North Carolina Online Test of Computer Skills

1
North Carolina Online Test of Computer Skills

• 2006 CTE Summer Conference
• Koury Convention Center Greensboro, NC
• July 19, 2006
• Presenter Scott Ragsdale
• Project Manager, North Carolina Computer Skills
  Assessments
• NC State University, CUACS/TOPS

2
Session Purpose

• This session will address
• 2005-2006 school year
• Current and future directions of the test as we
  move into the 2006-2007 school year

3
All great journeys start with one step.

• Confucius

4
First Semester 2005 Fall

• Operational Pilot administration
• October 17, 2005 January 13, 2006
• Delayed Results
• 109,584 students tested
• Students completing administration 99

5
First Semester 2005 Fall

• Standard Setting February 9-10, 2006
• Bookmarking
• SBE approves recommended passing score of 150 on
  March 2, 2006
• Results of Operational Pilot administration
  released on March 6, 2006

6
Second Semester 2006 Spring

• Operational administration
• March 20, 2006 June 16, 2006
• Results reported bi-monthly beginning March 31,
  2006
• 50,941 students tested
• Students completing administration 99.87
• Individual Student Reports and labels available
  for 2005-2006 school year on June 13, 2006

7
Success

• High completion rates
• Coordinated effort across the state
• Congratulations
• Thank you for your support, patience, and belief
• The thing always happens that you really believe
  in and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
• Frank Lloyd Wright

8
Summer Semester 2006

• Operational administration
• July 1, 2006 July 28, 2006
• Available as an option for students in grades
  8-12 who have not already met the computer skills
  graduation requirement
• NOT eligible to participate during this
  administration
• Students who are rising eighth-graders
• Students who have previously participated, or are
  scheduled to participate, in a different Summer
  2006 administration of computer skills i.e. 1998
  Curriculum Test Edition 2

9
Summer Semester 2006

• Student registrations must be assigned to the
  correct school for each student for the 2006-2007
  school year
• Student information questions (SIQs) must be
  completed before a student can be tested
• Students who are registered but do not have SIQ
  data completed will not show in the listing of
  names to choose from when beginning a test

10
The FutureLooking Ahead to 2006-2007 School Year

• Testing Calendar
• First Semester 2006 Fall
• October 2, 2006 January 12, 2007
• Second Semester 2007 Spring
• March 12, 2007 June 8, 2007

11
The FutureLooking Ahead to 2006-2007 School Year

• NCDesk
• Windows upgrade to JRE Java Runtime Environment
  1.5.0_07
• Justify option has been removed from NCEdit
• No longer supporting Mac OS X 10.2 for testing
• NCDesk will no longer run on this version
• Read-aloud integration audio files and JAWS in
  development

12
The FutureLooking Ahead to 2006-2007 School Year

• SIQs must be filled out at least 1 day prior to
  testing continuation from Summer semester
• If SIQs are not complete, the students will not
  appear in the testing application
• Once a student begins testing, SIQ can no longer
  be edited
• Tests must be started and completed on the same
  day unless student is registered as multiple test
  sessions
• Forced completion of tests on a nightly basis

13
Test Information
14
Resources

• http//cskills.ncsu.edu/nccs
• Link to home page of the North Carolina Online
  Test of Computer Skills
• http//ncdesk.ncsu.edu/ncdesk
• Direct link to the home page for the NCDesk
  application suite
• http//www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/computer
  skills
• Link to Computer/Technology Skills Standard
  Course of Study on the North Carolina Department
  of Public Instruction website
• http//community.learnnc.org/dpi/tech
• Link to Computer/Technology Skills page for
  Curriculum and School Reform on the North
  Carolina Department of Public Instruction website
• http//www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/test
  ing/computerskills
• Link to computer skills testing information on
  the North Carolina Department of Public
  Instruction website
• http//tps.dpi.state.nc.us/
• Link to Technology Implementation Planning
  Services page on the North Carolina Department of
  Public Instruction website
• http//www.ncpublicschools.org/techservices
• Link to Technology Services page on the North
  Carolina Department of Public Instruction website

15
Contact Information

• Scott Ragsdale
• Project Manager, North Carolina Computer Skills
  Assessments
• NC State University, CUACS/TOPS
• scott_ragsdale_at_ncsu.edu
• Randy Craven
• Director, Technology Implementation
• NC State University, CUACS/TOPS
• randy_craven_at_ncsu.edu
• Help Desk
• cskills_at_ncsu.edu

16
Final Thought

• The secret of success is constancy of purpose.
• Benjamin Disraeli

17
Questions and Comments