KOKOMO Ind. – The testing center at Ivy Tech Community College’s Kokomo Campus was honored recently for achieving Test Center Certification from the National College Testing Association (NCTA). This certification is recognition that a test center operates under the highest accepted standards and procedures for all types of testing.
The result of a three-year accreditation process, the certification acknowledges these testing centers adhere to best practices in the testing industry, provide additional validity to prospective distance learners, vendors and organizations and increase access to useful testing ideas, documentation and procedures.
In a recent visit to the Kokomo Campus, Brian Hamilton, executive director of statewide testing services for Ivy Tech, congratulated the testing center team for its success in getting through the rigorous certification process. Hamilton noted the program attests to the academic integrity and customer service the team members provide. Among those on hand to accept the NCTA plaque were Shirley Siovaila, certification and workforce assessment manager for Ivy Tech Kokomo and Lafayette, and Mary Pruitt, Kokomo testing services coordinator, and her staff.
The center staff offers administration and proctoring of a wide range of exams for prospective and current Ivy Tech students, including placement testing, make-up exams and credit for prior learning exams, as well as employment testing for local business for selection and development of staff and testing for nationally recognized professional certifications.
Siovaila said the Kokomo testing center administered nearly 6,000 exams last year, including about 2,500 certification exams. “While some of the certification exams were testing our students,” Siovaila said, “many of them were for members of our community who are able to test at our center rather than having to travel to Indianapolis or Fort Wayne.”
The Kokomo site is one of 13 Ivy Tech testing centers that have recently earned the certification, breaking records for the largest number of schools within an institution announced at one time. The College joins more than 200 certified centers across the United States and Canada.
For more information about NCTA Test Center Certification, visit ncta-testing.org. Information and location information for Ivy Tech testing centers can be found at IvyTech.edu/testing-services.