Every August, WebXam, the online testing portal maintained by the CETE Assessment Services Team, launches a one-month fall pretesting window. This window also occurs in January although the fall window is by far more popular. During this window, CTE educators have the option to administer course pretests to their students as part of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES). These tests, under Category B use in OTES, support evaluation of teacher effectiveness in terms of gain from pretests to post-tests. Under Category C (local usage) pretests can be utilized with Student Learning Objectives or SLO to tailor courses more closely to standards and competencies that guide those objectives and to demonstrate gain.
During the 2018-19 fall pretesting window from August to mid-September, WebXam delivered the highest number of pretests given in this window since inception in 2014. A total of 48,561 pretests were given to 29,240 students (there are an estimated 125,000 participants in Ohio CTE programming). Comparing the fall pretesting totals of last year (41,270) to this year (48,561) indicates a 15% increase. In fact, this number is only 47 pretests different from the total number of pretests taken during the entire 2017-18 school year!
The top five courses for pretests taken in the fall window are as follows:
| Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources |
1249 |
| Medical Terminology |
1248 |
| Information Technology |
1215 |
| Engineering Design |
1188 |
| Patient Centered Care |
1061 |
Why it Matters
While pretesting is currently optional for CTE programs, it is a great way to review knowledge retained by the student from previous courses to help teachers prepare their courses to allow students to be more effective during the current school year. It is a recognized way to document student gain. This documentation of student gain, as previously stated, can allow teachers to better prepare, ultimately improving teacher effectiveness, which is beneficial to the student, the teacher, local programs, and ultimately to Ohio business and industry.
