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An update from Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
June 17, 2026
Important Dates
July 2: Access embargoed final student results in District and School Student Results (DSR/SSR) files in Secure Reports (excluding Reading MCA and Alt MCA)
Quick Links
As shared in the June 11 Assessment Alert, the 2025-26 Important Dates for Results Release document has been finalized and posted to the Policies and Procedures page of the Minnesota Assessment Hub. This document contains all final assessment and accountability reporting tasks and dates for the WIDA assessments, MCA, and MTAS/Alt MCA. If you cannot see the updated document, please refresh the page and/or clear your cache.
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Final student-level assessment results for WIDA ACCESS, WIDA Alternate ACCESS, and Math and Science MCA and MTAS/Alt MCA will be available in the District and School Student Results (DSR and SSR) files on July 2. The DSR/SSR files contain the student-level data from each assessment, including demographic information, achievement/performance or proficiency level information, and various test results and data, as applicable.
These results will be under embargo until the public release of assessment results in September. During the embargo, districts are encouraged to use these results for curriculum and instructional decision-making purposes, but results under embargo cannot be shared publicly or on social media. Embargoed results can be used to prepare for questions from the media and local stakeholders. Chapter 11 of the Procedures Manual includes more information about the embargo of the results.
Reminder for WIDA Assessment Results: The 2025-26 school year is a transition year for WIDA ACCESS and WIDA ACCESS for Kindergarten. The DSR/SSR files will include the initial proficiency level results that must be used for English learner (EL) status reclassification and exit decisions. Updated proficiency level results, based on new cut scores established through standard setting, will be available later this fall and are intended for future cross-year comparisons. Additional information is available in the April 15 Assessment Update article, “2026 WIDA Assessment Results: Timelines and Considerations,” and the guidance document Using WIDA Assessment Results During the 2026 Transition to New Proficiency Levels, available on the Minnesota WIDA page.
Note: Final Reading MCA and Alternate MCA student-level results will not be included at this time due to additional standard setting steps needed for these new assessments. These DSR/SSR files will be available on Aug. 18. For more details about reading results release, refer to the 2025-26 Important Dates for Results Release document on the Policies and Procedures page of the Minnesota Assessment Hub.
Data Privacy and Sharing Results
The results displayed in the DSR/SSR files contain personally identifiable information (PII). PII includes not only a student’s name or student identifier number but also personal characteristics like unique combinations of demographic information, such as gender, age, and race/ethnicity.
Student-level results containing PII should not be shared publicly at any point as required under Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) regulations. Student-level results should only be shared with those who have a legitimate educational interest or others permitted by the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act or FERPA to access private educational data. Remind building principals and any other staff that have access to assessment data of the policies regarding sharing embargoed data and ensure they understand what it means to abide by the embargo.
Districts and schools may share early or final embargoed assessment results with school officials who are not district or school staff, including school board members and charter school authorizers, if specific requirements are met. For more information, refer to Sharing Students’ Private Information and Results Outside the School and District beginning on page 311 of the Procedures Manual.
Late Returns and Late Student Response Entries
Any late returns (for WIDA assessments) or late student response entries (for Math and Science MCA/MTAS/Alt MCA) that were not available in Test WES during Posttest Editing will not be included in the DSR/SSR files. These results will be added later in the fall and will not be available for the embargoed release or the public release of assessment and accountability results.
Additional Resources
The following resources will be available by the DSR/SSR release date to support districts with using and understanding the results:
- Chapter 11 of the Procedures Manual provides guidelines for using the assessment data and abiding by the embargo.
- The 2025-26 District and School Student Results (DSR and SSR) User Guide will be posted on the Assessment Secure Reports page. It provides information on the content and file format of the DSR and SSR files, as well as how to access them in Secure Reports. Sample assessment results data will be posted in a separate Excel file on the Assessment Secure Reports page.
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MDE will post the New DAC Reporting Training to the Learning Management System (LMS) on July 3 to support new DACs through the reporting stages.
Before watching the training, it is recommended to review Chapter 11 (Statewide Assessment Results) from the Procedures Manual and the Appropriate and Inappropriate Uses of MCA Results and Appropriate and Inappropriate Uses of WIDA ACCESS Results infographics found on the District Resources page of MDE’s website (expand the Test Score Interpretation Resources header).
Note: MDE will not be hosting any Q&A sessions over the summer. Please contact mde.testing@state.mn.us with any questions related to the reporting stages.
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The Division of Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment met with the Local Assessment Advisory Committee (LAAC) on Friday, June 12.
LAAC members reviewed the 2028-29 draft Testing Calendar and provided MDE with feedback and input on a variety of topics including:
- How districts use data to support special education decisions.
- How to best gather feedback from DACs to make informed decisions about the transition to new Pearson systems.
- How to consider and gather input and feedback in the future on aspects of the statewide testing program.
LAAC will resume meeting again in the fall. For more information about LAAC or to apply to serve on the committee, refer to the Statewide Assessment Advisory Groups Overview and the Statewide Assessment Advisory Group Application, which are posted under the Opportunities for Participation expandable header on the Statewide Testing page of the MDE website.
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As MDE or service providers may need to contact districts this summer regarding statewide assessments, please ensure that the DAC contact information is current in the Minnesota Department of Education Organization Reference Glossary (MDE-ORG). If the primary DAC is not available this summer, please add an alternate DAC who will be available.
All contact information in MDE-ORG is updated and maintained by the district’s Site Verification Coordinator (SVC). You can look up the SVC for your district in MDE-ORG. If the SVC has any questions about the process, they can contact mde.school-verify@state.mn.us for support.
Shipping Addresses
All addresses used to ship Individual Student Reports (ISRs) and student results labels (if paper versions were selected) for the MCA and MTAS/Alt MCA will be populated from MDE-ORG. Districts should verify the shipping addresses in MDE-ORG and update as needed as soon as possible. Note: Changes to MDE-ORG do not automatically update the shipping addresses used for WIDA assessments. For questions about shipping from WIDA/DRC, contact WIDA@datarecognitioncorp.com.
- The Assessment Shipping address is a separate field in MDE-ORG that allows districts and schools to indicate a specific address where they would like test materials shipped at both the district and school levels.
- If there is no Assessment Shipping address present in MDE-ORG, the Location - Physical address will be used; if no Location - Physical address exists, the Mailing address will be used (but updates may be required as test materials cannot be shipped to P.O. boxes).
- If the Location - Physical address is the correct address to ship test materials, then a separate Assessment Shipping address does not need to be added for the district and/or each school.
If updates are needed in MDE-ORG, the district’s Site Verification Coordinator must make changes in the MDE District and School Site Verification system.
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MDE Closed for Juneteenth
In observance of Juneteenth, MDE offices will be closed on Friday, June 19. Responses to emails and phone calls will be delayed to Monday, June 22.
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Academic Standards, Instruction and Assessment
Minnesota Department of Education
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