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National CPS Certification eNews |
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January 1, 2006 |
| Announcements and Notices |
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New Tools Now Available on Web Site As Safe Kids continues to provide additional functionality and convenience, we have added several resources we hope you will take advantage of. Presentations: Several new Powerpoint presentations are available under Resources--> Instructions. Please share them with your co-workers.
Forms: If you would like to offer continuing education units (CEU) for nurses during a CPS Certification course, a local person must complete and submit these forms before the course. These may also be found under Resources--> Forms.
Frequently Asked Questions: There is a brand-new section on the organization management function.
We'd like to hear from you. Is there something you would like to see available on our Web site? Please let us know by sending a specific suggestion to Kerry Chausmer.
If It's Certification, It Must be Safe Kids Occasionally, we get asked about being NHTSA-certified. NHTSA and Safe Kids Worldwide have unique and valuable roles and responsibilities with the national CPS program. NHTSA has overall responsibility for the development and authorization of the National Standardized Training Curriculum (both certification and renewal courses), and Safe Kids Worldwide is responsible for technician and instructor certification. So, the next time you are updating your business cards or signing an e-mail, remember you are Safe Kids-certified, not NHTSA-certified.
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| Program Reminders |
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CPS Customer Service Survey Available Safe Kids is interested in your experiences with our toll-free CPS Customer Service by phone (877-366-8154) and e-mail (cps.certification@safekids.org). Please take a few minutes to complete the survey available on the certification Web site under Contact Us. This 20-question survey should take no more than five minutes to complete. There is no limit to the number of times you can share your opinions with us. Thank you for helping us improve our customer service. Re-Certification Don’t Risk Your Certification—You may re-certify up to four months before your certification expiration date.
Once your re-certification registration is processed, you will have 30 days to complete the online exam. The test does not have to be completed by your certification expiration date. If your test is never started, inadvertently submitted or incomplete when the term expires, it will be graded and you won’t get your money refunded. Practice Online Test (reprint from June 21, 2005) Safe Kids realizes that it is a big step to move from a paper-based re-certification exam to an online format. To help alleviate some questions and anxiety, a sample exam is available for those who would like to become familiar with the online testing process. It is a 10-question multiple-choice exam, and the format is identical to the 100-question re-certification exam. To access the sample exam, follow these steps:
In addition to the sample exam, an online exam help guide specifically designed for the CPS certification exam is available. This guide should answer all of your questions about the online testing procedure. Find this information on our Web site under Resources --> Online Testing. Is the print too small to read when you access the online exam? This is actually a function of the screen resolution on your computer. The best screen resolution for viewing the test is a minimum of 640x480 and a maximum of 800x600. While you can still access the exam with other configurations, these would produce the most desirable font size. |
| Upcoming Program Developments |
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Spanish-language Certification Course Course administrators and certified instructors will be able to register Spanish-language certification courses online beginning January 20, 2006. Certified instructors must provide proof of Spanish language proficiency to be eligible to teach the Spanish-language course. Safe Kids was able to provide a number of grants for a professional oral language assessment interview. In addition to the 11 accepted grants, six instructors provided the required documentation of fluency and have been approved to teach. A list of instructors approved to teach the Spanish-language certification course is available on our Web site under Resources (program-related). See also: Letter to instructors TECH UPDATE Distribution For the past few years the TECH UPDATE printed newsletter has been mailed to all certified technicians and instructors as one of the benefits of certification. This newsletter is a means of staying up-to-date on advances in the child passenger safety field, as well as changes in the administration of the training and certification program. As we continue to improve the program, the TECH UPDATE will only be available electronically beginning with the upcoming winter edition. It will be e-mailed to all currently certified individuals, available for download on the Because some technicians may not have easy access to a computer or printer, limited hard copies will be available. Please contact Susan Quintas at quintas@nsc.org for more information.
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| Just for Instructors |
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There are new online resources for course management: |
| Just for Fun |
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Are You A CPS Nerd? Test Your Knowledge! This section of the newsletter highlights trivia and facts about child passenger safety. Please submit your ideas to Kerry Chausmer. Be sure to include how you would like your name to appear. No submissions this month. |
| CPS Resources |
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New Child Restraint Manufacturers’ Instructions CD Available:
SafetyBeltSafe
SafetyBeltSafe
To view a sample summary, go to http://www.carseat.org/ > Reference Materials > Log-in CPS Tech Access > CPS Tech Access Package. For more information, contact ckim@carseat.org.
Submitted by Cheryl Kim, SafetyBeltSafe NOTE: NHTSA is no longer providing a copy of this CD with each new technician manual. |
| Share Your Knowledge! |
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What is the real-world experience with children and side impact airbags? NHTSA crash investigators actively seek out cases where side-impact airbags have deployed in crashes. So far, 92 cases have been investigated; of these only six involve children. There have been no moderate or serious injuries to children from SAB deployments, and only one minor injury - a skin laceration from an SAB cover. This small number of cases involves a limited number of vehicles with SABs and may not be representative of the variety of SAB systems currently available. NHTSA continues to closely monitor the real world performance of SABs involving children and adults. |
| FAQs |
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Why should I register my organization with the new Safe Kids CPS Certification organization management system? (added Dec. 15, 2005) Registering your organization allows you to:
NOTE: Currently, the organization management function does not allow batch processing and works best when individuals log in and enter the PO or e-voucher for their certification fees. |
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CPS Nerd Answers |
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No submissions this month. |
| Contact Us |
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Questions? Comments? Concerns? Safe Kids Worldwide |
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This newsletter was e-mailed as a benefit of your national CPS certification |