Thank you for joining us for the Alternate MCA 2025 administration
informational meeting.
I'm Stacie Stensrud.
I'm one of the alternate assessment specialist here at MDE.
And as alternate assessment specialist, we work at the MTAS, the ALT MCA,
but we also work on the MCA accommodations and supports.
We're here to give you some information about the testing window this spring and
all the updates that you can expect and I'm going to pass them on my Co worker,
Lauren to give you to get us started on our presentation.
Hi and thank you in advance for taking the time to watch this presentation.
My name is Lauren Walker and I'm an alternate assessment specialist at MDE
like Stacie.
Before we begin, we always connect the work we do in
statewide assessments to the 10 Minnesota commitments to equity.
We prioritize equity by including students with disabilities and statewide
assessments.
We measure what matters by helping schools and districts monitor the
implementation of standards to improve conditions for learning for all students.
Today we will begin with some alternate assessment updates,
most of which will happen for the upcoming Spring 2025 administration,
but also some that will happen in future years.
Next, we will go over some new sample tasks
that are now available in reading and math.
Then we will give more detailed information about the science alternate
MCA that will be operational this spring and finish by providing some assessment
resources.
Let's move into our first topic, alternate assessment updates.
Here is the timeline for when we will roll out the newly redesigned alternate
assessment, the alternate MCA or ALT MCA for short.
The science ALT MCA will be rolled out this spring, followed by reading in 2026,
and then math is anticipated to be rolled out in 2028.
The ALT MCA will replace the MTAS, so MTAS is anticipated to be phased out
completely by 2028.
The MTAS will continue to have a paper based administration mode only,
while the ALT MCA will offer administration modes of online paper and
hybrid, which is a combination of both paper and
online administration.
We will have more details about administration modes in the Science ALT
MCA information section.
Science ALT MCA will be the first alternate assessment to offer multiple
modes of administration.
The field test tasks on the Math and Reading MTAS assessments will continue to
be paper based like the other MTAS tasks.
The ALT MCA tasks are aligned to updated extended benchmarks which are reduced in
depth, breadth and complexity from the general
benchmarks.
The tasks contain 3 items of varying levels of complexity and are associated
with a stimulus.
The complexity levels range from low to high complexity to ensure students of
different abilities can access the content being assessed for the reading
assessment.
The stimulus is a reading passage for science.
It is a phenomenon which is an observable event that we can use our science
knowledge to explain or predict.
For math, it is a scenario which is a situation or
story meant to engage the student.
Here are some MTAS updates to keep in mind.
Math field test tasks have been added to the Math MTAS assessment.
So now the assessment has 15 tasks instead of nine like it has in the past
years.
New math sample tasks have been posted online for grades 4,
6 and 11 and a new Grade 10 reading sample task has also been posted.
MDE has received feedback from test administrators that they would like a
resource to help lay out everything they need to know about preparing for the
alternate assessments.
There is now an MTAS and ALT MCA Test Administration Checklist,
which you will find at the very beginning of the Task Administration Manual.
This document comes with your test materials and can also be accessed online
on Pearson Access.
Next, the number of MTAS tasks has increased
for math, with the addition of field test tasks,
the total number of tasks will now be 15 for Reading, math, and science each.
To allow for the field testing of new tasks based on the number of tasks for
each assessment, the estimated times of administration
have been updated.
Reading and Science are estimated to take 60 to 90 minutes per administration,
while Math is estimated to take 40 to 60 minutes per administration.
Field testing is the process MDE uses to develop and construct tests for future
years.
While these field test tasks in the Reading and Math MTAS do not count
towards a student's score, they are required to be given to every
student.
They are still considered secure content and the same test security procedures
also apply to them as with any other task.
Looking ahead to Spring 2026, there are some changes to the alternate
assessments for you to be aware of.
The Reading MTAS will be replaced with the Reading ALT MCA.
There will be online, hybrid, and paper administration options for this
assessment as well as science.
As noted before, hybrid administration is any mix of using
online and paper test materials.
There will be an online form demo in the Student Readiness Tools by fall of 2025
that includes reading sample items for district staff to use to make assessment
decisions for students.
