From the Director

It has been an exciting summer for everyone at the Research and Curriculum Unit (RCU)!

Outside the field of education, many may think of summer as downtime for teachers and administrators; in reality, summer is a time of intense preparation. As an educational services and research institution, we at the RCU utilize this prime time to connect educators with additional training and professional learning opportunities that foster continuous improvement and prepare them for the upcoming school year. This summer we had some exciting activities and events return to in-person attendance, and as school districts kick off a new academic year, we hope educators feel enriched and ready to make a difference in the lives of all Mississippi students.

In June, the Mississippi State University Riley Center in Meridian hosted the 2022 Innovative Institute. The packed two-day schedule included discussions on innovative solutions for Mississippi schools, lunch from food trucks and an immersive experience into Mississippi’s culture at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, also known as The MAX. After a two-year hiatus from being an in-person event, it was fantastic to have educators come together again to enjoy engaging sessions provided by the institute’s outstanding speaker lineup, along with many opportunities to network with leaders of school innovation. We were particularly excited to have Atlanta-based educator and motivational speaker Michael Bonner join us to deliver the keynote address. As a faculty member of the famed Ron Clark Academy, we hope Bonner’s educational approach left participants feeling hopeful for the future and empowered for the challenge of becoming world-changing, innovative educators.

The week of June 20 wrapped up the year-long training of the New Teacher Induction (NTI) program’s 10th cohort. This large cohort of 73 outstanding industry professionals-turned-CTE-teachers worked extremely hard all year learning about classroom management and teaching methods, and we celebrated their accomplishments with a graduation ceremony at MSU’s Hunter Henry Center. The RCU’s NTI leaders have already begun training the program’s 11th cohort. We are excited to facilitate their professional development throughout the year as they continue their journey into the classroom as CTE teachers.

The largest event the RCU hosts annually is the Mississippi Association for Career and Technical Education (MS ACTE) Summer Conference. After two years of gathering virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was exciting to see Mississippi’s CTE teachers and administrators come together face-to-face July 25-27 in a new conference location at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi. We kicked off day one with a luncheon and inspirational keynote address from bestselling author and motivational speaker Kevin Brown, who shared his hero story and challenged MS ACTE members to achieve success by eliminating ordinary thinking, mastering a habit of excellence and forming meaningful relationships that deliver an extraordinary experience. With record attendance, three days of informative sessions, immersive industry tours and beautiful Gulf views, MS ACTE 2022 was one for the books!

We are currently hiring some positions at the RCU, but we recently welcomed a few new staff members to our fantastic team:

• Chance Carden joins the RCU as a project manager with the professional learning (PL) team. He has a background in middle school English language arts (ELA) and history and comes to the RCU from the East Webster School District.

• Allison Crowson joins the assessment team as a project manager and brings experience teaching ELA in the East Webster and Lowndes County school districts.

• Kyle McDill also joins the RCU assessment team as a project manager after teaching World Regional Geography and Conservation of Natural Resources with MSU’s Department of Geosciences. Before MSU, he taught history and geography in the Jackson Public School District.

• Adrienne Minor comes to the RCU from the Starkville Oktibbeha School District. She comes from a middle school ELA background and also has instructional coaching experience. Adrienne participated in our Coach University training twice, and now she will help lead that training as a project manager with the PL team.

• Tara Thames also joins the PL team as a project manager. Her previous experience as an inclusion teacher in the Choctaw County School District will be an asset in supporting the Mississippi Department of Education’s (MDE’s) Office of Special Education and Office of School Improvement.

• Barry Williams joins the RCU business operations team as business manager. He ran his own IT consulting business for the past few years and, before that, served as director of operations at William Carey University’s Osteopathic Medical Center.

As always, our primary point of contact remains through the Help Desk. You can also call our office at 662.325.2510. Please continue to monitor our online channels of information distribution, including our website, newsletters, social media accounts — Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — and emails.

Let’s make this a great school year for Mississippi’s educators and students!  

Move to Mississippi Gulf Coast Draws

Record MS ACTE Attendance

After two years of successfully convening virtually, the MS ACTE summer conference made a grand return as an in-person event with attendance reaching record numbers.

The return to face-to-face professional learning and networking was a welcome reunion for CTE educators and administrators from across the state. Previously held at the Jackson Convention Center before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MS ACTE Summer Conference moved to a new venue this year, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center in Biloxi. The expansive facility made it possible to accommodate approximately 1,400 attendees, making this the largest summer conference to date.

MS ACTE 2022 by the numbers:

• 3 days
• Approximately 1,400 attendees
• 118 CEU/SEMI/OSL-eligible professional learning sessions
• 11 tour sites
• 17 tour groups
• 9 MS ACTE committee meetings
• 1 MS ACTE board meeting
• 1 MS ACTE business meeting
• 10 MS ACTE affiliate organization meetings

Bath Retires After 15-Year Tenure Leading MS ACTE

Longtime MS ACTE Executive Director Linda Bath has retired after leading the organization for 15 years. Conference attendees celebrated Bath and her dedication to the organization as MS ACTE President Amy Price presented a token of appreciation for her years of leadership and support for CTE programs, educators and the students they serve across Mississippi.

