LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The Langley Base Training and Education Center will discontinue test proctoring services beginning Dec. 21 due to new mission requirements.
The education center has offered proctoring, where a student takes an exam administered by a third party, for servicemembers taking online or distance learning through numerous civilian universities despite not being funded or manned to do so.
The change comes after more mission taskings were assigned to the education center.
"The education center is going to absorb more duties from the military personnel flight," said Tom Langdon, Langley Training and Education Services chief. "Base training, for example, now belongs to the education center."
Running at maximum capacity already, the education center will assume responsibility for administering the Defense Language Proficiency Test in January. The DPLT 5 is a computer-based, two-part, all-day exam that is required in order to maintain language proficiency. The projected demand the education center must meet is 300 tests per year. Mr. Langdon said Langley, with a headquarters and an intelligence wing, has a higher requirement than most other bases.
"We couldn't absorb 300 more people," Mr. Langdon said. "We had to reassess our capabilities to accommodate this new requirement. We had to prioritize. We had to stop doing things that are just nice to make sure we do the things required for the mission."
The education center proctored more than 340 exams in 2006. Mr. Langdon said students affected by the change should contact their schools first.
"We are encouraging people to look around, get your school's requirements and submit someone you know, such as a unit training manager, to proctor your tests," he said.
Mr. Langdon added that the rules defining who can proctor a test may not be as stringent as people think.
"People can probably get someone in their office to proctor it for them," he said. "For example, at St. Leo, a proctor just has to be more than 18 years old and not subordinate to the person taking the test. They're not complicated processes."
Mr. Langdon said the priority now is to make sure students know before they find themselves flat-footed during test time.
"It's a change in how we're doing things. We want them to engage with their schools now so they are not caught short," he said. "Your first stop should be someone in your unit."
For more information, call the base education and training center at 764-3662 or e-mail rozzie.lovett@langley.af.mil.