News Article - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Spring 2016 District Assessment Decisions as of February 18, 2016

On November 17, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approved the Commissioner's recommended plan for transitioning to a next-generation MCAS test. This plan includes the following details for spring 2016:

districts that administered PARCC in grades 3–8 in spring 2015 will do so again in 2016, and
districts that administered MCAS in grades 3–8 in spring 2015 have the opportunity to administer MCAS again in spring 2016, or may choose to administer PARCC for grades 3–8 only.

Superintendents in districts administering PARCC in spring 2016 had these decisions:

the test format (computer-based or paper-based), and
whether (and how many) students in grade 8 will participate in the PARCC Algebra I test instead of the PARCC grade 8 Mathematics test.

Decisions are considered binding, and for districts that did not respond by the deadline (or by the date for an extension), the Department has assigned the schools the same test and mode that was administered in 2015. In most cases, a district's decision applies to each school across the district. The only exception is for the three largest districts—Boston, Springfield and Worcester—which had the option to decide on a school-by-school basis. All districts will continue to administer the grades 5, 8 and high school MCAS Science and Technology/Engineering tests. Districts will also continue using the MCAS Alternate Assessment for students designated for alternate assessment. The three high school MCAS tests (grade 10 English Language Arts, grade 10 Mathematics and high school Science and Technology/Engineering) will continue to be a graduation requirement through the class of 2019. Below is a summary of districts' assessment decisions for spring 2016, and attached is a list by district/school.

Assessment Decision for Spring 2016

February 18, 2016

Spring 2016	Number of MA public districts (including charters) — serving students in grades 3–8	MCAS			PARCC
Spring 2016		# of districts	# of gr. 3–8 students reported in Oct. SIMS (approx.)	% of MA gr. 3–8 students	# of districts	# of gr. 3–8 students reported in Oct. SIMS (approx.)	% of MA gr. 3–8 students
Grades 3–8	360	118	121,000	28%	243	306,000	72%

Notes:

There are 408 public school districts in MA (including charter districts) — see MA State Profile, but only 360 of the public school districts serve students in grades 3–8.
Worcester has chosen to administer MCAS and PARCC and is included in counts for both above.

PARCC Details

	Number of Districts Administering PARCC	PARCC Computer-Based Tests		PARCC Paper-Based Tests		PARCC Mix of Paper and Computer
	Number of Districts Administering PARCC	# of districts	% of districts	# of districts	% of districts	# of districts	% of districts
Grades 3–8	243	107	44%	95	39%	41	17%

PARCC Algebra I (Grade 8) (optional)
# of districts	estimated # of students
71	5,300

Last Updated: February 18, 2016