Providing test accommodations is a necessary part of administering and proctoring tests. Yet, testing offices often ignore the importance of the many facets of accessibility not only in providing accommodations for students with disabilities but also for all students they serve. This presentation will focus on the importance of universal design in making testing accessible. There will be a short discussion of the philosophy of universal design and how testing offices need to use these concepts in order to create a testing environment that is accessible. The presentation will then move toward a discussion of specific methods of how to implement universal design concepts in testing through communication (websites, scheduling systems, etc.), facilities (testing rooms, office arrangement, etc.), staff knowledge, test presentation, content and validity, and leadership.

Conference Track: Accessibility in Testing

The goal of the Empowered by Psychometrics series is to help campus testing offices transition towards becoming campus assessment centers which, in addition to providing test administration services, also actively offer expertise to the faculty, staff, administration, and student body on issues related to test development and educational measurement. This year's session focuses on the psychometrics underlying computerized adaptive testing (CAT). In CAT, no two examinees take the same sets of items. Furthermore, as a result of the adaptive algorithm, most examinees wind up with proportion correct scores near 50%. In this session, participants will learn about the science behind CAT that allows for examinees' test scores to be directly comparable to each other. Participants will learn about different test delivery models, item selection algorithms, and security issues as they relate to CAT. Time will be provided at the end for audience members to ask questions.

Conference Track: Assessment Design and Psychometrics

See your revenue rise when you discover ways to shift your CLEP focus to high school students. We'll give you tips on reaching out to high school teachers, counselors, and the students themselves.

Conference Track: Test Center Finances

Testing organizations and test centers are no strangers to rules…we have pages upon pages of them! But rules can shift across testing organizations and across time, and sometimes we find the rules aren't sufficient to cover new issues and emerging threats. That's when the bedrock principles upon which rules are based can provide us the firm footing to confidently address those new situations. Join us for an interactive session discussing test security. We'll explore the test security principles behind the hundreds of rules we apply and engage in scenario-based discussions that use test security principles to guide our actions when rules just aren't enough.

Conference Track: Test Security

College Testing Services has aligned itself with the College Strategic Goals of Student Success, Attainment, and Workforce Development. Creating partnerships with College Academic Programs, Workforce Development Initiatives, and Community-based Programs has allowed the College Testing Services to leverage its expertise and increase the value and need for its services campus wide.

College Testing Services successfully positioned itself as an internal consultant to the College for all testing-related service needs by providing customized testing experiences based on program, faculty, partner, candidate and student need. It created added value through ease of access, improved services, building campus links, and success stories and metrics.

Conference Track: Test Center Management and Staff Training

Come hear how testing professionals are moving out of the shallow waters of "just testing" into the depths of excellent testing services. NCTA-Certified beach bums welcome you to an interactive discussion of how the NCTA Test Center Certification process has broadened their strokes and propelled them into the surf, providing evidence to upper administration and test-takers that their test center is truly the Best of the Best. The benefits of and pride in being certified invigorate us to stroke harder when swimming in the depths of higher education. Come see samples of your colleagues' progress toward certification or recertification – it's time for some of whose centers have been certified for five years to pursue recertification to maintain their high national status. Join us!

Conference Track: Certification, Grants, and Standards

Proctoring Best Practices is a new publication being developed jointly by the National College Testing Association and the Security Committee of the Association of Test Publishers during a year-long collaboration. This document is intended to identify best proctoring practices in paper-based, computer-based, and online proctored testing contexts and should serve as a guide for test sponsors and/or publishers in drafting their test administration policies or as they evaluate and audit vendor organizations providing proctoring services. In establishing best practices, the contributors gave primary consideration to those practices that promoted the security of the test, maintained standardization, and ensured the fair and respectful treatment of all test takers.

In this session, the presenters will discuss the collaboration and will provide an overview of the proctor's role in preparing the testing facility, admitting the test taker, proctoring during the examination, concluding the examination, and completing examination responsibilities. Presenters will discuss the proctor's responsibilities during each phase of the testing process, including how they may differ across the various testing channels.

Conference Track: Proctoring

This presentation will look at those technical questions that have been rising with the tide in your testing center. What is a cache proxy anyway? Why can't Java get along with what is already on my testing stations instead of creating havoc at each update? Do I really have to have a separate computer for this testing program? Is an active understanding of the technical side now a prerequisite for staff in a testing center? What about wireless, laptops, and more?. Join us for an informed and lively discussion of technical side questions and issues in the testing environment of the present and future.

Conference Track: Testing Technology

The conference officially begins with the welcome by NCTA's president Francesca Taylor and her state of the association address, "Going for the Gold." This is the perfect time to hear updates on current and upcoming initiatives that the association is pursuing as it strives to provide its membership with additional opportunities for professional growth.

Join Rachel R. Watkins Schoenig, J.D., Assistant Vice President and Head of Test Security for ACT, Inc., as she reviews the current testing landscape and highlights trends that promise to impact the next generation of assessment design and delivery. Learn more by clicking here.

Three sponsors, Castle, College Board, and the Law School Admissions Council, will each provide condensed versions of the workshops that they will be offering on Wednesday for in-person attendees. These mini workshops will provide those attending the virtual conference with important updates about the various programs offered by these sponsors. More specific information about the content of these workshops will be posted as it becomes available.