MCAS Long Compositions Downloads

Recently, I had inquries from several principals asking how to access their school's long compositions. I don't have access to these documents, but wanted to share the information that was given to me by the Measured Progress and the student assessment office at ESE.

The 2013 student compositions were made available for download at the MCAS Service Center web site last August (and then updated with the official results in September). Student compositions are accessible using the usernames and passwords that are mailed to school and district administrators at the start of each calendar year (schools should have received their letters about a week ago.) The username stays the same from year to year (an 8 digit number which represents a combination of the district and school codes) but the password will have changed since 2013.

To access the student compositions:

• Visit www.MCASservicecenter.com and choose MCAS and then MCAS Reporting
• Enter your 8-digit username and 2014 password.
• Click on Reporting. The compositions are located on a tab at the top of the page (MCAS Student Compositions). 
• Complete the Basic Filtering options and the student compositions should appear. They can be viewed, printed, or downloaded.

Be sure to keep your up-to-date password handy so that you can access the 2014 composition files in the fall of 2014!

If you have questions, you can contact the MCAS Service Center at 800-737-5103 between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

June 2013 Release of Preliminary Results

As many of you already know, preliminary MCAS results were made available to authorized users in DropBox Central (in the security portal) on Tuesday. This release includes full preliminary ELA results and preliminary multiple-choice results for grades 3–8 and 10 Math and grades 5 and 8 Science.

There is an interpretive guide to accompany this release (currently available in DropBox Central, to be posted to the 2013 MCAS Web page shortly) which provides information about various ways that the preliminary data (along with the 2013 released items) can be reviewed and utilized. The raw-to-scaled score conversion tables for ELA have also been posted.

In addition, the latest Student Assessment Update notes that preliminary MCAS-Alt results have been made available through DropBox Central, and ELA long compositions are posted online at www.mcasservicecenter.com.

On Friday, June 21, the same preliminary results will be made available through selected reports in Edwin Analytics.

Per the Interpretive Guide: "All data released prior to the official release of school and district results in mid-September are embargoed, which means the data cannot be released to the public or discussed in public meetings.... Preliminary MCAS data, including the Mathematics and STE multiple-choice results, can and should be used for educational planning purposes. Whenever preliminary results are printed for planning purposes, they should be clearly dated and labeled “preliminary,” with the understanding that some results may change with the official release in September."

As a reminder, I will be offering three regional Edwin Analytics workshops in August after the remainder of the preliminary data has been released, but in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me with questions.

MCAS and Accountability Teleconference Highlights

I know that many readers of this blog attended this week's teleconference related to the release of the preliminary 2012 MCAS results and related accountability reports but I thought I would provide some of the essential information for those that were not able to attend.

MCAS Results and Discrepancy Reporting
Earlier this week, the preliminary MCAS data files were posted in the ESE Security Portal for review and discrepancy reporting. Some preliminary EDW reports are expected to be available in the Education Data Warehouse by this Friday, August 10 (ELA long compositions can be downloaded from the MCAS Service Center.)

As a reminder, the preliminary data is embargoed - Commissioner Chester has given the following guidelines for the use of preliminary data:  “I want to encourage schools and districts to use the preliminary… 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 Individual Education Plans, summer programs or decisions about the scope of services needed for English Language Learners.” The folks from ESE expect that the 2012 MCAS and accountability results will be released publicly on or about September 19, 2012. 

Accountability Reporting

In June, districts received their schools' provisional PPI data and accountability and assistance levels, which are based on data from 2009, 2010, and 2011. During the week of August 13, districts will receive their preliminary school-and district-level PPI data and accountability and assistance levels based on four years of data (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) for review (also embargoed). The official results will be released in mid-September.

Education Data Warehouse Updates

There are lots of excellent new updates in the Education Data Warehouse just in time for the busy season! Here are some highlights:

• The EDW Home page is now standard for all EDW users without needing to be configured as previously discussed. It contains information about recent updates and improvements as well as what's coming down the pike. 
• All of the reports from version 2.6 have been migrated to the new EDW. Please note that although the link is still available from the landing page, EDW 2.6 is no longer being updated and will be retired in October.
• The Test Item Analysis reports now have the option to map the test items to EITHER the old or new curriculum frameworks for Math and ELA. 
• There is a "Super" student profile report which provides SIMS, attendance, course, MCAS, and CD status information for any selected student.
• There are several new classroom-level reports which utilize SCS data for a given instructional group (classroom, course section, etc.) These reports are only available to users who have been assigned the "DW-Evaluator" role. ESE has developed guidance around assigning this role to EDW users which they will post on the EDW home page shortly. (Watch for a more detailed blog post once this guidance document is available online.)

