BUTLER TWP — Ninety-two percent of students at Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School have tested advanced or competent, a testing institute has reported.

The testing, which happens at the end of the school year, is a post-secondary evaluation, said Kurt Speicher, the executive director of the vo-tech.

The test results came from the National Occupancy Competency Testing Institute for the 2015-16 school year.

Even though the test is intended for individuals who have completed high school, Speicher said, the NOCTI exams are the best way for the state to measure annual progress at vo-techs.

The test is given in two parts, a written exam in April and a hands-on portion in May, Speicher said.

For the 2015-16 testing, the results recently released show that 72 percent of the test-takers at the vo-tech scored in the advanced category, compared to a state average of 62 percent advanced.

By adding in results of competent, the percentage jumps to 92 percent.

That compares favorably to the 88 percent rate across the state.

“We actually did a little bit of an increase (this year),” Speicher said. “We went down a notch in advanced but went up considerably in advanced and competent. We’ve been averaging in this neighborhood for a number of years. We usually outperform the state average.”

The lowest program-specific scores were for two programs with new tests in the 2015-16 school year: heavy equipment and protective services.

In the heavy equipment program, 17 students took the test, and only four, or 24 percent, scored advanced. Statewide, 35 percent scored advanced.

Nine students in the heavy equipment program scored advanced or competent, 53 percent compared to the state average of 66 percent.

The protective services program, with 13 students taking the new test, had 15 percent scoring advanced. That is two out of 13 students.

But 85 percent of the protective services scores came back advanced or competent, which represents 11 of the 13 students.

“When there’s a new exam, it takes a while for the scores to be normalized,” Speicher said. “It’s not uncommon to see some low scores.”

The most popular program was health with 45 students who took the test, which also had a new exam, Speicher said. Seventy-three percent scored advanced, and 98 percent scored advanced or competent, compared to state percentages of 58 and 88, respectively.

The program with the best scores was the machine technology program, which had 28 students take the test, every one scoring advanced. However, no state average was available for that program since the NOCTI score is transferred from the National Institute of Metal-Working Skills evaluation, the NIMS.

“That’s the only program that does not have to take the NOCTI,” Speicher said.

Overall, Speicher was pleased with the scores, which represent a slight increase from the previous year.

“It’s pretty representative of the great job our students and teachers are doing,” he said.

In addition to receiving the NOCTI scores, the vo-tech received its Secondary Career and Technical Education Program Enrollment Accuracy Certification Statement for 2015-16. The school had students receive 1,066 state-recognized certifications, but that statement does not reflect all certifications since not all are recognized by the state.

In 2014-15, the school received 890 certifications, according to Speicher.