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Viv Guide
Viv Guide
Essentials:
Assessments
1
Introduction to the Career Essentials: Assessments
The Career Essentials: Assessments can help both students and teachers discover students’ occu-
pational strengths. By implementing the Career Essentials: Assessments, students and teachers can
collaboratively develop a life-long learning plan to validate and enhance students’ skills and knowl-
edge. Assessment data results are beneficial for students, teachers and administrators in validating
student learning, and improving programs and their accountability.
This teacher preparation guide is a tool developed for instructors to help students capitalize on
their unique strengths, which can improve individual student performance and provide a clear way
forward for student success.
The Career Essentials: Assessments Teacher Preparation Guide provides an easy-to-follow road
map to implement the Career Essentials: Assessments. The guide is not meant to be curriculum nor
should it replace that which already exists. It provides specific information regarding the Career
Essentials: Assessments so teachers can identify existing curriculum areas that may need additional
emphasis.
The guide ultimately helps teachers provide students with learning opportunities. Its goal is for stu-
dents to become comfortable and successful with the Career Essentials: Assessments.
2
Table of Contents
Workplace-Ready Skills..................................................................................................................... 6
Student Tools: Access Directions for the Trade- or Technical Specific Online 10-Item Demo........ 8
Knowledge Checksheets.................................................................................................................. 14
Resources......................................................................................................................................... 27
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Teacher Preparation Guide
What are Career Essentials: Assessments? For complete information regarding the
Career Essentials: Assessments are online as- Career Essentials: Assessments and to
sessments that evaluate technical and employ- see all assessment areas, please visit the
ability skills and knowledge. They are the way website at:
ahead for the next generation of our American www.careeressentials.org
workforce, and they help candidates validate
their technical skills and knowledge to potential measure the same core and critical competen-
employers. They also help local instructors dem- cies. Even within the same version, questions
onstrate the value of their programs, while sup- and answers are displayed in varying orders to
porting local industries with a pool of potential prevent test takers from copying others. The
employees that has been tested by a system Career Essentials: Assessments are designed to
they can trust. be user-friendly and intuitive for students.
Each assessment was developed by a panel of Using the Career Essentials: Assessments
industry, high school and college/postsecond- Every classroom is unique. You can use the
ary subject matter experts (SMEs) using national Career Essentials: Assessments in a way that
technical standards. Career Essentials: Assess- best suits your program and students. The fol-
ments were created by industry to ensure rel- lowing directions are SkillsUSA’s suggested and
evance to entry-level skills, meet Perkins IV preferred method to implement the assessments
accountability requirements and provide certifi- so that your students gain the most from the
cates to students who achieve industry-defined results.
scores. They ensure your students are workforce
ready. The most important step in the Career Essen-
tials: Assessments process is to select the correct
Career Essentials: Assessments incorporate pho- assessment for your students. You are key to the
tographs, videos, animations and illustrations to selection process. Without your involvement,
ensure clarity for each technical question. Drag- the wrong assessment may be selected. Assess-
and-drop and multiple-choice questions appeal ment titles do not provide enough information
to visual and kinesthetic learners and test con- for proper selection. Review the various assess-
tent knowledge rather than test-taking abili- ment categories that best correspond to your
ties. Even simple multiple-choice questions are program.
brought to life through pictures and animations.
Next, look at each of the assessment titles
Assessments are available in more than 40 trade, within the category and the corresponding
industrial and technical areas. A rigorous and blueprint. The blueprint will tell you which
educationally sound process captures critical competencies and subjects are addressed in the
competencies, standards and criteria as defined assessment.
by industry.
