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Student Assessment
This newsletter is published by DESE to provide Massachusetts educators with information, guidance, and support as they teach students with the most significant cognitive disabilities and administer the MCAS Alternate Assessment (the MCAS-Alt).
This back-to-school update includes some important announcements and reminders for administering the MCAS-Alt to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
Educators administering the MCAS-Alt and administrators overseeing the MCAS-Alt test administration should review and attend necessary virtual trainings. Descriptions of the trainings are available on the MCAS-Alt Fall Training Flyer . Please note, the MCAS-Alt Update session is not offered, as all requirements remain the same as last year.
The Fall 2025 trainings will be available in two different formats.
By end-of-September, pre-recorded training sessions will be available online at the DESE MCAS-Alt Manuals and Training Sessions page.
Live virtual MCAS-Alt training sessions will also be offered. Register on the DESE Training Opportunities page to attend the Zoom webinar sessions.
In addition to the training session above, DESE will offer two MCAS-Alt drop-in office hour sessions. During these sessions you will have the opportunity to ask any questions you might have after viewing or attending the training sessions. Registration is available on the DESE Training Opportunities page for either session below:
Entry points and access skills in the Alternate Academic Achievement Standards for the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks (also known as the Resource Guides) have been organized by topic for each STE core idea across all domains. The topics represented all 8 science practices within the core idea/grade span and will aid in selecting cohesive skills across practices when building a unit for STE.
MCAS-Alt submission date: Friday, March 27, 2026
DESE is recruiting MCAS-Alt training specialists for the 2025-2026 school year. If you're interested in supporting colleagues to correctly administer the MCAS-Alt and would like to assume a higher-profile role, please complete the online application (available now through October 11). This volunteer position will require approximately 3–5 full days either out of your school (review sessions) or in virtual meetings (training, review sessions, and orientation).
Please note: Applicants currently employed by a district will require an administrator to approve their application before submission.
The MCAS-Alt Forms and Graphs application used by educators to complete the MCAS-Alt will be available in mid-September. Educators must register for a new account for the 2025-2026 school year.
Thank you for your attention to this important information. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up to join our mailing list.