Schools
Students at vo-tech high school post highest ever scores
85 percent of students at the Western Montgomery Career & Technical Center achieved "competent" or "advanced" scores on a standardized exam.
Students at the (WMCTC) have posted the highest standardized scores in the school's history, the Spring-Ford Area School District said today.
85 percent of the school's seniors scored at the "competent" or "advanced" level on the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI) exam, which is administered to vocational high school students across the country.
Figured released by the school district depict dramatic improvement in the school's NOCTI scores in recent years. In 2008, only 35.3 percent of students at the school achieved "competent" or "advanced" scores on the test. The figure has climbed each year, culminating in this year's mark of 85 percent.
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About 400 students in grades 10-12 attend the WMCTC (formerly known as the Western Center for Technical Studies or WCTS), which is jointly operated by the Spring-Ford, Upper Perkiomen, and Pottsgrove school districts.
"Four years ago, WMCTC began a curriculum improvement process that overhauled how and what we teach in our technical areas, and we believe that this has led to a positive increase in our students' success," said Joe Greb, Administrative Director of the school.
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The NOCTI exam is given annually to seniors in technical schools who have completed two-thirds of their training and is designed to test students' technical knowledge through hands-on and written assessments. This year's score of 85 percent is the highest in the school's history. 71 percent of students with an individualized education plan (IEP) scored at "competent" or "advanced" levels, and 100 percent of students scored at "advanced" or "competent" levels in the subjects of Auto Tech, Computer Information Systems, Health Sciences, Protective Services and Commercial Art.
"We are very proud of all our students and their accomplishments, and look forward to continuing the upward trend in our NOCTI test scores in the years to come," said Mr. Greb.
Patch thanks the Spring-Ford Area School District for the press release upon which this story was based.
