January 2015—NCCCO’s Practical Exam Audit Program, an integral part of the NCCCO quality assurance process, continued to grow last year following a trend begun in 2011. Last year, the number of completed audits rose to an all-time high of 360, a 28 percent increase over the previous record. The audits were conducted at 147 practical exam test sites around the nation.
This graph shows audits broken down each year by quarter from 2011-2014.
NCCCO audits are conducted on all CCO certification programs that include a Practical Exam as part of their requirements. They are designed to ensure that all CCO certification examinations are delivered in a standardized manner that is fair to all candidates, while remaining psychometrically valid and reliable. Audits are conducted on either an “announced” or “unannounced” basis and can also be prompted by complaints, or an unusually high or low pass rate at a test site. In addition, during their first year following accreditation (the so-called “probationary” year), all Examiners are subject to more frequent mandatory audits. More than 200 Probationary Examiners were audited in 2014.