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

Requirements for the Participation of Students with Disabilities in MCAS

Dear Colleagues:

I am pleased to provide an updated version of the publication, Requirements for the Participation of Students with Disabilities in MCAS (Spring 2005 Update). This publication provides guidelines for determining how each student with a disability should participate in MCAS and includes a list of commonly-used accommodations. IEP Teams are expected to use these guidelines to make careful and well-informed decisions for each student scheduled for MCAS. As is true for all students, students with disabilities must be taught a curriculum that is aligned with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind IEP Teams to continue to identify accommodations carefully, and to select only those accommodations that you believe are essential in providing each student access to MCAS tests. Test accommodations may be identified only by the student's IEP (or 504) Team and may be administered only after the student's parent signs the IEP. Accommodations that are identified for each student must be generally consistent with those used during routine instruction and assessment in the content area.

I also want to make you aware that the Department now collects information used to determine whether schools and districts are making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in English language arts and mathematics, as prescribed under the No Child Left Behind law. Students with disabilities are included in these determinations, but students with the most significant cognitive disabilities who take MCAS Alternate Assessments are counted differently from other students in the Composite Performance Index. I refer you to the detailed explanation found in this manual.

The dramatic gains in test scores of students with disabilities on MCAS tests over the past several years are a tribute to your hard work and focused attention to these students. Thank you for helping to bring about these improvements.

Sincerely,

David P. Driscoll
Commissioner of Education