Kelly Takes the Helm as MS ACTE Executive Director

Veteran CTE educator Suzanne Kelly stepped into her new role as MS ACTE executive director leading up to the annual summer conference. A longtime member of MS ACTE, Kelly serves as CTE director for the Lamar County School District. Kelly is an accomplished teacher and administrator, having earned National Board Certification as well as being named 2021 ACTE Region IV Administrator of the Year.

Brown Inspires Educators With

Keynote Address

Keynote speaker Kevin Brown shared his personal story of how hope, determination and the mentorship of someone who cares can wholly change the outlook and trajectory of a struggling young person's life. Drawing on his experience as that struggling kid growing up, Brown reflected on his close relationship with his son, who has autism. Brown described a full-circle moment with the mentor who guided him as a child and challenged educators to be everyday heroes by serving as meaningful mentors who go above and beyond to provide extraordinary experiences for students so they will grow into enthusiastic lifelong learners.

RCU Reveals PULSE System, Prepares Educators for Retirement of MS-CPAS

Following a two-year statewide pilot program, the RCU assessment team unveiled the PULSE System and its Quality Program Rubric (QPR) in an opening-day session at MS ACTE. The PULSE system's comprehensive online monitoring rubric replaces the student assessment, which measured skills attainment for CTE courses. PULSE shifts the focus to measuring overall program quality and emphasizes the importance of increasing numbers of students earning industry-recognized national certifications that make them more employable and prepare them for advanced education or training in their technical field. 

CTE Educators Explore Coastal Businesses on Industry Tours

MS ACTE Summer Conference participants attended business and industry site tours at some of the Mississippi Coast's top employers of CTE graduates. From Ingalls Shipbuilding and Yates Construction to Keesler Air Force Base and the Mississippi Port Authority, attendees took an immersive look into the career opportunities available to students within their CTE pathway. 

Trade Show Vendors Exhibit Technology, Learning Innovations

Mississippi CTE educators were welcomed to the conference by a variety of trade show vendors. Teachers could experience cutting-edge learning technologies such as virtual reality career exploration and training goggles from TransfrVR. Fundraising vendors also showcased products students can sell to fundraise for their CTE student organization activities.

MS ACTE Summer Conference Highlight Reel

NTI Cohort X

New CTE Teachers Graduate From NTI Program

The NTI Program celebrated the completion of its 10th cohort during the week of July 20, culminating with a graduation ceremony recognizing the 73 CTE teachers for their hard work and dedication to becoming high-quality educators. The yearlong program, designed to help industry professionals transition into the CTE classroom, is delivered through a combination of face-to-face and virtual meetings and includes a classroom observation component to facilitate helpful real-time feedback on classroom management.

Congratulations to all the cohort members on completing the program! Cohort XI has already hit the ground running, and the professional learning team is excited to continue developing high-quality CTE educators who will impact the lives of Mississippi students, schools, communities and the workforce.

Professional Learning Around the World

RCU Staff Join Grant Partners in Liberia for Teacher Preparation Support

RCU Associate Director Myra Pannell and Project Manager Cindy Ming traveled to Liberia in early August with partners from the MSU College of Education (COE) and the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) to facilitate professional learning for higher education teacher training institutions through the Transforming the Education System for Teachers and Students (TESTS) in Liberia program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project began in 2021 and will span five years for the work to be completed. The RCU, COE and primary implementing partner RTI are planning a return to Liberia to continue helping Liberian teachers build capacity for improving student learning outcomes and systematically strengthening the country's education system.

Innovative Institute

School Innovation Leaders Convene at MSU's Riley Center

Educators and school leaders joined together at the MSU Riley Center in Meridian on June 21-22 for two exciting days of innovation, collaboration and inspiring session speakers, headlined by keynote speaker Michael Bonner. Bonner challenged listeners to reflect, strategize and execute in order to increase their efficiency in the workplace and personal areas. Attendees participated in workshops and seminars centered on how schools can become more innovative and future-driven, and the event closed out with a hands-on tour of Mississippi's rich and diverse culture of art and entertainment at The MAX in Meridian.

Additional Updates

The professional learning team offered a full summer schedule of C.O.O.L. and technology literacy courses. This is the first time in several years these courses were available during the summer.

Professional learning team members traveled to the coast to support the Mississippi Department of Education's (MDE's) Office of Special Education in hosting the "Back to the Future" pre-conference for special education. The team also wrapped up the MDE Office of School Improvement's regional "Intervention 101" trainings and completed several special education documents for the MDE.

MDE's Early Warning System (EWS) District Guidance Document was updated this summer for implementation in August. This is an ongoing effort to support MDE's EWS objective of identifying students needing assistance to reach graduation so that appropriate interventions can be provided to assist them with achieving the goal of exiting high school ready for college and career.

