Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

Release of March 2012 MCAS Retest Results

To:	Superintendents, High School Principals, and Directors of Charter Schools, Approved Private Special Education Schools, Educational Collaboratives, Institutional Programs, and Alternative Adult/External Diploma Programs
From:	Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
Date:	April 13, 2012

The results of the March 2012 MCAS retests in English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics are scheduled to be available as follows:

April 20, 2012	The student data file (.xls and .dat formats) is available to schools and districts, and the student roster report (.pdf format) is available to schools through DropBox Central at the Department's Security Portal at www4.doemass.org/auth/Login.
April 24, 2012	Student data are available in the Department's Education Data Warehouse (EDW), also at www4.doemass.org/auth/Login, for conducting further analyses of the data.
May 8, 2012	ELA Composition images are available at the MCAS Service Center website at www.mcasservicecenter.com. To access this site, use the MCAS/MEPA user name and password that was mailed to you on January 3, 2012.
May 8, 2012	Parent/Guardian Reports are delivered to superintendents and directors of charter schools, approved private special education schools, educational collaboratives, institutional programs, and alternative adult/external diploma programs via UPS (along with Parent/Guardian Reports for the February 2012 Biology test).

The Department's Security Portal is password protected. Each district's Directory Administrator is responsible for assigning the MCAS security role to appropriate district staff. If you need assistance accessing data on the Security Portal, please speak with the Directory Administrator in your district. A list of Directory Administrators by district is available at www.doe.mass.edu/infoservices/data/diradmin/list.aspx. I encourage you to share these retest results with students and the educators who work with them in the relevant subject for planning purposes. Although there will be no official discrepancy reporting period for the March 2012 MCAS retests prior to the release of the official results, you may report problems with the data (e.g., missing SASID or results that appear to be assigned to the wrong student) by calling the MCAS Service Center at 800-737-5103 by May 11, 2012. Please bear in mind that students who took the test and are reported without a SASID cannot be designated as graduates in SIMS. Regarding students in the class of 2009 and earlier who are still striving to fulfill their Competency Determination (CD) requirements, please note that the temporary waiver for the implementation of the Science Technology/Engineering (STE) CD requirement will expire on July 1, 2012. For details, please consult my memo of June 11, 2010, at www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5586. If you have questions about the results, please call Student Assessment Services at 781-338-3625.

Last Updated: April 13, 2012