The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), created in response to
the
Education Reform Act of 1993, is a standards-based testing program.
MCAS has been developed by the
Massachusetts Department of Education to help educators ensure that all
Massachusetts public school students are learning the skills they need to
function in today's world.
MCAS tests measure the performances of students with respect to the
Curriculum Frameworks, the learning standards
that have been adopted by the
Massachusetts Department of Education, in four general knowledge
domains:
In addition to representing diagnostic tools that can be helpful to students,
their parents, and their teachers by identifying the individual learning needs
of students, MCAS tests are consequential. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
has mandated that, beginning in 2003, students are required to achieve mastery
on the English Language Arts and Mathematics portions of the MCAS test in order
to graduate from high school. Thus, it is vitally important that students make
every effort to prepare for the MCAS tests and perform to their best ability
during the testing period.
For further background and overview information on the MCAS testing program from
the Massachusetts Department of Education, click here.
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