NTI summer session industry visits were restructured this year. Instead of NTI participants visiting industries and businesses local to the Golden Triangle region, the NTI team and others from the RCU compiled a list of industry and business partners within each congressional district for NTI participants in those districts to visit. This shift will allow the RCU to build relationships with businesses and industries across the state. Additionally, it will provide a local resource or partner for school districts and CTE centers to connect students with career development opportunities in their communities.

Read The Assessment Minute to stay up to date on all of the department's happenings!

New for 2022-2023

The assessment team has been updating many documents for the 2022-2023 school year, including manuals and survival guides. Look for these documents to be updated on the RCU website later this month.

There will be no MS-CPAS testing in the 2022-2023 school year. Courses that require a national certification are listed in the National Certification section below.

Health science courses will not have a national certification requirement this year.

Health science and agriculture courses will have an embedded work-based learning (WBL) requirement. More information about this requirement will be provided at Test Coordinator Training. We are hosting two Test Coordinator Training sessions: Sept. 12 in Hattiesburg and Sept. 15 in Starkville.

All districts will utilize PULSE this year. Two-year programs funded by MDE will complete the QPR in PULSE. The first submission for QPR is due Sept. 30 and includes indicators 1-4.

National Certification

If the 2022-2023 academic year is the first year your school district offers a CTE course that requires 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.

All 2021-2022 national certification reports, including class reports and state ranking reports, have been published. The reports can be accessed by navigating the RCU website to Assessment > Reports > Secondary National Certification Reports. Reports can only be accessed by district account holders.

Important Fall Assessment Dates

The curriculum team has been researching and developing new curricula for the 2023-2024 school year in partnership with CTE teachers and industry professionals across the state. Those curricula are now in the editing process.

Beginning in the 2022-2023 school year, work-based learning (WBL) will be piloted in Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (AFNR), Health Science and Sports Medicine courses. Our curriculum team members have begun integrating support for WBL into new documents and are working closely with the RCU's assessment and communications teams to develop and produce supporting materials to aid in successfully implementing our new Perkins quality indicator. 

The curriculum team will continue focusing on research and development of curricula, as well as WBL initiatives and helping to secure training for CTE teachers on the new WBL requirements.

GEAR UP Mississippi

A key objective of the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) grant is to increase the percentage of students who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This year’s campaign was very successful, with completed FAFSA applications increasing in each school district over the 2021 results. Greenville increased by 40%, McComb by 29%, and Meridian by 24%.

In the spring, more than 200 Meridian, McComb and Greenville students participated in GEAR UP-sponsored ACT Prep classes. Moving forward, these classes will be offered in the community and on school property to make the sessions more accessible to students.

High school students enjoyed the Betabox mobile STEM lab. The lab allowed students to sample autonomous vehicles, drones and 3D printers.

Dropout recovery efforts began this summer through GEAR UP’s partnership with Meridian Community College (MCC). MCC will assist in locating students who would have graduated during the GEAR UP grant term. Those students who complete their GED will be eligible for the GEAR UP scholarship. This effort provides a much-needed incentive and second chance for students to complete their education.

GEAR UP is again partnering with the Ole Miss Center for Math and Science to provide three math institutes for GEAR UP this fall. These sessions will offer valuable professional development for Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry teachers, with plans to serve up to 100 Mississippi math educators.

Connections Call for Stories

It's hard to tell your stories if we haven't heard them ourselves, and we know your teachers and counselors are the best sources of information we have. Be sure to forward this email to everyone!

This year, we are focused on showing your stakeholders — from potential students and their parents to members of your community — how beneficial CTE is. Our goal is to publish a magazine that shows off your successes and encourages others to pursue these skills and invest in the future of CTE.

Specifically, we'd love to hear stories of past completers who graduated and found employment because of their high school CTE experience or of those graduates who went to an institution of higher learning and continued honing their skills. One of our 2022 stories is a perfect example of this connection: Kosciusko-Attala Career Tech Center celebrates its first health science graduates who have gone on to earn doctoral degrees in their respective specialties in the health care field.

We also want to spotlight how important it is for students to earn national certifications before graduating. Having their skills certified can fast-track them to employment in high-demand, high-wage industries. Whether it’s WorkKeys or NCCER certifications, we want to show off the results of their hard work!

You can also submit photos of your students winning awards at various state and regional competitions, like this one showcasing Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science students who earned a number of recognitions at a Future Business Leaders of America competition.

We look to highlight great hands-on projects and WBL examples; new, expanded or renovated CTE spaces and infrastructure; community service profiles and projects; awards and honors; business and industry partnerships; and ways teachers and professionals are connecting textbook curricula and classroom experiences to real-world examples.

How to Submit

If you have a story idea you'd like to share with us, please fill out our online form, send a Help Desk ticket or email us directly. Also, check out our nomination forms for student and teacher spotlights.

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