This will be interactive for teachers, parents,
and students to try out the format along with the embedded tools in the assessment.
We will share later in the presentation how you can access this online SRT for
the Science Alt MCA.
As in previous years, the Learner Characteristics Inventory or
LCI needs to be completed for each student before completing an alternate
assessment.
MTAS scores for a student cannot be entered until the LCI data has been
entered.
LC is must be filed in a secure location for one year following test
administration.
Beginning this year, districts have a little more time to
complete the LCI.
Instead of one week before the testing window opens,
they have up to two weeks before the testing window opens to enter LCI data.
There is also a fillable form available so that it can be it can be saved
electronically once it has been completed.
Also, based on feedback from the field, the LCI has been revised to have fewer
questions and updated descriptions that should be easier to understand.
Now we will look at the Math sample task.
The Alt MCA sample tasks are available on the Student Readiness page.
There are science sample tasks for grade 5, 8 and high school.
For reading, there are sample tasks for grades 4,
6 and 10 and for math these are available for grades 4, 6 and 11.
We will be showing you one of the math and reading sample tasks in the following
slides in preparation for the Alt MCA.
The task format for some of the math tasks is different,
as well as how test administrators indicate student responses.
Each task is made-up of a scenario and three items.
Here is a math sample task starting with a scenario.
The scenario is related to voting for a class fundraiser.
The extended benchmark that this Alt MCA math sample task is aligned to is compare
and explain data trends, observed pictographs and bar graphs,
and consider cultural perspectives.
Test administrators would present the scenario by reading the text while
showing the student the scenario located in the passages and scenarios book.
They are able to point to any of the images as they present the scenario or
items.
The scenario is aligned with three items of varying complexity levels that we will
look at next.
Each item is aligned to an access point which breaks down the extended benchmark
into specific skills that the item is targeting to assess.
This is a low complexity item which is referred to as Access Point A and is
listed in the box.
The student will compare data on a bar graph or pictograph depicting up to three
categories.
Access Point A items are image based and contain reduced language,
so students at this level are able to access the assessment and show their
knowledge even if they cannot meet the full extended benchmark.
When administering the item test administrators would have the scenario
and the item in front of the student.
The administrator would read the text and point to the answer options which are
embedded on the presentation page.
The student would say point or in other ways show their answer choice.
This is a big area of change for the Alt MCA that perforated response option cards
do not automatically come with the assessment.
We do have response option cards available to order for students that need
this response support when a subject changes to the Alt MCA.
These will be available for Science this spring.
The test administrator would then record the student's response as AB or no
response.
This is another change in format of the Alt MCA that the test administrator does
not score items but instead records student responses.
Here is the mid level complexity item aligned to access point B in the box.
The student will compare data on a bar graph or pictograph depicting up to four
categories.
These items are aimed at assessing deeper knowledge of the extended benchmark than
access point A items, but also address only a portion of the
benchmark.
These items are more complex in language but are still image based in either the
question or answer options.
The presentation would be the same as the low complexity item except the answer
options include three answer choices with answer option C and of course no response.
The high complexity item is aligned to access Point C and is the most complex.
This item type is fully aligned with the extended benchmark.
These items have increased language and are more text based.
Again, presenting the item would be done in the
same way as the previous items as well as recording the students response.
The required MTAS and Alt MCA trainings that are posted on Pearson Access.
Next in the Learning Pathways address and show the Alt MCA items and point out the
differences in administration.
As with the other access points, Access Point C items have a no response
answer choice for students who not give a response with their communication mode,
are distracted, or give an unrelated response such as I
Want Juice.
Best practice in these situations is to refocus the student on the item and
present the item again.
If a student is still not able to communicate a response,
then the test test administrator could respond could record the student's
response as no response.
Presenting an item again is only allowed if a student has not given a response.
Guessing an answer is allowed.
Now let's look at a reading sample task.
We will explain the differences in the reading task and highlight how the items
align with the extended benchmark and access points.
Each reading task consists of a reading passage.
Here, the passage is called the Farmers Market
and is an informational text.
