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Accomplishments--37
Years of Experience
The Career
and Technical Education Consortium of States, Inc. (CTECS), (previously
named VTECS), is
nationally recognized for its expertise in developing standards and
assessment systems based on a valid occupational analysis process. In the
early 1990s, 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 CTECS products, processes, tools, and technical assistance
leadership to enrich their analysis, instructional, skill standards, and
assessment efforts.
Historically, our 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
CTECS DIRECT software system designed to manage CTECS
occupational and instructional information including item banks. CTECS
DIRECT is used in over 2,500 business, industry, education, and training
organizations.
- Developed and distributed the
CTECS 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,
CTECS/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 CTECS 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 CTECS 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 CTECS to develop the Heating, Air
Conditioning, and Refrigeration National Skill Standards (HVAC).
CTECS 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.
- CTECS worked with the International
Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) 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 CTECS
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 CTECS 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 CTECS 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.
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