Assessment/Accountability
MCAS Performance Appeals

Frequently Asked Questions About the MCAS Appeals Process

Updated September 2011

General Questions

Q. Who may initiate an MCAS performance (cohort, portfolio, or transcript) appeal?
A. A parent, guardian, educator, or student age 18 or older may request that an appeal be filed. The decision to submit an appeal on behalf of a student, and the ability to do so, rests with the student's home district superintendent (or designee), or executive director of a charter school, approved private special education school, educational collaborative, or Special Education in an Institutional Setting (SEIS) program. Superintendents or executive directors must file an appeal for a student with a disability if the parent/guardian (or student, age 18 or older) requests it. Superintendents or executive directors may initiate an appeal for a student with a disability upon receipt of written consent from the parent or guardian (or student, age 18 or older).

Q. When can appeals be filed?
A. Cohort appeals must be received by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education during the first week of each month in order to be reviewed that month. Portfolio appeals will be reviewed in November, May, and July, according to a published timetable available at www.doe.mass.edu/mcasappeals/filing/portfolio/.

Q. May an appeal be filed for a transfer student who arrives in a Massachusetts high school during his or her senior year?
A. Yes. Students who transfer to a Massachusetts high school must participate in all MCAS tests available to them before an appeal is filed. If the student transferred after March of his or her senior year and did not have the opportunity to participate in an MCAS test or retest, a transcript appeal may be filed for the student that includes information 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 (MCAS-Alt) have appeals submitted on their behalf?
A. A student who has participated in the MCAS-Alt at least twice in English language arts or mathematics and at least once for high school science and technology/engineering is eligible to submit an appeal in that subject.

Q. May appeals still be filed for students in the classes of 2003-2010?
A. Yes. If new academic information has become available for a student, the superintendent or executive director is encouraged to file an appeal. Please note that students will not be required to earn a Competency Determination (CD) in science and technology/engineering if they did not take a high school science and technology/engineering MCAS test prior to February 2010. See the memo posted to www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5586 for more information.

Q. Can an appeal be filed in more than one subject on behalf of a student?
A. Yes. A separate application must be filed in each subject.

Q. When is a portfolio appeal (i.e., a collection of work samples) required?
A. A portfolio appeal must be submitted, rather than a cohort appeal, when fewer than six other students are in the appellant's cohort. With so few students in the comparison group (cohort), there will be 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 of the eligibility requirements, superintendents or executive directors may request a waiver of one or more of the eligibility requirements by submitting a written justification with the appeal application on a separate, signed page.

Q. What are "extenuating circumstances" that may qualify for a waiver of an MCAS Performance Appeal eligibility requirement?
A. A superintendent or executive director may wish to provide information regarding a student's extended illness, hardship, or disability to justify, for example, a student not meeting the 95 percent attendance eligibility requirement.

Questions about Cohort Appeals

Q. How many courses must be listed on a cohort worksheet?
A. For mathematics and English language arts cohort appeals, relevant grade 10 and grade 11 courses must be included on the cohort worksheet. If any of these grade-level courses are not included on the cohort worksheet, an explanation must be provided. For science and technology/engineering appeals, at least one course must be listed in the area of the appeal (biology, chemistry, introductory physics, or technology/engineering) that matches the MCAS high school science and technology/engineering test taken by the student.

Q. May " non-traditional" courses be added to the cohort worksheet?
A. Yes, but courses with titles such as Integrated, Resource, MCAS Remedial, ESL, or other non-traditional high school English language arts, mathematics, or science and technology/engineering 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. No determination will be made on appeals that do not include comprehensive course descriptions that match the titles on the cohort worksheets or that do not provide adequate information about the scope of 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 included in the cohort worksheet at the school's discretion, but if the GPA for grades 10 or 11 are not included, an explanation must be provided.

Q. May districts choose which students to include in the cohort?
A. All students who meet the cohort criteria (i.e., who took the same course or sequence of courses at the same time as the appellant, and took the MCAS test in the subject of the appeal and received a scaled score between 220-228) must be included on the cohort worksheet.

Districts may include students in the cohort with MCAS scores above 228 if there are fewer than six other students who meet the 220-228 MCAS score criterion. A modified cohort worksheet must be used for this purpose, which must be requested from the Department at mcasappeals@doe.mass.edu. In cases where it may be necessary to extend the MCAS score range above 228 in order to identify six or more students for the cohort, districts should extend the score range only to the lowest score needed above 228 to attain a cohort of at least six students other than the appellant.

Q. What if there are fewer than six students in a cohort?
A. Cohort appeals that contain fewer than six students in the cohort will not be granted. A portfolio appeal may be submitted in those cases.

Q. May a cohort include students who took the same course(s) as the appellant, but in different years?
A. No. A cohort may include only those students who took the same sequence of courses at the same time as the appellant. However, students in a different grade than the appellant may 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 appeal?
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. A Feedback Form is provided with each returned 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)
• high-school-level depth and complexity
• accuracy of the work completed by the student
• independence in completing the work (i.e., whether the student received 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 all 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 Appeals 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. These appeals may be re-submitted by the district if and when the required information has been included.

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 an appeal was 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. In order to be eligible for a subsequent appeal in science and technology/engineering, the student must first take another MCAS science and technology/engineering test in either the same or a different discipline (biology, chemistry, introductory physics, or technology/engineering).

Q. If an appeal is granted, does the student still need to fulfill the requirements of an Educational Proficiency Plan (EPP)?
A. Yes. Students who do not earn a scaled score of at least 240 on the grade 10 English Language Arts and/or Mathematics tests are required to fulfill an EPP, and meet all local graduation requirements, before they will be awarded a Competency Determination, unless the appeal is granted late in the student's senior year. A student for whom an appeal is being filed is assumed to be in the process of fulfilling his or her EPP, and should continue to work toward meeting the requirements of the EPP even after an MCAS appeal is granted.