The extended benchmark that this Alt MCA reading sample task is aligned to is
summarize text based on textual evidence to support the analysis of what a text
says.
The basis of how the passage and items are aligned is very similar to the math
task we just looked at.
One difference is that there are three tasks aligned to a passage,
which results in nine items total being associated with each passage instead of
just three.
On the Reading MTAS, there will be two passages with a total
of 18 items.
In the Reading Field test portion this spring,
we are only showing you one task with three items that are associated with this
passage, but the Grade 6 sample task you can find
online contains 9 items associated with this passage.
The passages are based on text supported by images.
The passages are located in the Passages and Scenarios book.
This allows for showing of text and images related to items as you work
through the tasks with students.
Some items may refer back to a paragraph, and by having the passage in a separate
book, students are able to have the referenced
paragraph visible when they answer the associated item.
Test administrators can read to the student, read with the student,
or have students read independently depending on what they think is best for
the student.
Test administrators will record the student's access mode to the passages on
the data collection form the same way that would be done for M task passages.
The passages are designed to be read one time only to the student,
unless a student requests that the passage or paragraph be reread,
there is an item associated with a paragraph,
or the test administrator feels that rereading is necessary.
Here is the last paragraph of the sample passage.
Now we will move on to the items.
This is the low level complexity item access point A.
The passage would be visible to the student in the separate Passages and
Scenarios book while the item is presented.
The administration of the item would be the same as the science items.
Please note that when reading the text to the student, any labels should be read.
The Test Administrator would read the answer options as A Computer B food while
pointing to each image.
If there are no labels with the images of the answer options,
test administrator should read the options as their associated letters.
Only A, B.
This is the mid level complexity item access point B.
This is an example of an item that is associated with a referenced paragraph or
this type of item.
The Test Administrator would be directed to turn to the referenced paragraph in
the Passages and Scenarios book, read the paragraph to the student,
and then present the item.
This way, the student is presented the information
from the paragraph right before they answer the item.
Here, the test administrator would be
instructed to present Paragraph 4 again to the student before they complete the
item.
This is the high level complexity item.
The item would be administered the same way that we have shown for the other
items.
So now we're going to look at our science alt and C information.
So this is a high school sample task for science.
And as Lauren explained, we always have a stimulus,
which for science is a phenomenon.
And on the left hand side of the page, you can see that is the phenomenon.
On the right hand side of the slide, there are the three different levels of
complexity, just like we had for reading and math.
We're going to look at these in detail and I'll describe the difference.
So our phenomenon is based on a mother dog and her puppies having various traits.
The extended benchmark that this task is aligned to is that students would
recognize that given populations will have varied traits and predict which
traits will most likely occur in a given population.
Our low complexity item, or access point A is aligned to that.
Students will identify traits that vary within a population.
Again this is very image based and you would read all of the information to
students.
These answer options have no labels so you,
the administrator would read them as A, B while pointing to the images.
A mid level complexity item still always has a image or a graphic in it and in
this case, it is a table and that table is provided
because of this access point.
Students are asked to use data to identify the most common trait in a given
population.
So we need to provide them with more information and the data for them to meet
this access point.
And with our high level complexity or Access Point C item,
you can see now we have additional information which sometimes access Point
C will have, and sometimes it doesn't.
But with this item, they're using data again.
And now they're going to predict which traits will most likely occur in
offspring of a given set of parents.
You can see that we have full sentences for answer options now,
and the text is a lot higher with these items.
This is what the layout for a student looks like,
whether they're taking it online or paper, it will look the same.
And we'll talk about the materials in just a minute,
so you'll understand how those different options will work because we do have
different modes of administration for the Science Alt MCA.
And so you really can see that students really need to see the phenomenon in
order to answer the items.
And this item is a really good example of that.
If we didn't see the picture of the mother,
it'd be really hard to know for students to answer what puppy looks most like its
mother here because of the level of Access Point A.
We want to give this level of support to students to be able to answer these items.
The Science Alt MCA is available to administer to students in three different
modes of online, paper and hybrid.
The online mode would be where the student interacts either more
independently or with test administrator guiding that interactions and supporting
them more.
