Technical Bulletin

March 28, 2016

What is happening?

Mozilla plans to drop support of NPAPI in an upcoming Firefox release during the 2016-17 school year. An NPAPI plugin is required for TestNav to administer assessments in kiosk mode using a browser.

In most cases, customers can download a TestNav app instead of using a browser; however, customers who need to use a browser with assessments that require kiosk mode must use Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) 45 (32-bit only) for the 2016-17 school year. 

Kiosk mode prevents students from accessing any other web pages or applications besides TestNav while testing.

Why is this happening?

Mozilla previously dropped support of NPAPI in Firefox ESR 45 (64-bit), and Mozilla plans to drop support of NPAPI in non-ESR Firefox versions.  As a result, customers should use Firefox ESR 45 (32-bit) to avoid interruptions in testing. Firefox ESR is intended for schools and organizations that require extended support for desktop environments through a school year. See Firefox ESR Overview for more information.

What do I need to do (and how do I do it)?

If you need to use a browser for kiosk-mode testing during the 2016-17 school year, see Set Up TestNav with Firefox ESR 52.

This does not affect tests that do not require kiosk mode (practice tests, formative tests, etc.). For information, see TestNav System Requirements.