Purdue Testing Services Student Success Programs

Annual Report 2022-23

Mission Statement

The mission of Purdue Testing Services (PTS) is to serve students, instructors and the greater Purdue community by providing testing services for undergraduate advancement, graduate development, and professional accreditation. The primary role of PTS is to support instructors and students through the accommodated testing process in partnership with the Disability Resource Center (DRC).

Vision Statement

PTS is responsive to the needs of campus and provides on-time, quality support to facilitate the completion of exams. We aspire to be viewed as experts in our field by campus partners and other institutions.

Program Elements

PTS offers a suite of exams that include:

  • Accommodated Academic Exams
    • Print, package, and administer academic exams on behalf of instructors for students with approved accommodations through the DRC.
    • Facilitate the full spectrum of testing accommodations including extended time, distraction reduced environment, assistive technology, music during exams and alternate furniture.
  • Pearson Exams
    • Evaluation Systems Exams, (ES)
    • Teacher licensure exams
    • Executive Assessment, (EA)
    • Business school readiness exam
    • Graduate Management Admission Test, (GMAT)
    • Admission Exam
    • Pharmacy College Admission Test, (PCAT)
    • Fundamentals of Engineering, (FE) & Fundamentals of Surveying (FS)
    • Engineer licensure exams
    • Microsoft Certification, (Microsoft)
    • Specialist and technical certification exams
  • ETS
    • Praxis
    • Teacher licensure exams
    • Graduate Record Examinations, (GRE — General)
    • Graduate Record Examinations, (GRE — Subject)
  • College Board
    • College-Level Examination Program, (CLEP), is a series of exams that allow for credit by exam
    • There are a total of 33 exams across the following categories: Composition and Literature; World Languages; History and Social Science; Science & Mathematics; and Business.
  • Purdue Advanced Credit
    • Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science

Program Goals

  • We aim for every client to have a satisfactory experience. This includes students taking accommodated exams, clients taking vendor exams, and instructors who utilize PTS services.
  • The accommodated testing capacity will be used more efficiently and effectively. Capacity is defined as space, staffing, and time resources.
  • Instructors will have a better understanding of their role and their choices regarding accommodated testing.
  • The university community will become more aware of the variety of services offered by PTS, which increases overall exams proctored.
  • We will develop a robust communication plan to ensure consistent messaging and marketing to all constituents.

Notable Changes From 2022-23 Academic Year

  • Effective May 2023, the Disability Resource Center (DRC) Testing Center and the Purdue Testing Center (PTC) merged to form a new unit — Purdue Testing Services (PTS). PTS is a “one stop shop” for testing services at Purdue. The decision to form PTS came from years of growth for both testing centers. The goal of this new unit is to streamline processes and improve the quality of service to our campus and community.
  • In December 2022, PTS moved from SCHL B42 to STEW G39. The move increased seat capacity from 15 to 29 seats. The new space also included a larger waiting room for testers as well as additional staff work stations.
  • Through a collaborative effort with the Purdue Memorial Union (PMU) and Registrar staff, PTS was able to guarantee the use of Stewart Center 3rd floor rooms for accommodated final exam administration for the next 5 years.
  • PTS partnered with Registrar to reserve STEW 314 & 320 on a nightly basis as an additional proctoring location when needed. This increased the nightly capacity from 79 to 151 total seats.
  • PTS purchased a new exam scheduling system, RegisterBlast, in May 2023. Throughout the summer, Kelsey Jordan (Director, PTS) worked with the RegisterBlast leadership and other RegisterBlast consultants as well as Purdue IT to build the Purdue West Lafayette instance of RegisterBlast. This new system will allow for scheduling and payment for CLEP and Advanced credit exams in addition to managing the accommodated exam process. RegisterBlast launched successfully in Fall 2023.
  • Kelsey Jordan was promoted and named the inaugural Director of PTS in May 2023. Kelsey formerly served as Assistant Director in the DRC and has managed the accommodated testing services at Purdue since 2015.
  • Maddie Kintner joined the PTS team in November 2022 as the Accommodated Testing Coordinator.
  • Heather Johnson started as the Administrative Assistant for PTS in April 2023.
  • Bahiyyih Baker was promoted to Sr. Test Administrator in May 2023 after serving in the PTC for 6 years.
  • In August 2023, former-PTC Manager, Cindy Fields, retired from Purdue after almost 22 years.
  • Jordan attended the national Association for Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) conference in July 2023. At the conference, Jordan served on a panel with directors from Michigan University, University of Las Vegas – Nevada and Washing University in St. Louis to discuss exam accommodations in a session titled “To Pee or Not to Pee: That is just one of many questions.”
  • Baker, Johnson, and Jordan attended the National Collegiate Testing Association (NCTA) conference in August 2023. Jordan presented twice while at the conference in sessions titled “Exam Accommodations: The Who, What, Why, and How” and “Managing Expectations: How to set expectations for students, Testing Center staff, and faculty.” Jordan’s “Managing Expectations” presentation was the most attended session of the conference with other 120 attendees.

Program Assessment

  • Initiate the use of a survey to collect and analyze data on the population served by vendor-based exams to inform decisions about the services we provide.
  • Explore and evaluate the experience of students who take accommodated exams with PTS so that we can improve our service (e.g. survey students).
  • Explore and evaluate the experience of instructors who utilize PTS to administer accommodated exams so that we can improve our services (e.g. end of semester survey and focus groups).
  • Use available data to better understand use of resources in terms of staffing, space, and time.
  • Determine the demand for accommodated testing across campus and the unmet need of campus.
  • Determine the need for vendor exams at Purdue and if there are some vendor exams we are not offering that we should be.
  • Measure the effectiveness of our communications with each constituent through the use of web analytics and data from Delivra (email campaign tool).

Our Data

For a full picture of our data from the 2022-23 academic year, please view or download our Full Annual Report by clicking the button below.

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