So an independent administration isn't going to be just solely the student
working through the online test form on their own.
The Test Administrator will still be sitting next to them helping them
navigate.
Maybe helping them use tools, could be helping them focus on where to
input their student responses.
The Test Administrator guiding the interactions and supports would be more
hands on where the Test Administrator is navigating through the assessment.
A student might be pointing to options, but they might be actually entering the
student answer options.
So it can be very, varied depending on the student's ability
and how familiar they are with using the technology they're using.
All student responses, though, would be entered online in the test net
form, either by the Test Administrator or the
student.
For paper administration, that is going to be where the Test
Administrator is only presenting materials in paper format and then
student responses are usually documented on the data collection form only for
paper administrations.
And then at a later time, they're entered online in the TestNAV
form by the Test Administrator.
A hybrid is where you can use both paper test materials and online,
and it's any combination of those.
We'll look at what the different options are on the next slide,
but for this option, student responses are either entered
online either by the Test Administrator or the student,
depending on what materials you're using.
We're going to look at some examples, and these are just a few.
This is really wide open.
Hybrid is really meant to be able to support students based on the way that
they typically have their instruction and the way that they communicate their
responses.
So one scenario could be where the Test Administrator presents and reads the
phenomenon and items from a device, showing it on the online test form,
and then the student uses paper, a presentation page to actually indicate
the response to a Test Administrator.
Maybe they do best by circling, so they're going to circle the answers
right in the presentation pages.
The next scenario is kind of flipped where the Test Administrator is using the
phenomenon and items with paper materials to present them and the student responds
on a device, maybe like a tablet, to be able to touch and show their
answers.
Another option could be where a student begins using that online test form
because the IEP team discussed this at their IEP team meeting for the student
and decided that online would be the best way for the student to engage in the test.
But as the Test Administrator's giving the online assessment,
they're really noticing that this student's not able to communicate their
responses, they're not able to engage.
It's just not the best mode of administration for that student.
So in this case, the Test Administrator decides after
however many items they've given, for the next item they're going to switch
and use paper only because the student really seems like that would be a better
fit for the student.
And so that's OK to switch administration modes.
You can do that anytime during the test.
You can switch between administration modes because we want this to be what
fits best for the student.
And so if you're seeing something that you thought was going to work because
this is a brand new assessment,
We can practice with some tools that I'll show you a little later.
But we really don't know sometimes how a student's going to do with the mode that
we chose.
And so we want to keep this based on student needs.
So it's very flexible.
It's just that once you have administered an item in a mode, we can never,
if a student has given a response, we can't re administer that item.
So you would have to start with the new mode with the next item that has not been
answered by the student.
So if you're trying to decide how we're going to figure out what best mode fits a
student.
So at your IP team meetings, these are some things you can think of.
There's two big parts to focus on.
How does the student receive their instruction daily and how do they
communicate their responses?
So if a student uses online for most of their instruction and they can
communicate their responses in a technology based format,
then you would probably want to use online.
If they use only paper materials for most of their daily instruction and that's the
best way for them to communicate their responses, you'd want to use paper.
If a student uses a combination of paper and online or technology based materials
for either their presentation of instruction materials or their responses,
then you'd probably want to use a hybrid.
So you can use these questions and talk through them with your IEP team and where
you kind of have the most yeses, whatever column,
That's probably what would fit your student the best,
but it's really up to IEP teams as to what to pick.
So the Alt MCA Student Readiness Tool or Alt SRT is where you can try out all of
the online tools and look at the paper materials.
In this image, you can see the image of the ALT SRT.
When you're in the online SRT, you'll be able to select a video that you
can watch that's only 7 minutes long.
It gives you all of the background and all of the information about the online
embedded tools, shows you how to use them and examples of
it.
It also shows you all the navigation in the test form.
Once you've watched the video, then you can select the blue online form
below it and that will take you into the online TestNAV form that we have in the
SRT.
There are two tasks that each have three items in them of science content that are
at 5th grade.
You can use those for lots of different purposes,
which we'll talk about on the next slide.