Upcoming MCAS and MEPA Data Releases

A previous blog post provided some of the preliminary release dates for MCAS results, but I wanted to provide links to two ESE memos containing additional details.

Preliminary 2012 MCAS Data:

• June 12th - ELA Composition images posted electronically for principals
• June 15th - Portfolio Feedback Forms for MCAS-Alt posted electronically for principals
• June 22nd - Excel data files and school roster reports with preliminary student results to Dropbox Central.
• June 29th - Preliminary school and district reports to Dropbox Central.
• June 29th - Selected EDW reports posted.

See the Commissioner's May 21st memo for more details.

Spring 2012 MEPA Data:

• June 7th - Parent/Guardian reports received by schools via UPS.
• June 7th - Various data reports posted to http://www.mcasservicecenter.com/.
• June 25th - Student data file with 2011 and 2012 MEPA and MCAS scores will be posted at the Department's Security Portal.

More details on the MEPA release can be found here.

2011 MCAS and Accountability Data

DESE recently posted important information regarding 201l MCAS preliminary data and accountability data, and for discrepancy reporting. Please see the Commissioner's Memo and printable Release Schedule for complete details. Some upcoming dates are listed below:

August 8: District/school leaders can begin to access full preliminary (embargoed) 2011 MCAS results through the Security Portal (first in DropBox, then in EDW)

August 9: District/school leaders can access to preliminary (embargoed) school and district accountability data through the Security Portal.

August 8 (2:30 pm) OR August 9 (10:00 am): MCAS and Accountability Reporting Teleconference (register at www.mcasservicecenter.com)

The Commissioner's Memo also mentions the updates and improvements that will take place in the Education Data Warehouse later in August. I'll certainly be sharing additional information as it becomes available!

It's that time of year!

As the school year winds down, it's also a busy time of year data-wise! The MEPA data were released earlier this month, and the MCAS raw data files and roster files (embargoed!) were placed in DropBoxes at the end of last week. The end of this week will bring new preliminary data in the Data Warehouse, the MEPA-MCAS crosswalks in DropBoxes. If you missed the webinar last week on MCAS Reporting, the PowerPoint presentation can be found in the MCAS Reporting section of the MCAS Service Center.

Last week's conference call on EDW improvements provided of an insight into the improvements being made to the system. (PowerPoint to be posted soon on the ESE Web site.) Some features we can look forward to include:

• Faster report generation due to back-end improvements


• Interface enhancements including reports in a separate window, prompts directly on the report itself, and links to pre-run reports in DropBoxes


• MEPA and CD status data will be in EDW


• Faster access to appropriate prompts (for example, less scrolling to get to the district's name)


• On-screen previews of sample reports so users know what the report looks like before it is run

I don't have details about what features will be available when (I believe the goal is late summer), but I do know that we will see a few of the improvements in this week's EDW release. In addition, the new system and the old system will co-exist for a while as folks get used to the new system.

As a reminder, I am offering a Data Warehouse "Getting Started" workshop on June 29 and a "Refresher" course on August 22 (in Bourne). The refresher course will include any information about the "new" system that is available at that time. Spots are still available and you can sign up through the Cape Cod Collaborative.

Release Schedule for 2011 Preliminary MCAS Results

Commissioner Chester has announced a schedule for the June release of 2011 preliminary MCAS and MCAS-Alt results. This release will include full preliminary MCAS results for ELA, multiple-choice results for Math and STE (grades 5 and 8), and full MCAS-Alt results. As a reminder, this preliminary information is embargoed; while it may be used for instructional planning, it may not be discussed with the public or press.

Here's a summary of the schedule:

June 15 - ELA Composition images available at the MCAS Service Center Web site
June 16 - MCAS-Alt Portfolio feedback forms available in DropBox
June 17 - Preliminary roster reports posted in DropBox
June 20 - Preliminary school/district reports posted in DropBox
June 24 - Selected reports available in Education Data Warehouse
August TBD - Full preliminary results available

In addition, there will be two MCAS reporting teleconferences on June 16 at 2:30 pm and June 17 at 10:00 am (register via www.mcasservicecenter.com).

The folks at ESE are putting into place several strategies to minimize traffic jams with the EDW for this June release, including links to pre-run versions of popular reports. Stay tuned for more details.

Please visit the Commissioner's memo for the details of the MCAS release schedule as well as the MEPA results schedule.