Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

Student Assessment Update: January 12, 2016

Districts' Assessment Decision for Spring 2016

Important Updates for the Spring 2016 MCAS Test Administration for Grades 3–8

MCAS Ordering Window for Spring 2016, MCAS-Alt, and March Retest

Spring 2016 MCAS Test Administration Training Sessions

Spring 2016 PARCC Assessment: Next Steps

• Setting Up User Accounts in PearsonAccessnext
  In mid-February, the Department will delete all existing PearsonAccessnext accounts and create new accounts, based on information in the School/District Profiles, for superintendents, education technology directors, school principals, and test coordinators. All users will receive an email from PARCC@support.pearson.com with the subject line "New Account." This email will include a user ID and an initial password to log into PearsonAccessnext, the online tool schools and districts will use to manage and administer the spring 2016 PARCC tests. Email addresses for registered users of PearsonAccessnext will be used to deliver important emails and updates from Pearson, PARCC's testing contractor, and from the Department's PARCC team.
  
  If you are administering PARCC tests for the first time in spring 2016, you may review test administration and test coordinator resources on the PARCC Manuals and Training page; for schools offering the computer-based tests, technology guidelines and technical user guides are available on the PARCC Technology Setup page.

• Updating the Student Registration/Personal Needs Profile (SR/PNP)
  In mid-February, the Department will import a SR/PNP file for students in grades 3–8 into PearsonAccessnext, based on October 2015 SIMS student demographic information. The Department will also import test accommodations information for students in grades 4–8 from the 2015 assessment in which the student participated (MCAS or PARCC). School and/or district staff must enter accommodations data for grade 3 students into the SR/PNP, as needed.
  
  For schools offering the paper-based test, March 11 is the deadline to make changes to SR/PNP for the initial shipment of paper test materials. Any updates to the SR/PNP that would require paper materials made after the March 11 deadline will require an additional materials order when the window opens on April 11. Schools offering the computer-based test may update the SR/PNP throughout the test administration window.

• Conducting an Infrastructure Trial
  Schools and districts administering the computer-based test are strongly encouraged to conduct an infrastructure trial. To ensure that schools have adequate time to conduct the trial and resolve any technical or other issues that may be identified, Pearson recommends conducting the trial at least 4–8 weeks prior to testing. For further information, please review the Infrastructure Trial Readiness Guide, located on Avocet.

Important Dates

• January 4–February 3: Additional materials ordering window for ACCESS for ELLs 2.0
• January 7–February 10: Testing window for ACCESS for ELLs 2.0
• January 13: Composition images for the November retest are scheduled to be available on the MCAS Service Center.
• January 15: Interactive reports for the November retest are scheduled to be available in Edwin Analytics.
• January 18: Abigail and John Adams Scholarship (supplementary) letters delivered to districts

Additional Resources

2016 PARCC Unit Testing Times

Subscriber Information

• 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).