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An update from Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
Dec. 10, 2025
Important Dates
Dec. 11: Deadline for updating student enrollment data for EL students
Dec. 12: Deadline to indicate the number of WIDA ACCESS Online testers for grades 1-12 and order test materials during Materials Ordering in the WIDA Assessment Management System (WIDA AMS)
Jan. 23: Test WES deadline to make changes affecting initial MCA and MTAS/Alt MCA test materials shipment, confirm ISR delivery, and indicate test material delivery options
Quick Links
If you haven’t already completed these tasks, please take a moment to wrap up the following:
- Materials Ordering in WIDA AMS closes Friday, Dec. 12. Enter all tester counts and verify your district’s shipping address to ensure materials arrive on time.
- Confirm all English learners are correctly identified in enrollment data submitted to MDE (MARSS/Ed-Fi) by Thursday, Dec. 11. If your district uses a service provider, check whether their deadline comes earlier.
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The District Assessment Coordinator (DAC) is responsible for ensuring that all staff who have a role in testing or have access to secure materials are appropriately trained. This includes MDE’s Test Security Training, training on the district’s policies and procedures for statewide assessments, and any required trainings based on the staff member’s role in testing. It is considered a security violation if untrained staff are involved in testing in any way.
If untrained staff are involved in the administration of statewide assessments or have access to secure materials, then DACs will need to submit a security violation through Assessment Security Records (ASR) in Test WES.
Training Requirements for Test Monitors and Test Administrators
In addition to the Test Security Training and training on the district’s policies and procedures for statewide assessments, staff members who are involved in the administration of statewide assessments have additional required trainings that must be completed annually. These requirements are outlined by test (WIDA ACCESS, WIDA Alternate ACCESS, MCA, and MTAS/Alt MCA) beginning on page 203 in the Procedures Manual.
- For WIDA ACCESS and WIDA Alternate ACCESS, Test Administrators must complete trainings in both the WIDA Secure Portal (for specific administration information) and the Learning Management System (LMS) (for MDE test security information).
- The WIDA ACCESS Online: Administration and WIDA ACCESS Paper: Administration courses include modules that explain tasks that are typically completed by District or School Assessment Coordinators. Only the content in Module 1: Introduction, all content marked with a star symbol on the Training Tasks page and passing the certification quiz are required by MDE for Test Administrators.
- For the Speaking for Grades 1-5: Scoring WIDA ACCESS Paper course, Speaking for Grades 6-12: Scoring WIDA ACCESS Paper course, WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten: Administration and Scoring course, and WIDA Alternate ACCESS: Administration and Scoring course, all modules (including recommended practice) are required, and the certification quiz must be passed.
- For a complete list of courses and their associated role in test administration, refer to LMS Test Administration Catalog Courses and Posting Dates (2025-26).
District Policies and Procedures
In addition to MDE’s Test Security Training, each district is required to provide training to staff on their own district policies and procedures for statewide assessments. Because these are district-specific policies, it is the DAC’s responsibility to identify these policies and procedures in their own written District Policies and Procedures for Statewide Assessments. Refer to Required District Policies and Procedures for Statewide Assessments beginning on page 142 of the Procedures Manual for further information on the types of policies and procedures that need to be developed and shared within the district.
Each district determines how this information will be communicated to staff as appropriate for their role; for example, this may be through a district or school training, or in writing (as an email, handout, etc.), and it must be provided to staff before test administration begins. Documentation of how staff receive this training is commonly missed or not clearly documented by many districts and is a common finding in MDE’s training documentation audits.
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Please share this opportunity with your English language arts, special education, and multilingual learner teachers.
This spring will be the first administration of the Reading MCA-IV and Alternate MCA. All new assessments need to go through a process called “standard setting” before scores can be released. During standard setting, Minnesota educators will work together to make recommendations of what students need to know and be able to do at each performance level and use the Performance Level Descriptors to determine what it means for students to demonstrate proficiency on the Reading strand of the 2020 Minnesota Academic Standards in English Language Arts. There are four performance levels for the new series of assessments: Beginning, Intermediate, Meets, and Advanced. The standard setting committees will make recommendations for the cut scores, which determine the corresponding score at each level. Watch the Overview of the Standard Setting Process for MCA and Alternate MCA video for more information.
MDE is looking for a diverse group of classroom educators representing English language arts education throughout the state. This committee will balance grade-level and content-area knowledge of the 2020 Minnesota English Language Arts Standards, geographic distribution, and the diversity of our student population. Participants will contribute their instructional expertise and knowledge of the standards and collaborate with peers from across Minnesota. Participants will also receive an honorarium and earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs); mileage and hotel expenses will also be reimbursed.
Below are the dates for the two in-person standard setting committees:
- Reading Alternate MCA Standard Setting June 16-18, 2026
- Reading MCA-IV Standard Setting June 22-25, 2026
Applications to participate in the standard setting meetings will be open until Jan. 16. Committee members will be chosen based on grade-level and content-area needs, as well as experience with the 2020 Minnesota Academic Standards in English Language Arts.