So some of the reasons you might want to use the student readiness tools for the
online, it can be for Test Administrators to make
decisions for students or your whole IEP team could look at this together during
an IEP team meeting so that parents and everyone on the team can see what the
online form looks like and can help you decide what mode of administration would
be best for that student.
You also can prepare as a Test Administrator to give online and hybrid
administrations so that you're able to navigate through the test form smoothly
and your administration can go very well for you and the student.
It's also a place that students are to be able to interact with that online form.
Especially for our students taking alternate assessment,
they need repetition, especially of the format that they're
going to view things in and interact with.
So if you can find time to practice that, the student will be able to not be
surprised by what the format and things look like and they'll be able to interact
much better with the test form.
The Paper SRTs can be used for many of the same reasons.
The only additional one is that you could use it to plan for what accommodations
you need to make to those paper materials and also what kind of accommodations you
might need to do to them.
So the online SRT video and test form that we just talked about in the last
slide can be accessed by this path that's shown on the screen.
When you get to this site, which is on PearsonAccess Next,
you'll be able to scroll down towards the bottom of the page and you will notice
that where this blue bar is, this would be the where the blue box
outlines that green bar.
You can see the online Alt MCA student readings tools.
That's where you want to select that bar to be able to get to the online SRT video
and that online test form.
So to access the Paper SRTS, you actually can find them on the same
PearsonAccess Next link as you did the online.
You're just going to look at that Gray bar below the online tools.
And then when you select that, these are the individual documents that
you'll be able to download.
They're in a PDF form and you can either view them electronically or you can print
them out to see them in person or to practice with students.
So now we're going to switch gears and we're going to look at the Science Alt
MCA materials.
And so there's one big question you need to think about with your IEP team.
Is this a student who uses any type of assistive technology that interacts with
the test form?
If they do use something like a screen reader or braille device,
switches that might interact with it or possibly like a head mouse.
Those are things where you would want to make sure that you communicate to your
district assessment coordinator that you need to have an assistive technology form
assigned to that student.
And we'll talk more a little later about what those exactly are and what code you
would need to let them know about.
But you need to let them know that they need that online form assigned to your
student.
All other students will be able to take the Science Alt MCA online and paper kit
of the standard or main form, and that includes an online test form.
You get paper materials and the task administration manual.
So regardless of whether you're using an assistive technology forms kit or the
main kit, you're going to get all the materials you
need, whether you're going to do an online,
a paper, or a hybrid administration.
There are some additional orders of materials that we have that are available
for the Science Alt MCA.
We now have Braille test materials, which is the first time we've had that
for our alternate assessment.
And so we'll talk in a minute what's included in that kit or in those
materials.
We also have visual descriptions that are really Alt Text that's in a script form
to provide auditory descriptions of all the images that are in the assessment.
So this could be for students that maybe can't read Braille or they maybe just
have low vision but still need those images described to them.
So that can be ordered separately.
There's also response option cards, which are the cards that are perforated
and need to be torn apart so that students can pick up an answer option.
We found that those are really best for certain students.
And so those are now going to be available in additional orders,
but won't be sent automatically with the main kit.
Some other students that might use those response option cards are students that
maybe have fine motor difficulties and maybe need to have that response option
card affixed to like a wood block so they have something bigger to hold when they
pick it up.
They also could be used to affix to an eye gaze board.
So we talked about what kits that are available to order earlier.
We're going to talk about the paper test materials that come whether you order
that standard online form or an AT form.
And so there's a Task Administration Manual which has a Data Collection Form
included in it that is perforated and can be taken out.
And that would only be used if you're doing a paper only administration.
In that Task Administration Manual, you're going to find all of the details
about giving the administration.
You'll find your scripts.
So it tells you what you can say, what you can do,
and provide you with all your guidance.
So regardless of what type of mode of administration you're doing,
you're going to want to have that Task Administration Manual right there because
that's your guide as a Test Administrator to help you walk through administrating
assessment.
There's also going to be that Phenomena Book that has the phenomena in it that
will be presented to students if you're using paper and the presentation page
that has the answer options and the items and the questions in it.
So there'll be two different books you'll be showing to students and then a Task
Administration Manual that you'll be looking at depending on the mode you
choose.
in the Braille test materials, it's going to come in the UEB Math
science format.
