Technical Skill Assessments -- for Perkins Programs of Study
Perkins funding of CTE Programs at PCC depends on their belonging to an identified Program of Study (POS). There are a few key elements that are required of Programs of Study beyond what is required of state-approved post-secondary CTE programs, including
- Alignment and/or articulation with one or more secondary CTE programs (requiring collaboration between high school and college faculty).
- Annual reporting of student attainment of technical skills as one of several performance indicators.
The reporting
situation is changing. Until recently, the measure of Technical Skill attainment has been via a student's GPA. As of 2012-2013, this will no longer be accepted, and the reporting will be in terms of Technical Skill Assessment (TSA).
The technical skills assessed will need to be aligned with industry-based standards. The assessments will need to be submitted for each completing student (by ID number), as one score (either "meets" or "does not meet").
Prior to reporting, the assessments must be approved by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), and shown to be valid (based on industry standards), reliable (consistent), and criterion referenced. For information about the approval process, and other guidance please visit the ODE website:
Oregon Department of Education (ODE) Technical Skill Assessment Resources
Which Programs at PCC need to be concerned with Technical Skill Assessments?
CTE programs are eligible for Perkins funding ONLY if they are approved Programs of Study (or in the queue to be approved by 2011-2012). At PCC, Perkins funding supports Technical Learning Skills Specialists, Student Resource Specialists and staff in employment services, Career Pathways, Disability Services and the Women's Resource Centers. Perkins funding also supports professional development activities in CTE and equipment purchases.
Our CTE programs are "rolling into" Programs of Study as the HS programs apply for POS status with the state and are required to identify the college programs with which they collaborate. For the college programs, the requirement is active collaboration with HS programs, and conversion of the reporting of technical skill from GPA to the TSA's.
For each program, it is generally only the main AAS degree that will need to report TSA's (for a few CTE programs, more than one AAS is identified as part of a POS, and each will need to report TSA's). See List of PCC Degrees for TSA's. Programs that do not choose to be involved in Programs of Study are not required to develop TSA's, but also are not eligible for Perkins funding.
What is the relationship of TSA's with the Accreditation requirement for assessment?
The main differences between TSA's and Assessment of Outcomes for our Degrees and Certificates are:
- TSA's speak specifically to industry-based standards (At least some of your outcomes likely do so as well).
- TSA's are reported as one score, “meets” or “does not meet” whereas assessment for accreditation should be collected in a way that helps faculty to make focused program improvements.
- TSA's are reported for each student completer (by G#); program assessments can be aggregated.
Most CTE programs are involved in Perkins in some way, and thus are expected to submit a TSA for one of the AAS degrees in their program (or if no AAS degree, the dominant certificate). See List of TSA's needed from PCC.
Resources for reporting TSA data and general reporting information.
Instructions for TSA reporting
This is brief tutorial of how to use the Xcell data sheet listed below.
This document if for technical skill assessment types (OCCURS).
You can use this XCell sheet for recording and submitting you data.
Submission information
All available TSA data is due to Sue Atkin in institutional effectiveness no later than July 30, 2012. However if you wait until the last minute and there's an issue with your data, she will not have time to return to you to fix any issues. If this is the case, your data most likely will not make the submission deadline. You are encourage to have data submitted in early to mid-June, 2012.