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Pretesting allows educators to make data-driven decisions, improve program efficacy.

While educators have worked to battle student learning loss for years, the COVID-19 pandemic and virtual learning have brought this issue to the forefront. According to CNBC, “Nearly all — more than 97% — of educators reported seeing some learning loss in their students over the past year when compared with children in previous years.”

YouScience, the largest provider of industry-recognized certifications, offers a solution: pretesting.

In March 2020, YouScience merged with Precision Exams to establish a revolutionary education technology company offering an innovative solution for career discovery, exploration, preparation, and connection. The company uses science-based brain games to identify innate abilities (a.k.a. aptitudes) and connect them with real-world careers and offers over 200 certification exams that span across the 16 National Career Clusters.

Pretesting from YouScience provides a method to overcome learning loss for secondary educators. Each exam is written by subject-matter experts that align the content therein to the academic standards. When used at the beginning of a course, pretesting provides teachers with a calculated measure of students’ previous knowledge of a particular topic. It helps to measure the learning that did take place while identifying where gaps may have formed because of a break from school, virtual learning, or any number of things. Using the report data, teachers can plan their curriculum accordingly.   

Secondary school teachers across the country are already taking advantage of the pretesting option with YouScience and have the success to show for it. Robert Kovi, a teacher in Michigan, said, “Precision Exams were a natural fit as they are already aligned to national standards and many of the textbooks and curriculum we already use.”

Kovi reported the teachers in his school were able to have more informed discussions using the data provided to guide conversations and instructional decisions. Many are also using the pretesting feature to set yearly learning goals for their students and using single exams for benchmarking throughout the year.

“Coming out of remote learning, we’re realizing just how important benchmark testing is in guiding the educational experience,” said Edson Barton, CEO of YouScience and cofounder of Precision Exams. “Educators can use pretesting to make data-driven decisions to best serve their students and prepare them for the future. Each year, they can learn more and optimize their lesson structure to improve knowledge retention and curriculum efficacy.”

YouScience aims to help teachers build strong foundations that equip students with the knowledge, skills, and education pathways that lead to college and career readiness, and more importantly, success. From aptitude and career discovery to pretesting and industry-recognized certifications, YouScience connects industry needs to qualified employees straight out of high school.

All 200+ certification exams are created by subject-matter experts, based on academic standards and current industry needs; they are updated regularly to support evolving industry demands. If you’re interested in learning more about pretesting or exploring the library of certifications, click here.

-PR Newswire