You'll get the same materials.
The big difference is that the Phenomena Book and the Presentation Pages will be
Brailled for the student.
The visual descriptions will come automatically, which is again,
that alt text script of all of the images.
They'll be tactile graphics for some of the items,
and there will also be response option cards that are Brailled for the student.
So we talked about many of these different materials,
but we're just going to go into a little bit more detail.
So the Task Administration Manual, again, is your guide.
The Phenomena Book would be presented to the student first,
if you're doing paper or a hybrid, and then you would kind of slide it up or
to the side so that students can always see it when you present the items out of
the Presentation Pages.
And then the Data Collection Form again would be used only for a paper
administration to record those student responses so that the test administrator
can then enter them online at a later time.
And the Response Option Cards are something that you may have ordered,
to provide support for this student and those would be something you'd want to
prepare ahead of time.
The Alt MCA online tools,
This is a list of all of them.
When you watch that 7 minute video we talked about in the SRT,
it will go through and show you how all of these work and then navigation to make
them work.
I'm going to highlight just a couple of them that have a few different things you
might want to think about for certain students.
The answer masking is one where it will cover up all of the answer options and
you can select them one at a time to be shown to the student.
So if you're a student that's overwhelmed by too much visual input that might be a
support you might want to think about or try it.
There's also a line reader mask that is a gray box that will show up on the screen.
It can be adjusted to cover as much of the screen as you want to at a time,
and then there's a window that you can adjust the size of,
that will only show students a portion of what's on the screen at a time and you
can select how to do that.
So this is again, another good support for students who
maybe have visual input difficulties where they may be overwhelmed by too much
input at a time.
or if they're very impulsive to just touch the answer option.
This is a way that you can kind of guide what they're seeing at a time and focus
their attention.
The zoom has something that we want to make sure you're aware of.
It technically can go up to 500%, but if you use it past 120%,
it isn't always going to function the way that you want it to.
It might change the way TestNAV appears on your display.
So if you're using a standard size display,
you really want to probably you really want to check that out and see how it
works.
If you're trying to use a higher magnification or if you need to go over
that 120%, we suggest you find a larger display for
the student. Whether that's a bigger monitor,
it's maybe a smart board, whatever you can use,
you'd want to try out your device and make sure you can get that display hooked
up to your device so that you can actually project it on that other display.
But if you do that, check it out and see what it looks like.
It also can make some of the tools more difficult to use.
So if you're going to go higher magnification,
make sure you've really checked those out first.
The other thing is that text-to-speech is available and there is one option where
you can just have it automatically selected to read on each page.
We suggest that you do not use that option because what will happen is it's
going to read the phenomenon with every single item,
every time you move to a new item.
And so that's not the way administration works.
We would only reread the phenomenon if a student really needs that support.
So it's one of those little glitches in our TestNAV that we're hoping to improve
on in the future.
But for right now, the Click to listen is the best option so
that you can select the text that you would want the student to hear for the
text to speech.
So we want to make you aware of a situation that with our TestNAV form
could be something that you need to contact MDE about.
So if a student or test administrator selects an answer option that of like A,
B or C, the answer option can be changed to a
different answer, but it can't be deselected.
And the only time that this is a problem is if it's accidentally selected where
there's an answer option of A, B or C chosen and the student actually
gives no response to that item.
So the TA and the test administrator in this situation would record that as a no
response in the online form.
But the test now recognizes the answer option and not the no response.
So if this happens, make sure you stop testing and then
contact MDE for further directions.
So after you've given you've given the student all of the items or entered their
responses into the TestNAV form, there's going to be three test
administrator survey questions and the first one is about administration mode.
This is the only place we're going to ask you to let us know what was used to
administer the assessment to the student for the majority of the items.
So was it online with Test Administrator support, online more independently,
paper or hybrid?
And the reason we're asking is just for data for us to use in our guidance to
help us plan for the future and to just help make sure that we are doing the best
we can with the assessment.
The second question will be about object used.
So if you used any manipulatives or objects when you're administering the
test to that student, please select the option that works with
that of yes or no.
