|
An update from Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
Oct. 15, 2025
Important Dates
Oct. 24: Deadline to submit late student response entry or rescore requests for spring 2025 MCA and MTAS/Alt MCA
Quick Links
The 2025 Reading, Mathematics, and Science All Standards-Based (MCA/MTAS/ALTMCA) Assessment Files were re-posted on Friday, Oct. 10 with the Count Valid Scores MCA with Accommodations column included. This column was added after initial release due to changes in available accommodations for 2025. No other information in the files has changed.
Back to top
As in past years, districts are required to offer a nationally recognized college entrance exam (ACT or SAT) to grades 11 and 12 students during a 2025-26 school day. Districts must enter into a contract directly with the test vendor. While a district may offer other assessment options to students at their discretion (for example, ASVAB or ACCUPLACER), a college entrance exam must still be offered. The requirements for offering a college entrance exam have not changed and are detailed in Chapter 2 of the Procedures Manual. More information about ACT and College Board is included below.
ACT
Districts can view administration information, Free/Reduced Lunch Program (FRLP) pricing structure, and key testing dates and deadlines on the ACT District Testing page of the ACT website.
In order to determine if the district will receive a reduced price from ACT, districts will need to provide ACT the percentage of students who are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals.
Contact ACT at actdistricttesting@act.org or 1-800-553-6244 ext. 2800, option 6, with any questions.
College Board/SAT
To learn more about an SAT administration, refer to the SAT School Day page. You can also use the College Board’s cost-estimating tool to calculate potential costs for your district on the District and School Pricing Details page. Information about timelines, training, registration, and accommodations can be found on the In-School Testing Educator Experience page.
Contact Minnesota’s College Board representative, Tamika Thomas, at tthomas@collegeboard.org or 571-318-4502 with any questions.
Back to top
The deadline for late student response entry or rescore requests for spring 2025 MCA and MTAS/Alt MCA testing is Oct. 24.
The Request for Late Student Response Entry Form can be found on page 325 of the Procedures Manual. These requests can be made if a district did not enter a student’s MTAS scores or responses from an MCA/Alt MCA paper test book in TestNav during the testing window. Contact Pearson at 888-817-8659 or submit a Pearson help desk request online with further questions. Note: For late student response entry requests received at this time, students will not receive an Individual Student Report (ISR), but districts can request that Pearson provide an On-Demand Report for the student.
A rescore may be requested when a parent/guardian or school district staff disagrees with the final score a student received (typically for an MCA paper administration). Note: All items are reviewed multiple times before, during, and after testing for scoring accuracy and unanticipated responses. Because of MDE’s rigorous item review process, a rescore is highly unlikely to result in a score change for an individual student. If a discrepancy is found for an online item during a scoring review, scores will be updated for all affected students. District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) must email mde.testing@state.mn.us with the student’s MARSS/SSID number and the rationale for requesting a rescore, and MDE will review the request. If approved, further information will be collected, and the cost for rescoring a test is $200 per test. A rescore does not include test code changes (INV, NC, REF-S, etc.).
Back to top
October Q&A Session: DAC Roles and Yearly Overview
Registration
MDE will host the first monthly virtual Q&A session for DACs on Tuesday, Oct. 21, from 2-3 p.m. New and experienced District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) are welcome to attend. Register for the October Q&A Session.
Please note: All participants must register for the event 24 hours in advance using an email address associated with their school, district, or educational agency. Registrations made less than 24 hours in advance will not be approved. MDE will manually approve all registrations prior to the event. Once registrations are approved, participants will receive a confirmation email with the link to the event.
Session Details
The prerequisites for this Q&A session are the following chapters of the Procedures Manual:
- Chapter 2: Overview of Statewide Assessments
- Chapter 3: Roles and Responsibilities for Testing
- Chapter 5: Responsible and Ethical Practices to Maintain Test Security and Test Score Integrity
MDE collects questions from DACs prior to the event to help prepare and find relevant resources to share. After reading the chapters, submit questions for the October DAC Q&A Session. Q&A Sessions will not be recorded nor will CEUs be provided as these are an additional support rather than a training event.
This Q&A session will go over information covered during the New DAC Orientation. If you were unable to attend the virtual or in-person New DAC Orientation, a recorded version of the training is now available in the Learning Management System (LMS).
Sign Up Now! Exploring WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten
WIDA will facilitate a live virtual webinar to support Minnesota educators and assessment coordinators in understanding the redesigned WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten assessment. The session will highlight new and updated features and introduce a supplementary Canvas module with helpful links, documents, and resources to support test administration.
The webinar will be hosted on Monday, Nov. 10, 3-4:30 p.m. Fill out the Request for Registration form no later than Sunday, Nov. 2 to secure your spot. This session is capped at 100 participants; if demand is high, you may be placed on waitlist.
Note: This webinar is supplementary to the required self-paced online training and does not replace the certification requirement.
Science Alt MCA Test Administrator Feedback Session
Alternate assessment Test Administrators, Individualized Education Program (IEP) team members, and administrators who support assessment planning and decision making (District Assessment Coordinators, directors) are invited to attend a webinar with MDE Alternate Assessment Specialists to learn about the top six topics that Test Administrators gave feedback about for the new Science Alt MCA and what changes are being made to address the feedback. In the session, attendees will also be able to give their feedback to improve future Alt MCA assessments.
Back to top
Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
Minnesota Department of Education
Statewide Testing| Unsubscribe
|
