Approved Alternative Assessments with Specific Eligibility Requirements

The Department has approved two additional alternative assessments from Educational Testing Service (ETS) with specific eligibility requirements. The assessments that will be accepted through the pilot period for educators who meet specific eligibility requirements as approved alternatives include:

Content Areas

The following tests are administered by Educational Testing Services (ETS)

In order for your scores to be reported to, and accepted by the Department, you must register at the specific Massachusetts link for registration on the ETS website: Massachusetts Certification.

Candidate Eligibility

Given that the intended design of this subject matter knowledge alternative assessment, as presented to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), was based on the current Performance Review Program for Initial Licensure (PRPIL), the RFR soliciting these alternative assessments was designed in alignment to requirements for educator experience. As a result, eligibility for the above tests is designed for candidates who meet the following requirements:

1. Educators must have a bachelor's degree.
2. Educators who have:
   • Taught for at least one school year in the field of the test they seek to take under a waiver, an emergency license, and/or a temporary license or
   • Taught for at least one school year in the field of the test they seek to take at a charter school, a collaborative, an approved special education school, or a private school that uses the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks or
   • Served for at least one school year in a paraprofessional role or as a long-term substitute in a classroom in a Massachusetts public school, collaborative, an approved special education school, or a private school that uses the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, in the field of the test they seek to take.

Educators will be required to submit proof of the above requirements to ETS during the test registration process. The registration process through ETS will indicate how to document proof of eligibility. As candidates register and take these alternative assessments, results will be electronically and securely sent to the Department. Due to these eligibility requirements, the Department will not be accepting scores for tests registered for or taken before 10/25/2022. The link to register and provide proof of eligibility is now live here: Massachusetts Certification.

Last Updated: December 1, 2022