Dear Families,
The MCAS, or Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests are coming up in April and May. While these measures are
only one measure of progress for 3rd-5th grade students, the MCAS is also a key accountability measure for the school as a whole.
In fact, you will soon see from me our school’s “Report Card” from the state--a large information set that gives you achievement data for our school as a whole as well as subgroups. Much of the information shared is schoolwide MCAS data.
We want to capture a learner’s best thinking so that a score best reflects what a student knows, and we also want to get an accurate sense of schoolwide areas of strength, areas for focused improvement and we also want to track student growth over time to ensure our instructional approaches are effective.
MCAS results do not determine student grades, or grade level promotion at our school. However, the stakes do get higher for students as they get into high school. For these reasons, we do want to give MCAS our best effort and prepare students for this type of test.
There will be two testing sessions each in English Language Arts and Math for grades 3, 4 and 5. In addition, 5th grade students take a two-session Science/Technology/Engineering assessment. Each session is intended to last about an hour, but all tests are untimed and students can take as much time as they need on the day of the test. We try really hard to keep a low-pressure, relaxed and calm atmosphere on testing days.
Feel free to talk to your child's teacher about the MCAS if you have questions. The MCAS is a measure of all of a student’s work over their schooling, so it’s a hard test to “cram” for. The best preparation for students is to give their schoolwork and homework their best effort. At home, read and discuss books together, and work on math fact fluency (flashcards are great!) in addition to any math and reading homework that teachers send home.
The ELA MCAS tests at Baldwin are in early April (ELA) and May (Math/Science). All dates are on the
Baldwin Community Calendar. We will send more specific info as we get closer to the test.
Once again, please let us know if you have any questions and if you’d like to learn more or find sample test questions, you can also check out the information the state provides on their
website.
My Best,
Heidi