Assessment/Accountability Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System
MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt)

2011 MCAS-Alt Score Appeal Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is an MCAS-Alt Score Appeal?
A. The MCAS-Alt Score Appeal is a process by which the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education addresses a claim of perceived scoring inaccuracy in one or more areas of a previous school year's MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt) portfolio, or miscalculation of a student's performance level on the MCAS-Alt. An appeal requesting that the Department review the portfolio and recalculate the student's MCAS-Alt portfolio score may be submitted to the Department by a principal or central office administrator of a school, educational collaborative, or approved private special education school.

Q. In which situations may an MCAS-Alt Score Appeal be requested?
A. If a teacher or school administrator believes a discrepancy exists between the actual evidence included in a student's portfolio and that portfolio's reported score, the teacher or school administrator may request an appeal for the following rubric areas only: Level of Complexity, Demonstration of Skills and Concepts, and/or Independence. (Scores in the areas of Self-Evaluation and Generalized Performance may not be appealed since these scores do not affect the overall performance level in a content area).

Please note that the school must have maintained a copy of the portfolio in order to request an MCAS-Alt score appeal. A score appeal may be submitted to the Department only after the teacher or school administrator has reviewed the MCAS-Alt Portfolio Feedback Form(s) posted with other preliminary MCAS results in mid-June, along with the evidence in the school's copy of the original portfolio.

Q. Who is eligible for the MCAS-Alt Score Appeal?
A. The MCAS-Alt Score Appeal may be filed for any student provided he or she submitted an MCAS-Alt portfolio in 2011 and provided that the school has kept a copy of the student's portfolio. Teachers must use the copy of the portfolio kept at the school as the basis for their comparison of scores on the Portfolio Feedback Forms with the evidence in the student's portfolio. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will keep original student portfolios in a secure location and will use these as the basis for conducting any requested score appeal for a student. In September, all portfolios, including those for which a score appeal was submitted, will be returned to the schools from which they were submitted.

Q. Who may authorize a request for an MCAS-Alt Score Appeal?
A. A request for an MCAS-Alt Score Appeal may be filed with the Department only by the

• school principal, or
• superintendent of schools, or
• director of an educational collaborative, or
• director of an approved private special education school in which the student is enrolled.

Q. How is a request made for an MCAS-Alt Score Appeal?
A. In order to request an MCAS-Alt Score Appeal, the appropriate school official must complete and sign the 2011 MCAS-Alt Score Appeal Form   , which is posted to the Department's MCAS-Alt website at www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/alt/scoreappeal_form.doc. Only requests received on this form will be reviewed.

A copy of the completed 2011 MCAS-Alt Score Appeal Form must be faxed to Debra Hand at 781-338-3630 no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 1, 2011. The original completed form must also be mailed (postmarked) by this deadline. .

Mail the completed 2011 MCAS-Alt Score Appeal Form to:

Debra Hand, MCAS-Alt Program Specialist
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Student Assessment Services
75 Pleasant Street
Malden, MA 02148

A school may submit a Score Appeal request only between the date on which Portfolio Feedback Forms were provided to the school and 5:00 p.m. on July 1, 2011. The Department will not accept or review MCAS-Alt Score Appeal requests postmarked or faxed after 5:00 p.m. on July 1.

Q. Once the MCAS-Alt Score Appeal request is submitted, who performs the actual portfolio review?
A. Expert portfolio scorers under the supervision of the Department will review, rescore, and make a recommendation regarding the portfolio of a student for whom an appeal was requested. In early September, the Department will send a final written determination. If necessary, an adjusted Parent/Guardian Report, School Roster, and District Roster will be sent in November to the superintendent (or director) and to the principal of the school or program attended by the student.

NOTE: The MCAS-Alt Score Appeal should not be used to report discrepancies on standard MCAS Parent/Guardian Reports, Test Item Analysis Reports, School and District Reports for standard MCAS results, or AYP calculations. Instructions for reporting discrepancies on these reports are included in the information sent to schools with standard MCAS test results. The MCAS-Alt Score Appeal process should also not be used to file MCAS Performance Appeals.

For additional information, please contact the Student Assessment Services office by email at mcas@doe.mass.edu.