And then the last question will be an open-ended question.
Where we're just asking for feedback.
So if you have anything positive that you want to tell us works really well for the
student.
If there's anything that you found, whether it was the online,
the paper materials, the training, anything related to the Science,
Alternate MCA, if you can give us feedback,
that will help us improve the experience for all Test Administrators and students.
And we can do upgrades to things as we go in our trainings, in the TestNAV format,
things like that.
We can try to do make the assessment the best we can.
So we appreciate your input.
So now we're going to talk about those Assistive Technology forms in more detail.
So again, these are separate TestNAV forms or
they're versions of that online test form.
They'll have the same content, they'll just have different security that
will allow assistive technology devices or programs to interact directly with the
test in order to help those students use the AT that they usually would use in
their instruction.
So these are available actually for Science MCA and Science Alt MCA.
There's two different forms.
There's a screen reader form which is used with screen readers or Braille
devices.
And then there's a non screen reader form that's used for any other type of
assistive technology, which could be a head mouse,
it could be switches.
Codes are needed for MCA and Alt MCA in both to assign that correct form.
Otherwise students will get assigned the main form and then they won't be able to
use their assistive technology.
So it's important that you tell your District Assessment Coordinator or School
Coordinator which form, either it's screen reader or non screen
reader form, if a student needs an assistive
technology form and let them know that so they can put the codes in.
For Alt MCA, this is the only reason they have to put
a code in to have an accommodation code for Alt MCA.
So they do need to be assigned that they're taking the Alt MCA.
But as far as codes go, assistive technology is the only one that
you would need to have your District Assessment Coordinator input for you.
So if you're going to use an assistive technology form,
you need to first make sure that the students assistive technology device or
program is going to work with the TestNAV form.
So we have a specific form that is in the training center.
You need to let your District Assessment Coordinator know that you need to have a
testing ticket made to be able to use this checker form.
And so once you get the testing ticket, you're going to log in with that
information and then you'll be able to use the assistive technology device and
see how it actually interacts.
So you're going to check and make sure it works,
but then you also want to practice with students with their device in that
TestNAV form with the SRT items that we talked about earlier.
So there's a total of 2 tasks or six items that are in there for you to
interact with the student and that way they can practice how the navigation
works, how their device works with that TestNAV
form because it could be a little different functionality than what they're
used to.
You also are going to need to have a lot of collaboration probably with your
District Assessment Coordinator, your Technology Coordinator,
and maybe your Assistive Technology Coordinator to be able to be prepared and
to problem solve any problems that come along.
There's also a Guidelines for Using Assistive Technology Online Forms,
that is very helpful that you'll want to access.
And I'll show you how to do that in a minute because it gives you guidelines
and directions of how to actually engage with that checker form for the assistive
technology.
So this is where on PearsonAccess Next, you're going to be able to find that
online form that'll take you to the training center.
So this is a link to go to the training center from this page this is where your
District Assessment Coordinator would need to go to create that testing ticket.
But this is also where the g=Guidelines for Assistive Technology Online Form is,
that should be posted as of now instead of coming soon.
But it just was posted and there's a link here that you can use in the PDF that'll
be posted on the Testing 123 webpage that you can access to find these links.
So it's really important that if you have questions, you contact mde.testing@state.
mn.us. E-mail them and you can ask any of those
questions you need.
Also, if you can let us know if there's any
feedback you have for us.
It's really important for us to be able to know what devices work and which do
not.
Please reach out to us and ask any of those questions or let us know any
hurdles you're running into.
Also, there are some situations where you do
need to request approval for the assistive technology and that's true for
any student owned devices that are going to be used with an assistive technology
form.
If it's something that was bought by the district or the school for the student,
that's considered a district owned device and that doesn't need approval.
But if it's an actual student owned device, it will need to have approval.
And I will show you on the next slide what that approval process is.
So we developed a new Approved Accommodation Procedure and this is used
for any accommodations that aren't specifically addressed in the procedure
manual, whether that's for MCA or Alt MCA.
It's also for again any student owned devices.
Those would be things that you need to make sure that you have approved.
