 2,500 business, industry, education, and training organizations.
• Developed and distributed the VTECS Connect™ software package to manage work-based education programs such as apprenticeship, internship, co-op, and any other workplace learning situation that requires the development of customized training plans.
• Published a set of Workplace Skills validated with business, industry, education, and government leaders in sixteen states. Over 600 test items – both scenario and multiple-choice – have been written to support these Workplace Skills.
• Developed the Taxonomy of Academic Performance Indicators (TAPI) (originally titled, VTECS/Snyder Basic Essential Skills Taxonomy) and a process for identifying the related academic skills (language arts, math, and science) embedded in occupations. Development was led by the State of Arizona and verified with eighteen other states.
• Developed the VTECS Linkage Process for analyzing and cross walking academic and occupational skill standards using the TAPI. Through a contract with Cisco Systems, we have worked with over thirty states to analyze and crosswalk their academic and/or occupational skills.

Examples of Large-Scale Project Experience

Additional activities that clearly demonstrate VTECS ability to successfully manage large-scale national and state level standards and assessment research and development projects are:

• In 1992, the United States Office of Education awarded a grant to VTECS to develop the Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration National Skill Standards (HVAC). VTECS identified the skills, knowledge, standards, and measurements; and subsequently validated them with groups of workers across the nation. An item bank was developed and a prototype certification assessment instrument was generated.
• VTECS worked with the Professional Secretaries International to develop skill standards, measures and test items for the Administrative Support Occupations. This project involved the development of methods to secure demographic data related to the support occupations area, the impact of current technology on these occupations, and validation of the materials with businesses and industries in which administrative support personnel work. The two-year project involved business and industry employees, teachers, administrators, university teacher educators, and others. Since then VTECS has developed two other parallel documents that address Business Management and Financial Occupations. We have also developed test item banks for all three areas and prototype assessment instruments that include both a written and a performance component.
• As part of a U. S. Department of Education and Labor National Skills Standards Project, the Electronics Industry Foundation (EIF), contracted with VTECS to develop measurement criteria for their draft National Skill Standards for Electronics Technicians during 1995.
• As part of one of the U. S. Department of Education and U. S. Department of Labor National Skills Standards Project, the National Automotive Technician Education Foundation (NATEF), asked VTECS to lead eight teams of automotive technicians, nine teams of medium heavy truck technicians, and five teams of collision repair technicians in the identification of the related academic skills required as a part of their job. The TAPI was the primary tool used during the analysis of the existing ASE/NATEF technician standards. This work was conducted during 1993-1995.