Frequently Asked Questions About the MCAS Appeals Process
General Questions
Q. Who may initiate an MCAS cohort or portfolio appeal?
A. A parent, guardian, educator, or student age 18 or older may request that an appeal be filed. However, an appeal may be initiated only by the superintendent of the student's home school district or director of an educational collaborative, approved private special education school, or educational services in an institutional setting.
Q. Can districts file appeals in more than one subject area on behalf of a student?
A. Yes. A separate application must be filed in each subject.
Q. May appeals be filed for transfer students?
A. Yes. Students who transferred to a school in their senior year must participate in all MCAS tests available to them before an appeal is filed. If the student transferred into a Massachusetts high school after March of his or her senior year, and did not participate in any MCAS tests or retests, other information must be provided, such as transcripts, standardized test scores, college acceptance letters, teacher recommendations, or other academic information in the subject of the appeal.
Q. May students who participated in the MCAS Alternate Assessment have appeals submitted on their behalf?
A. A student who has participated in the MCAS Alternate Assessment at least twice at grade 10 or higher in the subject of the appeal is eligible to submit an appeal.
Q. May appeals still be filed for students in the classes of 2003-2009?
A. Yes, if new academic information becomes available for a student, then the superintendent is encouraged to file a new appeal.
Q. Why must a portfolio (i.e., a collection of work samples) appeal be submitted, rather than a cohort appeal, when fewer than six other students are in a cohort group?
A. With so few students in the comparison group (cohort), there are insufficient data to make a decision to grant or deny the appeal.
Q. If a student does not meet all of the eligibility requirements due to extenuating circumstances, may an appeal still be filed?
A. Yes, if there are extenuating circumstances affecting a student's ability to meet all the eligibility requirements, superintendents may submit a written justification requesting a waiver of one or more of the eligibility requirements.
Q. What is an example of " extenuating circumstances" for the purpose of requesting a waiver of the student's eligibility for the performance appeal?
A. A superintendent may wish to provide information, for example, regarding a student's extended illness, hardship, or disability to justify the student not meeting the 95 percent attendance eligibility requirement. Another example might be a transfer student who has not attended school in Massachusetts long enough to take the test three times,
Questions about Cohort Appeals
Q. May " non-traditional" courses be added to the cohort worksheet?
A. Yes, but courses with titles such as Integrated Math or English, Resource Math or English, ESL, and other non-traditional high school courses must be accompanied by course descriptions that describe how the course addresses the standards in the curriculum frameworks for grade 10 mathematics and English language arts, and high school Science and Technology/Engineering, that are assessed on the MCAS tests in those subjects. No determination will be made on appeals that do not include comprehensive course descriptions that match the titles on the cohort worksheets and/or do not provide adequate information about the course.
Q. May course GPAs for high school grades other than grade 10 and grade 11 be used in the cohort worksheet?
A. GPAs for courses taken in grades 9 and 12 may be added at the school's discretion. If GPAs for both grades 10 and 11 are not included in the cohort worksheet, an explanation must be submitted.
Q. What if there are less than six students in a cohort?
A. Appeals that contain fewer than six cohort students will not be granted. A portfolio appeal must be submitted in those cases.
Q. Can a cohort group consist of students from more than one year?
A. No, a cohort group can only include students who took the same sequence of courses at the same time as the appellant. However, students in a different grade than the appellant can be included in the cohort if they took the same sequence of courses at the same time as the appellant.
Questions about Portfolio Appeals
Q. What happens if some, but not all, of the required work samples are submitted in the student's portfolio?
A. If some, but not all, work samples are submitted, the appeals finding would likely be No Determination, meaning that the portfolio was incomplete in the subject of the appeal. However, the portfolio may be resubmitted at a later date with additional work samples in response to the information found on the Feedback Form provided with the returned portfolio. The MCAS Portfolio Appeals Panel completes a Feedback Form for each portfolio that describes whether the work samples are adequate and complete, and what additional work, if any, needs to be resubmitted in order for the appeal to be granted.
Q. What are the critical elements examined by the portfolio appeals reviewers?
A. Panel members review work samples for:
- Completeness (i.e., whether all aspects of the required standard were addressed in the work)
- Grade 10 depth and complexity
- Accuracy of the work completed by the student
- Independence in completing the work (i.e., whether the student received prompting, cueing, or other assistance)
Q. How long does it take to complete a portfolio?
A. Creating a complete portfolio may take several months of focused instruction to produce the samples that address the learning standards required for submission. For detailed information on portfolio appeals requirements, please refer to the guidelines at www.doe.mass.edu/mcasappeals/filing/portfolio/guidelines.html.
Questions about Appeal Findings
Q. What is the finding for appeals that are submitted with incomplete applications, incomplete academic performance information, or both?
A. Attempts will be made by the Department to obtain missing information by contacting districts, but in cases where required information cannot be obtained, the appeal will be returned with a finding of No Determination.
Q. If the appeal is denied or if the student is otherwise ineligible and new information becomes available, may another appeal be filed?
A. Yes. If appeals were previously denied due to a student's academic performance but new academic evidence becomes available that may improve a student's chance of having the appeal granted (such as a final senior year course grade), then another appeal may be submitted. To be eligible for a subsequent appeal in STE, a student must first take another MCAS STE test in either the same or different discipline (Biology, Chemistry, Introductory Physics, or Technology/Engineering).
last updated: October 28, 2009
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