Since 2015, when Missouri State’s Testing Center was founded in Meyer Library, it’s been a resource for students and faculty. This July, the Testing Center’s first director, Sue McCrory, retired.

Holly Kouns, public services coordinator for the Libraries, is serving as interim leader of the Testing Center, which continues to provide key services.

Testing Center Services

The Testing Center’s services include:

• Supporting students with accessibility accommodations: For students who’ve received academic accommodations from the Disability Resource Center, the Testing Center can provide an exam setting that meets the requirements of the accommodation. For example, an accommodation may allow extra time for a student to complete exams. In some courses, this accommodation can be met within the classroom. But if scheduling or other conditions prevent this accommodation from being met in the classroom, the Testing Center is a great option.
• Supporting faculty through exceptional circumstances: In specific circumstances, faculty may need to call on the Testing Center for support. For example, if a faculty member is recovering from surgery, the Testing Center can step in to administer their exams.
• Proctoring certification exams for our students: For our students, the Testing Center administers exams that are separate from their regular course exams. For example, our College of Education students can take teacher certification exams at the Testing Center.
• Providing opportunities for the community: The Testing Center also administers exams that are important for people outside our campus. For example, people can come to the Testing Center to take the high school equivalency exam. Rachel Besara, associate dean of the Libraries, says this function is a meaningful connection to our university’s public affairs mission, but it’s secondary to the Testing Center’s primary mission of supporting students and faculty.

Sunsetting a Service

In the past, the Testing Center had the capacity to proctor exams for online classes. Dr. Ken Brown, chief academic strategy officer, says this service rolled out several years ago. It was part of a set of incentives that encouraged faculty to develop curriculum for a new educational frontier: online teaching. Since then, online classes have become regular components of many programs, with faculty who are experts at teaching online.

Because “online” is a core course modality, Brown says, the university supports it through institution-wide resources, such as learning management tools and secure online testing tools, rather than targeted incentives. Most of these incentives phased out in recent years. The Testing Center incentive is now officially sunset, which means that going forward, the Testing Center will not proctor routine exams for online classes.

“Making this change official allows the Testing Center to fully focus on its mission, and we’re excited for that,” Brown says.