Cross-walk the various blueprints with your
Academic core and critical skill areas also exist classroom curriculum. The assessment blue-
in each assessment. State-level academic cur- print will show what’s emphasized and how
riculum specialists identified connections to competencies are weighed. Please remember
national academic standards. the Career Essentials: Assessments are based on
national industry standards, so the assessment
Each one-hour assessment includes 50 ques- may not perfectly align with the existing curric-
tions. Under the supervision of a proctor, the ulum. Content may need to be added or empha-
integrity of each test is ensured by offering mul- sized to better prepare students for the Career
tiple unique versions of the assessment, which Essentials: Assessments. 4
Teacher Preparation Guide
Once you have selected the assessment that best Have students discuss how they can assist each
fits your program, administer that Career Es- other to prepare for the assessment.
sentials: Assessments at the beginning of your
students’ final program year. This could be con- Place the Career Essentials: Assessments Blue-
sidered a pre-test. print on the classroom wall. The blueprint will
help students focus on the appropriate course
Assessment results are available as soon as your content areas that align with the assessment. It
student completes the assessment. The report will also help everyone to be aware of the pro-
provides you with a gap analysis to identify gram’s goals and expectations.
your students’ learning needs according to each
competency area within the assessment. Dy-
namic reports compare your students’ perfor- The Career Essentials: Assessments
mance to the current state and national averag- at a Glance
es. Reports also enable you to track a student’s
progress on an individual basis. The assessment • Select the correct assessment title. Do not
have someone select the assessment for
pre-testing results provide you with a bench-
you, as there may be several titles that
mark for your students and identify student
may relate to your program
learning gaps. This data may help you adjust
your own curriculum and identify areas that • Review the assessment blueprint that best
may need more or less emphasis. The data can aligns with your existing curriculum
be shared with students so everyone can focus
on learning areas that need improvement during • Identify gaps in your curriculum, and use
the school year. additional resources to enhance or align
the curriculum
Then, at the end of the school year or program
semester, administer your specific Career Essen- • Share the assessment blueprint with the
students so everyone is aware of the ex-
tials: Assessments a second time as a post-test.
pectation
Use post-test data to improve or adjust curricu- • Have your students take the assessment at
lum once again for your next program year. This the beginning of their final program year
way, curriculum adjustments are made using the as a pre-test
student testing data rather than arbitrarily mak-
ing adjustments. • Use pre-test data to identify learning gaps
or strengths of individual students or the
This pre- and post-test process is a “win-win” class
situation for the teacher and especially the stu-
dent! To ensure a quality process, SkillsUSA is • Remediate the students using the data
analysis from pre-test to enhance, empha-
ready to help at any time.
size and adjust learning objectives
Preparing Students for the Career Essentials: • Have your students take the assessment a
Assessments second time (as a post-test) at the end of
Provide each student with a copy of their trade- the program year to determine learning
or technical-specific Career Essentials: Assess- gains/gaps
ments Blueprint. Do this at the beginning of
your course. Review and discuss the blueprint • Use post-test data to improve or adjust
with your class, providing insight on the assess- curriculum for your next program year
ment weighting and what is emphasized.
5
Teacher Preparation Guide
Administer the Career Essentials: Assessments navigating the online system? This experience
as a pre-test to identify student gaps. If pos- will help students be more comfortable and
sible, pre-test your students at the beginning confident when taking the final assessment.
of their final program year to identify learning
gaps both individually and as a class. The data Discuss as a class or individually with students
will provide an excellent “road map” to prepare which question(s) were difficult. Facilitate a
students to take the assessment again (post-test) discussion to glean more information regard-
at the end of the program. Using the data, tailor ing why certain answers were wrong. Offer
the instruction to better prepare your students. techniques students can use to better determine
correct answers.
Use the Career Essentials: Assessments compe-
tency areas checksheets included in this guide Workplace-Ready Skills
to encourage class discussion and help students Through the Career Essentials: Assessments,
identify strengths and weaknesses. you have the option for your students take an
Employability Assessment. This assessment tests
Use the pre-test data to ascertain problematic a student’s workplace-ready skills such as com-
learning areas. Have students identify discussion munication, teamwork, time management and
topics based on the various competency areas more. It can be used for any student in any oc-
and their pre-test data results. Exercises, demon- cupational area as a practice test or a separate
strations and even questions can be developed assessment.
by the students using their textbooks or other
resources listed in this guide. If you use the Employability Assessment as a
practice test have students take it in class. Not
Assign homework that aligns to the assessment only can the Employability Assessment help
blueprint. Focus on a competency area within students become familiar with the navigational
the assessment. Using the checksheets in this tools of the assessment system, but it can also
guide, have students develop questions and measure and make your students aware of an-
potential answers using the resources identified other important skill set. It may also help them
when developing the assessment. Use the ques- become comfortable in the testing environment.
tions for class discussion or “quiz bowl” activi-
ties. See the Career Essentials: Assessments website
for more information: www.careeressentials.org
Have students take the assessment trade- or
technical-specific online 10-question demo as- The Employability Assessment is not intended
sessment. This could be a homework assign- to familiarize students with the 3-D Vizualiza-
ment or done in class 30 days prior to taking tion and Animation assessment content.
the assessment the second time (as a post-test).
