feature MAKING IT COUNT
MAKING IT COUNT CTE Teachers Implement Grading Policies and Special Incentives Tied to MS-CPAS2 Scores by Alexis Nordin
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his spring, when CTE students complete the Mississippi Career Planning and Assessment System, Edition 2 (MS-CPAS2, widely known as the “CPAS”), some will have the additional motivation of knowing that their scores on the test may also affect their report cards.
.82 percent of over 23,000 MS-CPAS2 items were credited to students in 2012, according to Mississippi State University’s Research and Curriculum Unit, which develops and administers the MS-CPAS2. And yet, according to Betsey Smith, many CTE students do not put forth their best efforts on the MS-CPAS2 because the assessment is neither a course nor graduation requirement. Smith, associate director of CTE at the RCU, explained, “We hear stories sometimes from teachers who say their students think the CPAS doesn’t ‘count.’ That’s a shame because not only are these students shortchanging themselves, but that attitude can also impact teachers when their students don’t appear to show much progress over the course term.”
The MS-CPAS2 is a standardized test typically taken by CTE students at the end of a course to demonstrate their proficiency in the course’s subject matter. As of the 20132014 academic year, the MS-CPAS2 is also being piloted by the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) as a way to gauge students’ progress during the course term, with students taking an MS-CPAS2 assessment at the beginning of a course and later comUPCOMING MS-CPAS2 TESTING DATES pleting an equivalent (but SUMMER not identical) MS-CPAS2 assessment at the end of the July 14-18, 2014 (PS) course. Students’ change in FALL grade is then factored into November 17-20, 2014 (PS & SEC) their teachers’ scores in the Mississippi Teacher EvaluSPRING ation System. April 6-9, 2015 (PS)
Educators and researchers debate the pros and cons of tying state assessments to students’ grades, but a 2012 study (http://www.cepdc.org/displayDocument. cfm?DocumentID=405) by the Center on Education Policy posits that students April 13-May 8, 2015 (SEC) MS-CPAS2 assessments are commonly lose intrinsic developed based solely on motivation as they progress items written by CTE teachers for their specific subject arfrom elementary to high school, and lack of motivation apeas. To participate in item development, teachers must first pears to play a significant role in high school drop-out rates complete a training course in writing and identifying items and lower college enrollments. Teachers may help reverse appropriately rigorous for the MS-CPAS2. The items then the trend by putting in place extrinsic motivators. undergo various screening procedures and typically are piloted for at least one MS-CPAS2 administration before apFor example, many CTE teachers in Mississippi are upping pearing as scored questions in an MS-CPAS2 assessment. the ante for their students by factoring MS-CPAS2 scores After testing concludes, the questions undergo further into their students’ final course grades, seeing notable imanalyses to ensure alignment, validity, and reliability, and provements in their students’ scores as a result. Corinth, items that are red flagged are referred to curriculum speNew Albany, and West Point are home to three CTE centers cialists in the MDE for final review. The process of weeding that encourage teachers to tie student grades to MS-CPAS2 out poorly constructed items is lengthy but effective: only scores. 26
CONNECTIONS Spring 2014