By default, the Education Data Warehouse allows schools and districts to access MCAS records for tests they administered only. The student claiming process enables schools and districts to access to ALL historical MCAS data for their enrolled students, regardless of where the test was taken.
The folks at DESE will be re-setting the student claiming fields on Friday, July 16, 2010. After you have rolled-over your student information system to 2011 (and after July 16th) districts may upload a new claiming file so that you can access the historic MCAS results for registered students that will be in your building for the start of the 2011 school year.
If you've haven't previously claimed students in the Data Warehouse, this summer (after July 16) would be a good time to do so!
Additional information on the student claiming process can be found at the end of Chapter 3: Basic Access of the EDW User Guide.
