Test Center Certification: Initial Certification

Congratulations on your decision to apply for NCTA Test Center Certification (TCC). Attaining certification shows your commitment to testing integrity and the highest standards of quality and performance in the field of collegiate test administration.

Collegiate test centers that earn NCTA Test Center Certification provide evidence during the certification process that their test center upholds NCTA Professional Standards and Guidelines. NCTA-Certified Test Centers exceed the expectations of examinees, students, faculty, staff and vendor partners. 

Embarking on this process involves a commitment on your part, as well as from your staff and supervisor. In addition to completing the application you will also need to provide documentation, in the form of Appendices, which document your test center’s policies and processes. Crafting, reviewing, editing and finalizing these Appendices takes time, which is why it is important for you to have the support of your staff and supervisor before taking on this project.

The certification process will help a test center improve and enhance the assessment experience of the institution’s students and other test-takers, as well as contribute to the professional development of the testing staff. NCTA will publicly recognize college and university test centers which earn the distinction of being certified. This is a multi-phase process and it takes time to get through all the steps.
Certification Process Steps

 

  1. Read the application checklist (see Resources page)
  2. Each contact person listed on the application must be a current member of NCTA.
  3. Site will send an email to [email protected] indicating readiness to submit files for certification.
  4. The Initial Certifications Vice Chair will contact site with instructions on uploading completed file/documents.
  5. Site will upload completed files to their designated NCTA Dropbox.  All documents must be submitted in English and in PDF format.
  6. If paperwork is complete, the Initial Certifications Vice Chair will assign an Advisor. If materials are not complete, site will be notified for revision and resubmission.
  7. Work with Advisor to review and edit the application and appendices, as needed.
  8. Your Advisor will notify the Initial Certifications Vice Chair that site files are ready for evaluation.
  9. Initial Certifications Vice Chair will assign two Evaluators.
  10. Evaluators will independently review files and send comments to Initial Certifications Vice Chair.
  11. Initial Certifications Vice Chair will notify Advisor if there are revisions requested and Advisor will work with site on improvements.  Steps 10 and 11 are repeated until the site is ready to move on to Step 12.
  12. Initial Certifications Vice Chair advances site to site visit stage, notifies Site Visit and Certification Coordinator.
  13. Pay the $200 for initial certification fee to NCTA.
  14. Site will select two colleagues from the school for a site visit and colleagues will submit their report and findings to the Site Visit and Certification Coordinator.
  15. Once the site visit is completed, and the Site Visit and Certification Coordinator approves site certification, the site will become an NCTA Test Center Certified!

NCTA Test Center Certification is valid for five (5) years. Certified test centers are announced on the NCTA listserv. In addition, the center receives a large plaque suitable for display, the right to use the certified center logo on its website and other promotional materials, and a sample press release to announce this accomplishment. The Test Center Certification Committee’s Recertification Vice-Chair will initiate the recertification process nine months prior to the expiration of your certification date.

IMPORTANT:
The time it takes to become certified varies from school to school. However, the application and appendices must ALL be submitted at once. Failure to do so will result in the withdrawal of your application. The whole certification process should not take longer than six months.

Reasons Why Applications/Materials May Be Rejected

1)    The application was not complete

2)    All appendices were not submitted

Sample Appendices are available for your review on the Resources page.

If you have any questions about certification, please contact [email protected]