The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

2018 MCAS and Accountability Results

At the October 30, 2018 meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (Board), I will present a summary of the 2018 MCAS results as well as results from the first year of reporting under the Commonwealth's new accountability system. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department) released the assessment and accountability results to the public on September 27, 2018.

2018 MCAS Results

In spring 2018, students in grades 3 through 8 took the next-generation MCAS assessments in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. This was the second administration of these next-generation assessments in grades 3 through 8. Students in grade 10 took the legacy ELA and mathematics MCAS tests. Legacy science MCAS assessments were administered to students in grades 5, 8, and high school.

Student results from the second administration of the next-generation tests are reported using the achievement levels that the Board adopted in spring 2017: Exceeding Expectations, Meeting Expectations, Partially Meeting Expectations, and Not Meeting Expectations. The 2018 legacy tests, which remained paper-based, will continue to be reported using the achievement levels of Advanced, Proficient, Needs Improvement, and Warning/Failing.

Associate Commissioner Michol Stapel and MCAS Chief Analyst Bob Lee will join us for the discussion on October 30.

2018 Accountability Results

This year, the Department implemented a new district and school accountability system that meets both state and federal requirements. The new system allows the Department to identify schools that require assistance or intervention and those that are demonstrating success. Highlights of the new system include:

• The inclusion of additional accountability indicators, which provide information about school performance and student opportunities beyond test scores;
• A focus on raising the performance of each school's lowest performing students in addition to the performance of the school as a whole; and
• The discontinuation of accountability and assistance levels (Levels 1 to 5), which have been replaced with accountability categories that better define the progress that schools are making and the type of support or assistance they may receive from the Department.

Accountability determinations include information about the degree to which the district or school as a whole is making progress towards improvement targets, how a school is performing relative to other schools that administered similar assessments, and subgroup results. Results are reported in two categories: district or schools that require assistance or intervention, and districts or schools that do not require assistance or intervention.

Senior Associate Commissioner Russell Johnston and Associate Commissioner Rob Curtin will be available at the Board meeting to answer your questions.