Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System

June Release of 2012 Preliminary MCAS and MCAS Alternate Assessment Results

To:	Superintendents, Principals, and Directors of Charter Schools, Approved Private Special Education Schools, Educational Collaboratives, and Institutional Programs
From:	Mitchell D. Chester, Ed. D. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education
Date:	May 21, 2012

Below you will find the schedule for the June release of 2012 preliminary MCAS and MCAS Alternate Assessment (MCAS-Alt) results. Full preliminary MCAS results for English Language Arts (ELA), multiple-choice results for Mathematics and grades 5 and 8 Science and Technology/Engineering (STE), and full MCAS-Alt results will be made available in June. The Department encourages schools and districts to use the preliminary 2012 student data for educational planning purposes. Preliminary student results can and should be shared with teachers, parents, and instructional leaders who are making decisions about Individualized Education Programs, summer programs, and/or the scope of services needed for English language learners. However, since these are preliminary data, you may NOT release any aggregate data to the public until the official release of school and district results in September. Guidance to assist you in interpreting the Mathematics and grades 5 and 8 STE multiple-choice results will be available on June 22 at www.doe.mass.edu/mcas/results.html. The preliminary results are scheduled to be available as follows:

Date	Deliverable / Event	Mode of delivery
June 12	ELA Composition images for grades 4, 7, and 10 posted electronically for principals	MCAS Service Center website: MCAS Service Center
June 15	Portfolio Feedback Forms for students who participated in the MCAS-Alt posted electronically for principals	DropBox Central in the Department's Security Portal: www4.doemass.org/auth/Login/
June 22	Excel data files with preliminary student results posted electronically for superintendents and principals: ELA, full results Mathematics, multiple-choice results only STE, grades 5 and 8, multiple-choice results only MCAS-Alt, full results in all subjects	DropBox Central in the Department's Security Portal: www4.doemass.org/auth/Login/
June 22	School roster reports with preliminary student results, including MCAS-Alt, posted electronically for principals: ELA, full results Mathematics, multiple-choice results only STE, grades 5 and 8, multiple-choice results only	DropBox Central in the Department's Security Portal: www4.doemass.org/auth/Login/
June 29	Preliminary school and district reports posted electronically for superintendents and principals, all grades: Item analysis reports-ELA, all items; Mathematics, multiple-choice only; STE, grades 5 and 8, multiple-choice only Performance by subgroup reports-ELA only	DropBox Central in the Department's Security Portal: www4.doemass.org/auth/Login/
June 29	Education Data Warehouse (EDW) reports available: IT301, IT302, CU306, IT401, IT402, CU406, PE606, PE613, IT616, PE617 in the ESE MCAS Reports folder GR601 and GR602 in the ESE Growth Reports folder-ELA only	Education Data Warehouse in the Department's Security Portal: www4.doemass.org/auth/Login/
July 5	Schools may begin contacting the MCAS Service Center with questions about preliminary student results.	MCAS Service Center: 800-737-5103

Full preliminary results for ELA, Mathematics, and STE will be available in August. We will inform you of the schedule for the August release in a Commissioner's Update in July.

Education Data Warehouse Reports

The following Education Data Warehouse reports for curriculum analysis, item analysis, and student assessment history, which link to the Massachusetts ELA and Mathematics Frameworks, have been modified to reflect our transition to the 2011 Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for English Language Arts and Literacy and Mathematics. For grades 3-8, the reports link student MCAS results to the current standards and provide a prompt to select the 2011 Frameworks. The increased functionality of these reports should be used to support the transition to the 2011 Frameworks.

Report Name	Report Number	Report Detail
MCAS Results by Strand and Topic	CU306-district CU406-school	Curriculum analysis
MCAS Test Item Analysis Summary	IT301-district IT401-school	Item analysis
Assessment History Detail	PE606	Individual student history

Accessing Results through the Department's Security Portal

Files posted to DropBox Central in the Department's Security Portal can be found in the MCAS 2012 Data dropbox. The Security Portal is password protected. Each district's directory administrator is responsible for assigning the MCAS security role to appropriate school and district staff. If you need assistance accessing data in 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.

Reporting Discrepancies

The online tool for reporting data discrepancies will be available August 6-10. The tool and detailed instructions for reporting discrepancies will be available at www.mcasservicecenter.com/. It is important that you read these instructions carefully before reporting any discrepancies. Additional information will be forthcoming. If you have questions about policies regarding the reporting of MCAS results, please contact Student Assessment Services at mcas@doe.mass.edu or 781-338-3625.

Last Updated: May 24, 2012