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 Please note that although the link is still available from the landing page, EDW 2.6 is no longer being updated and will be retired in October.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.)