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Access to Longitudinal Reports and Historical Student Data in PearsonAccess Next will end on Dec. 31, 2025. Final assessment data for Spring 2025 was not loaded into PearsonAccess Next, and Spring 2026 data will also not be available. As a result, MDE and Pearson have chosen to remove access to all previous years’ Longitudinal Reports and Historical Student Data from the platform. References to these reporting components will be removed from applicable user guides. Please remember that final, official results are provided by MDE through MDE Secure Reports and publicly on the Minnesota Report Card and in Assessment Files.
The Subscore Report is still available. The report includes school-, district-, and state-level subscore data, also known as strand performance levels/content area performance details, for the 2021-25 Reading, Mathematics, and Science MCAs.
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The grade filter in the Science MCA Translated and Glossed Word List spreadsheet on the Minnesota Assessment Hub has been updated to streamline the options available to select and match the other word lists. In addition, the Guidance for Using Reading and Science Translated and Glossed Word Lists on the Hub has been revised to clarify what filter options to select when limiting the list for a grade level for each subject.
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A resource is now available on the District Resources page of the MDE website that outlines the general test administration changes between the Reading MCA-III and the new Reading MCA-IV. DACs can share information from this Comparison of the Reading MCA-III and Reading MCA-IV resource with staff, as needed, as they prepare for the first administration of the Reading MCA-IV this spring. A general overview of the changes to this new series of assessments can be found in Chapter 1 of the Procedures Manual, along with references to detailed information throughout the rest of the Procedures Manual. If there are additional questions about the Reading MCA-IV, please contact mde.testing@state.mn.us.
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On Nov. 17, districts and charter schools received an email from MDE regarding the Assurance, Rationale, and Context (ARC) process. The purpose of the ARC process is to provide a communication tool between Minnesota districts and MDE that assures each district is identifying the most appropriate assessment for each student. Special Education Directors, District Assessment Coordinators, Special Education case managers, and other key district staff should be included in conversations about alternate assessment participation, as reflected by the district’s report, to complete the ARC response. Once the district has prepared to answer the questions, one staff member should submit the district’s response. The ARC survey is due by Dec. 12.
The Alternate Assessment Participation Report has been updated to include 2025 assessment and participation data. This report serves as a starting point for district-level conversations about alternate assessment participation and will help districts complete the ARC survey on an annual basis. The report is available on the MDE Secure Reports webpage. For more information about the contents of this report or how to use the data provided, please refer to the Alternate Assessment Participation District Report User Guide.
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December Q&A (1): Pretest Editing
MDE will host a Q&A session for new and experienced District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) from 2-3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 12. This session will focus on Pretest Editing.
This Q&A session will be hosted on ZoomGov, and advanced registration is required. Register here for December Q&A Session (1). Please note: All participants must register for the event using their email addresses associated with their school, district, or educational agency. 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. Registration for this event will close on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. Registrations made after that time will not be approved.
The prerequisites for this Q&A are:
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Procedures Manual Chapter 4: Universal Supports and Accommodations for Statewide Assessments
- Recorded Pretest Editing Training, posted to the Learning Management System (LMS) (MDE DAC Trainings tag)
MDE collects questions from DACs prior to the event to help prepare and find relevant resources to share. After reviewing the prerequisites, submit questions for the December Q&A Session (1). Q&A sessions will not be recorded nor will CEUs be provided as they are considered additional supports rather than training events.
December Q&A (2): Test Administration Training
MDE will host a Q&A session for new and experienced District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) from 2-3 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16. This session will focus on questions from the Test Administration Training.
This Q&A session will be hosted on ZoomGov, and advanced registration is required. Register here for December Q&A Session (2). Please note: All participants must register for the event using their email addresses associated with their school, district, or educational agency. 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. Registration for this event will close on Monday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m. Registrations made after that time will not be approved.
The prerequisite for the December Q&A Session (2) is completion of the Test Administration Training, either attended virtually or completed in the Learning Management System (LMS). Note: The recorded version of the Test Administration Training will be posted to the LMS Friday, Dec. 12.
MDE collects questions from DACs prior to the event to help prepare and find relevant resources to share. After reviewing the prerequisites, submit questions for the December Q&A Session (2). Q&A sessions will not be recorded nor will CEUs be provided as they are considered additional supports rather than training events.
Pearson Technology Coordinator Training
Pearson Field Engineering will provide the Technology Coordinator Training for District and School Technology Coordinators, as well as interested District Assessment Coordinators (DACs) on Tuesday, Jan. 6 from 1-3:00 p.m. This virtual training covers the following topics:
- TestNav 8 updates, system requirements, configurations, and the installation and management of TestNav applications.
- Technology resources on the Minnesota Assessment Hub and TestNav 8 Online Support page.
- System configurations such as firewalls, content filters, and assistive technologies.
Register for the Technology Coordinator Training. MDE will review and approve all registrations prior to the training. Participants need to register at least 24 hours before the training to be approved. Once approved, participants will receive an email with a link to join the meeting. A meeting ID and passcode will also be provided if joining directly from Zoom.
A recorded version of the training will be posted to the Learning Management System (LMS) on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
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Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
Minnesota Department of Education
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