This not only will provide students with spe-
cific sample questions and potential answers, Please note: For all Career Essentials:
but it will also allow students to experience the Assessments to be valid, instructors
online system again and become more familiar cannot be present in the room where
with the types of questions they may encounter their students will be taking the test.
when taking the actual assessment. A proctor is required. Proctors can be
other instructors, a school administrator
Following the demo assessment, discuss the or school counselor.
experience students had. What question(s) did
they not understand? Did they have difficulty
6
Teacher Preparation Guide
8
Teacher Preparation Guide
tial answers thoroughly. Tell them to make sure • Identify the correct assessment for your pro-
they know exactly what the question is asking gram
before answering. Let them know that if they • Share the selected assessment blueprint with
are unsure, they can mark the question and your students, parents, advisory board mem-
return to it. bers and others. Place the blueprint on the
classroom wall
Use process of elimination. If your students • Pre-test your students at the beginning of
are not sure of the correct answer, tell them to their final programmatic year
study the potential answers and eliminate the • Use the data results to identify “learning
ones that they know are not correct. gaps”
• Share the pre-test data with the student(s)
If all else fails, tell students to guess. After they • Tailor learning experiences to meet student
have exhausted all options, tell them to take needs and supplement current curriculum
their best guess at the correct answer. If they • Develop homework assignments around the
have studied the content area, they may intui- competency knowledge checksheets located
tively know the correct answer. The Career Es- in this guide
sentials: Assessments system does not penalize • Have students take the demo 10-question
students for guessing and they may guess cor- practice test 30 days prior to the post-test
rectly! • For students that need more time in the
actual testing environment, use the Employ-
Student Tools: ability Assessment to review navigational
3-D Vizualization and Animation Blueprint tools and to make students more comfort-
and Competency Area Knowledge able in the testing lab
Checksheets • Finally, review the blueprint and knowledge
The next section provides the assessment blue- checksheets in totality before taking the
print and detailed topics within each competen- post-test to ensure students are aware of the
cy area covered within the 3-D Vizualization and expectation
Animation assessment. Photocopy and share the
following blueprints and checksheets with your Using the above steps, you and your students
students so they can better prepare for each of should see improvement in the post-test assess-
the competency areas within the 3-D Vizualiza- ment score report and a percentage of knowl-
tion and Animation assessment. edge gained.
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13
Review Dates:
8%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Identify pre-visualization and/or conceptual design
techniques to tell a story? r r r
14
Review Dates
10%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Demonstrate proper object naming? r r r
15
Review Dates:
16%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Edit splines/2D curves to create 3-D models
viewport shading modes? r r r
16
Review Dates:
16%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Utilize different light types in the scene? r r r
17
Review Dates:
12%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Demonstrate knowledge of camera angles-Close up,
Extreme close up, Medium close up, Establishing shot? r r r
18
Review
10% Dates:
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Demonstrate knowledge of the importance of mapping? r r r
19
Review Dates:
12%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Understand how to set key frames with auto key
and set key? r r r
20
Review Dates:
10%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Render files into an .avi or a .mov format? r r r
5. Utilize antialiasing? r r r
21
Review Dates:
6%
Knowledge Check
How well do you know how to: Very Well Somewhat Well Not Well
1. Utilize the glow effect? r r r
22
Helpful Tips and Reminders
for Students
23
Sample Assessment
Questions
24
Sample Assessment
Questions
25
Sample Assessment
Questions
26
Resources
Additional Resources
Below are resources that will be helpful in
preparing for the Assessments which were cre-
ated based on industry standards nationwide.
Use the Career Essentials: Assessments Blue-
print as a guideline for competencies tested.
Use the resources below to find curriculum or
additional study guides for industry standards.
27