LEWISTON, Idaho - The new consolidated Testing Center at Lewis-Clark State College is holding an open house on Monday, October 20 from 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. The Center is located in Room 161 in the northwest corner of the Library building, the area formerly home to LCSC College Advancement. The public is welcome to attend and refreshments will be served.
In 2005, a Presidential Guidance Initiative resulted in the establishment of a testing center which was operated by the staff of the Center for New Directions. The volume of activity for academic and professional-technical programs had continued to expand at LCSC, and testing was dispersed among a number of units, including the Professional-Technical Education Center and the downtown Lewiston Adult Learning Center, e-Learning Services, as well as the Office of Disability Services.
A Presidential Strategic Program Guidance Initiative in fall 2013 was created to assess testing facility needs and explore options for upgrading and/or relocating testing operations to better serve academic and professional-technical students for traditional as well as online and hybrid courses.
In April 2014, testing center stakeholders met with LCSC Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lori Stinson to discuss how services could be combined in a consolidated testing center, describe physical/fiscal/personnel requirements, and explore areas for future growth. The group reached out to other schools to learn how their centers operated. A location was identified in May 2014, although the space was unavailable until mid-July 2014. A director was appointed and two full-time Technical Records Specialists were reassigned from other areas of the college, in addition to several part-time staff.
Initial steps in coordinating cabling, networking, database creation, ordering of computers and furniture began in June 2014. The Center opened its doors on August 20, 2014. It houses 30 computers and several areas for private or semi-private testing for those needing special accommodations for disability services. The space includes observation windows and videotaping of computer station activity via monitoring equipment in staff offices.
Tests the Center currently proctors include but are not limited to: online and hybrid courses, testing for disability needs students, Certified Nursing Assistant certification, entrance exams for the Nursing program, and the Radiography/Dental Hygiene programs, in addition to COMPASS (Computer-Adaptive Placement, Assessment, and Support System) placement exams. The Center also tests for the Business Technology and Service Division and Technical & Industrial Division for program certification. In addition to campus test proctoring, the Center proctors tests for other institutions inside and outside Idaho. The Center and staff are certified with Castle World Wide, ISO Quality, and Prometric test centers. The Center is undergoing re-application for certification as a Pearson Vue test site (due to the closure of the original Professional-Technical Education Center).
"The Testing Center is a tangible example of how LCSC is working to meet the needs of our students,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Lori Stinson. “We anticipate growth in the Center and hope students and faculty will let us know how the Center can best facilitate their educational experience and meet their needs."
The Center is open Monday – Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and Saturdays by appointment only from 9:00 a.m.- noon. Most testing requires an appointment to be made in advance.
To contact the Center call 208.792.2100 or 800.879.0453 or email [email protected]. The website can be found at www.lcsc.edu/testing-center/