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College and Career Readiness

Educational Proficiency Plan (EPP) and the New MCAS/EPP Test

The purpose of this memorandum is to clarify the assessment requirement for Educational Proficiency Plans (EPP), and to provide additional information on the new MCAS/EPP tests. Many questions have come from the field concerning the annual assessment of students in the Class of 2010 who have scored between 220 and 238 on either or both of the Grade 10 ELA and Mathematics tests. Districts are required to develop an EPP that ensures that students both continue to receive instruction in the subject(s) in which they are not yet Proficient, and that they are assessed to determine their progress.

It is important to note that students with an EPP do not have to demonstrate Proficiency to meet the state graduation requirement but must participate in an annual assessment. This school year, there are three options for fulfilling the required annual EPP assessment component. Accuplacer and a locally developed end-of-course assessment are two options that can be used to measure progress towards proficiency. The third option is the locally scored MCAS/EPP tests. These MCAS/EPP tests, while not required, may enable school districts to certify that students have achieved the Competency Determination standard.

For additional information about each of these options, please see my June 25, 2008 memorandum posted at http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=4173. Please note that the American Diploma Project Algebra II test mentioned in that previous memo as a fourth option will not be available due to state budget cuts.

New MCAS/EPP Test

This test will be made available as an option for assisting students to successfully complete their EPPs. For this school year, there will be two opportunities for students to take the MCAS/EPP tests: January 12-16 and April 28-May 4, 2009. There is only one MCAS/EPP test form and, optimally, students should not take the MCAS EPP test this year more than once. Therefore we encourage, but not require, that school districts include in the January test only those students who they have good reason to believe might achieve at the proficient level or higher, and test the rest later this spring. This would have the added benefit of reducing the test administration and scoring burden in schools with high numbers of students on an EPP.

MCAS/EPP Test Administration Schedule

The following table shows the dates on which materials needed to administer and score the January 12-16, 2009, MCAS/EPP ELA and Mathematics tests will be posted to the Department's Security Portal. The April MCAS/EPP test administration materials will be posted beginning in March.

Scoring MCAS/EPP Tests

Schools will be responsible for scoring student tests between January 20 and February 27, 2009. To assist schools in their scoring activities, the Department will post the answers to all multiple-choice questions, ELA composition scoring rubric, and raw-to-scaled score conversion tables for the MCAS/EPP tests. NCS Mentor for MCAS is a computer-based professional development tool that enables educators to learn how to score student responses to MCAS open-response questions and composition writing prompts. This online tool is available to all schools at http://www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/2004/news/1119mentor.html. See Attachment A for guidance on scoring ELA compositions.

A workshop for training staff to score MCAS/EPP ELA compositions will also be offered to high schools that have significant numbers/percentages of students requiring an EPP for English language arts. The workshop will take place on February 5, 2009, in Worcester. The Department will provide registration information during early January.

Accessing the MCAS EPP Secure Portal

The MCAS/EPP materials are being posted to the Department's Security Portal, in an MCAS EPP Drop Box. Please note that this is a new drop box created specifically for the MCAS/EPP test administration. High school principals or other designees responsible for coordinating the administration of the MCAS/EPP tests will need to obtain access to the Department's Security Portal from their district's Directory Administrator. See the Department's Directory Administrator website for general guidelines about providing access to another school district/high school staff member. To access the materials follow the instructions below:

• Go to the Security Portal.
• Log in with your user name and password.
• Select "DropBox Central" under DropBox.
• Select "MCAS EPP" and "next."

The Test Administrator's Manuals, which are not secure materials, are available on request by emailing achievement@doe.mass.edu. Approved Private Special Education School and Collaborative leaders who are interested in having students take the MCAS/EPP test(s) should contact the Department at achievement@doe.mass.edu.

Recent EPP-Related Updates

• The Department now has an Educational Proficiency Plan (EPP) Web page link on its home page, accessible through the white "--Select Program Area--" drop down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the ESE home page. Updates and resources will be posted on an ongoing basis to this EPP Web page.
• The PowerPoint presentation from the October EPP forum is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/hsreform/epp/GeneralInfo.pdf and http://www.doe.mass.edu/hsreform/epp/GeneralInfo.pps.
• An updated EPP FAQ will be posted on the EPP Web page the week of January 5, 2009.

If you have questions regarding Educational Proficiency Plans, please contact Nyal Fuentes at 781-338-3593 or nfuentes@doe.mass.edu, or Peg Helgaard at 781-338-3524 or mhelgaard@doe.mass.edu.