The Educational Theatre Association and the United States Institute for Theatre Technology have partnered to pilot a new technical theatre exam for high school students. EdTA and USITT hope that the program will help further establish technical theatre as a viable career and technical education pathway for students.
The exam has been written by a team of educators and industry professionals and will be taken by several thousand students in 171 schools in 39 U.S. states and Taiwan as part of the pilot program. A pre-test will be given between September 8 and October 22, and a post-test will be given next spring to further finalize the exam.
As for a general release, EdTA and USITT aim to make the exam available publicly within a year after the pilot program completes. The organizations will also pursue state and industry recognition for the finalized test.
"I am thankful to the people over the years who have put the work into our eSET program and to the team that used that program as the basis for this exam," says USITT Executive Director David Grindle.
A full list of participating schools can be found at SchoolTheatre.org.