July 2021 MS-CPAS Minute

Your monthly update on all things MS-CPAS

July 2021

The Educators of Summer

In Mississippi, July is highlighted by an increased number of family reunions, pool parties and fireworks displays, as well as a sharp spike in humidity and temperature. For us at the Research and Curriculum Unit (RCU), the month marks the close of testing, finalizing technical reports and manuals for the next school year and postsecondary summer testing.

Our team is also presenting on numerous topics at the upcoming 2021 MS ACTE Summer Conference, which is scheduled for July 26 and 27. The topics range from what is coming in assessment next school year to using innovative technology products in your career and technical education (CTE) center. The staff enjoys presenting at the conference and welcomes it as an opportunity to interact with each of you to improve the services we offer. Here are a few other things to remember as we move closer to the next school year:

Interpretive guide: The RCU typically updates the MS-CPAS Interpretive Guide each August. This document provides data interpretation guidelines for teachers, administrators and school districts for all the CTE reports offered by our department; however, we updated the guide early this year to reflect the new style of secondary and postsecondary reports. Download the guide here.

Reports: Use your RCU district account to access secondary and postsecondary reports here. If you have any ideas for new reports, email the Help Desk to offer your suggestions. For example, we updated the student label reports last week to sort them by student last name instead of program name.

Other important dates: The RCU will release 2021-2022 testing dates and the assessment events calendar later this month on our website.

Technology tip of the month: Since it is summer, I thought one tip is enough as you take a break from education! ViewPure is a product that removes all distracting comments and sidebar-related videos to just show the content you want. Here is an example of a welding video (without free membership).

See you online at 2021 MS ACTE !

Sean Owen, PhD
Assessment Manager

If your CTE center has a new director or

testing coordinator for the 2021-2022 school year, please

let us know by submitting a Help Desk ticket with the

name and contact information of this new hire.

Important Dates

Secondary MS-CPAS Reports	All reports now available
Secondary National Certification Reports	All reports now available
Postsecondary Summer Roster Submission Period	Available anytime between June 9 and July 1
Postsecondary Summer Testing	July 6-15: Postsecondary testing July 16: Makeup testing July 23: Final reports available
MS ACTE 2021 Conference (Virtual)	July 26-27

To view a full calendar, visit the MS-CPAS resources page and log in to the RCU website.

MS-CPAS Testing

We are preparing many new or updated documents for the upcoming school year. Look for many of them to be posted on our website in early August. We will also release the 2021-2022 testing dates and assessment events calendar later this month.

As you plan for the upcoming year, we suggest pulling all MS-CPAS reports from this year to look at areas of strength and possible improvement. Teachers do not have access to the district login used to download these reports, so it is imperative that administrators and testing coordinators make these reports available to them. If you have any questions about these reports, please reference our Interpretive Guide or submit a Help Desk ticket.

National Certifications

All national certification reports are now available and can be accessed in the Reports section of the RCU assessment page. You must use your district login to access these reports. You can also pull detailed NCCER score reports in the NCCER testing management system. Just log into the system, select your testing location and then select "Score Reports." You will have to input at least one of the required criteria for population. Once the reports load, select one or all of your students and then select "Print Detailed Report."

New NCCER online module testing for the 2021-2022 school year begins in August. This year, NCCER students need to be input into the NCCER system before module testing can begin. Stay tuned for more information about uploading rosters into the NCCER system, including the required dates and processes. You will receive more information about online module testing at MS ACTE and in the August MS-CPAS Minute.

Be on the lookout for new blueprint summaries for the NCCER pathways. These blueprints will be available on the RCU website soon. Continue to monitor our website for more updates and developments regarding all assessment topics.

If the 2021-2022 academic year is the first year your school district offers a CTE course whose end-of-course assessment is a national certification, please send us a Help Desk ticket so we can ensure we have the proper number of resources and testing inventory on hand for all CTE students in our state.

Look out for the new certifications for the upcoming year. The courses this change affects are: