Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

Student Assessment Update: February 4, 2013

Student Assessment Update

The student assessment update provides important information about the state's testing programs. Principals, heads of school, test coordinators, and when applicable, ELL directors, will receive this update on a regular basis. Please email your feedback to mcas@doe.mass.edu.

Spring 2013 MCAS Participation: Lists of Grade 11 and 12 Students Available

A list of grade 11 and grade 12 students who are required to participate in MCAS grade 10 ELA and Mathematics tests for accountability purposes has been posted to the school and district DropBoxes located on the Security Portal. The list includes students who have been continuously enrolled in Massachusetts public schools but have not taken one or both of the grade 10 MCAS tests. According to SIMS, these students were promoted directly from grade 9 to grade 11 or grade 12. State and federal accountability guidelines require that all continuously enrolled students be included in accountability reports once. If these students are not assessed this year, they will be counted as absent, which will lower school and/or district MCAS participation rates. If a student on the list was included in past grade 10 accountability reports under a different student ID, please contact Student Assessment by phone at 781-338-3625 or by fax at 781-338-3630. If a file entitled "Required to Take Spring 2013 MCAS Grade 10 Tests" does not appear in your DropBox, your school and/or district does not have any students to whom this requirement applies. Additional information on high school MCAS participation requirements is available at Student Participation Guidelines for the High School Tests and Retests.

Announcing Edwin Analytics

Beginning February 1, 2013, the MCAS reports and analysis tools previously found in the Education Data Warehouse (EDW 3.0) will be housed in the new Edwin Analytics system, which is part of a multi-year effort to enhance the state's longitudinal reporting systems. Like the EDW, Edwin Analytics is accessed through the ESE Security Portal. All the reports you are accustomed to seeing in the EDW are available in Edwin Analytics. Over the next weeks, Edwin Analytics will expand to include data from pre-kindergarten through higher education, which will allow users to identify at-risk students in all grades with the Massachusetts Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS) and track high school graduates with the Postsecondary Readiness and Success Tool. More information about Edwin can be found at Edwin Home.

ACCESS for ELLs Test Materials: Return by February 15

Schools must return all ACCESS for ELLs test material to MetriTech, the testing contractor, no later than February 15, according to the return shipping instructions provided with the test materials. If your school has completed testing, you may ship test materials beginning on February 6. Schools are instructed to give their materials directly to UPS during the school's regularly scheduled UPS pickup or call UPS directly to schedule a pickup. For assistance, please call MetriTech customer service at 800-747-4868.

Upcoming Portfolios-in-Progress Sessions: Register Now

During the week of March 4, the Department will offer a series of statewide Portfolios-in-Progress review sessions for educators who are conducting the MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt). Teachers will attend small discussion groups led by an MCAS-Alt training specialist who will answer questions and review portfolios prior to the April 1 submission deadline. Online registration is available at MCAS Service Center. Please encourage teachers who are conducting the MCAS-Alt in your school to attend.

Important Upcoming Dates

February 1-February 13: MCAS test administration training sessions for principals and MCAS test coordinators
February 27-March 8: MCAS March Retests in ELA and Mathematics

To Correct Your Contact Information to Receive This Update

Principals, heads of school, MCAS test coordinators, and ELL directors received this email based on contact information that was submitted to the Department. To change your email address, please follow the instructions below:

Public schools: Submit updates to your District-Level Directory Administrator, who is responsible for submitting updates to the Department. A listing of Directory Administrators is posted at Directory Administrators.
Non-public schools and collaboratives: Submit updates (along with your District & School Code) to the Department via email at diradmin@doe.mass.edu.

Last Updated: February 6, 2013