New Albany Career & Technical Center programs ranked well by state

New Albany Career & Technical Center Programs Ranked well in State evaluation.

Students enrolled in most courses at the New Albany School of Career and Technical Education take a state test each year. The MS-CPAS2 (Mississippi Career Planning and Assessment System, Edition 2) is the test given to students in career and technical education programs. The assessment is based on the career and technical curriculum taught in the classroom throughout the year.

Each year, career and technical programs are ranked individually with all programs throughout the state and rankings are based on assessment results. Rankings for the 2016-2017 school year were released on May 18.

Bert Anderson who teaches Agriculture Science classes said that the students are exposed to a wide array of experiences in the classroom with instruction, assessments, and hands-on projects and it is preparing them for when they enter the work force or move on to a college setting.
The New Albany School of Career & Technical Education had nineteen areas tested. Of those tested, nine were ranked in the top ten and fifteen were ranked in the top 15 in the state.

The New Albany Career & Technical center programs ranked in the top ten include: Business Fundamentals (6th); Engineering II (10th); Marketing (2nd); Concepts of Agriculture (7th); Agriculture Animals (8th); Agriculture Environment (1st); Architechture/Drafting (5th); Construction Core (10th); Health Science Core (10th).

Also ranking in the top fifteen in the state were: Automotive II, Agriculture Plants, Carpentry,Digital Media Technology, Early Childhood I and Health Sciences II.

“Our studentswork hard preparing for the CPAS test all year long,” said Alison Moore, Business Instructor. “It’s always exciting when the rankings come out, and we get to see how well our students did compared to other students across the state.”

John Ferrell, Director, explained that there was some worry that there might be a decline in the CPAS scores because of the heavy emphasis that the school placed on Work Keys certification this year. “Our teachers stepped up to the challenge and responded with another great year of test scores, as well as excelling with competitions and the Work Keys program,”Ferrell said.

Public Relations, District Test Coordinator, 21st CCLC Project Director