Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

Student Assessment Update: October 20, 2015

Ordering Materials for the February 2016 MCAS Biology Test

High school principals should order February 2016 MCAS Biology test materials between October 26 and October 30 by completing an order form posted at the MCAS Service Center. All high school principals must complete an order form even if no students will participate. As a reminder, superintendents must ensure that private special education schools and educational collaboratives order materials for students in out-of-district placements. Please contact the MCAS Service Center at 800-737-5103 with any questions about ordering materials. For policy-related questions, please contact the Student Assessment Unit at mcas@doe.mass.edu.

Preparing to Order ACCESS for ELLs Test Materials

During the week of October 19, ACCESS for ELLs test coordinators will receive an email from Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), the ACCESS test contractor, reminding them of the upcoming materials ordering window. ACCESS test coordinators should have already received their login and password information for the WIDA Assessment Management System (AMS) by email and must have completed the Test Materials Ordering training module prior to ordering test materials. ACCESS test coordinators must order test materials for their school between October 26 and November 13. Please note that ACCESS for ELLs Test Coordinators should only order for their mode of administration. For example, a school administering an online test for grade 7 should not order paper materials for grade 7 as a backup. Important Note: ACCESS test coordinators who have already received login and password information can and should create accounts for other individuals who will assist or replace them in that role. The WIDA AMS Account Setup training module provides information on creating accounts.

John and Abigail Adams Scholarship

Award letters for students who qualified for the scholarship are scheduled to be shipped this week. School administrators can view a list of this year's recipients for their school on the MCAS Service Center website.

Important Dates

October 26—30: Ordering window for February 2016 MCAS High School Biology Test
October 26—November 13: Ordering window for ACCESS for ELLs materials
October 28: High schools receive November retest materials
October 28—November 2: High schools complete the November retest PCPA, report packing discrepancies, and order additional materials
November 4—6: MCAS ELA Retest
November 9—10: MCAS Mathematics Retest
November 13: MCAS Retests - last day for make-up testing

Additional Resources

Updated Resource Guides for MCAS-Alt in ELA, Mathematics, and STE

November 2015 MCAS Retest Administration Resources

Subscriber Information

Principals, MCAS test coordinators, PARCC test coordinators, special education directors, and ELL directors receive this update based on contact information submitted to the Department. To change your email address or to add another staff member, please follow the instructions below:

Public school districts, public schools, charter public schools, collaboratives, approved private special education schools: submit the new email address to your District-Level Directory Administrator.
Test sites, adult education programs, out-of-state schools, SEIS-DYS programs: go online to the EOE Information Technology web page (select "District/School Information Update" as the subject) to submit your update (be sure to include your District and School Code).

In addition to this update, districts may find the biweekly PARCC bulletins to be useful. We welcome your feedback at mcas@doe.mass.edu, parcc@doe.mass.edu and access@doe.mass.edu.

Last Updated: October 22, 2015