Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has canceled all standardized tests for students in career and technical education programs for the 2019-2020 school year.

These tests include exams from the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute, or NOCTI, and the National Institute of Metalworking Skills, or NIMS, state Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said Monday (March 23, 2020) in a message to school officials.

Testing was underway at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute — having begun in early March and scheduled to continue through April — when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced that all commonwealth schools would close as part of a broader effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Department of Education earlier in the month announced that all PSSA testing and Keystone exams also are canceled. PSSA testing and Keystone exams were set to begin April 20 and May 11, respectively.

For more information about the coronavirus pandemic and how its affecting the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute’s response, please visit lcti.org/coronavirus.