So if you have a question and you're not sure if you need an approval or not,
all you need to do is e-mail mde.testing.
They will send out this Microsoft form survey type of thing for you to fill out.
That includes the students, MARRSS number, the grade, school,
what their accommodation is in their IEP, what accommodation you're requesting and
make sure you're specific about what you're asking for and what you're going
to use it for so that we can have enough information to then get you an answer
really quickly.
Make sure you don't put anything like names,
initials and birth dates into that online form.
We want to make sure all we need is the MARSS number to be able to connect that
with the student.
So one other thing that we have new that's really an accommodation for the
Alt MCA is an Early Stopping Rule.
This is for a very small percentage of students who would take the alternate
assessment and they're students who really have no observable way to
communicate the responses for an assessment.
So they communicate to us in lots of ways, but it's not a way that they may be able
to point to something or pick up something where you are as an
administrator, are going to know what the response was.
So for this small percentage of students, what you would do is you would give the
first item.
If a student doesn't give a response, you'd want to focus their attention again
on the item, represent it.
If they again don't give a response, you would mark that as a no response or
NR and then you would give the next item.
You would do that for the first 3 items on the test and if you have an NR or no
response for those first three items, you would stop testing.
You would then decide do you continue testing after just a break and continue
on that same day or do you test on a different day.
And that's really up to you and knowing your student.
So after you take a break from testing and you decide to start testing again,
you would start with that second task or the second three items.
You would administer those three items, and then if you still had no response for
those, you would quit administering the test.
You would go to those Test Survey Questions at the end,
answer those that we ask of you to answer, and then you'd submit the test.
It's important that you only do the first six items because there is an algorithm
in the Test NAV that will then mark this as a student who's having the early
stopping rule implemented for them.
And so you don't need to do anything else.
If you happen to go beyond six items and you did want to use that early stopping
rule, you would need to make sure that you
contact MDE.
And so use of this early stopping rule does result in a complete test.
So it counts for participation for the student, for your district.
And so if there are students that maybe in the past,
because with the MTAS you had to give the entire assessment and that was just
really difficult for a student that would maybe have this type of communication.
And so because the Alt MCA has those Access Point A or low complexity items,
there may be a way that student could engage now and maybe their parent opted
them out or before.
But for this one, we really encourage you to talk to
families about that.
And hopefully they would let their child have a chance to try this at least once
or twice and see how they did.
Because if they're a student that has this type of communication,
they would only have to do those first six items.
This can't be used for students who are refusing items due to behavior or due to
them just not knowing the knowledge or other reasons they may not engage with it,
such as echolalia, things like that and result in a non
response.
It's really for students who just really can't give you a response.
So it's up to test administrators what that looks like.
And so we do give some more guidance in the Task Administration Manual about what
students who have this type of communication, what that looks like.
So please refer to that.
So we really welcome your questions.
On the last slide, we will have our e-mail,
but Lauren and I have the shared e-mail that is alt.assessment.mde@state.mn.
us and you can e-mail any questions or feedback to that shared inbox and we will
try to e-mail you back with your with the answer to your question.
Now I'd like to finish up with sharing some assessment resources and upcoming
opportunities.
So to ensure that you get the materials that you need for your students,
it's important to communicate that information to your District Assessment
Coordinator.
And so if there are any materials that you need for the Alternate MCA,
there is an additional material orders window that opens up on February 18th and
goes through April 29th at noon.
This is also the time that you want to order any of those additional materials
like the Braille materials for Alternate MCA, the visual descriptions,
or those response option cards.
You also want to ensure that your District assessment Coordinator has
assigned the Science Alt MCA or the MTAS to your students that need to take that
assessment.
And if there's anything that you need for the MCA for accommodations or universal
supports, this is also the time frame that you'd
want to make sure you're thinking about to make sure that everything is ready
with codes for students taking the MCA.
We wanted to let you know that we did do a more in depth meeting about Science Alt
MCA information at some kick off meetings that we did this fall.
We went in person to Bemidji, Mankato and the Metro.
And then we also had an online virtual option.
We have recorded that session.
If you'd like to know more about the modes and materials and things that we
talked about today that relate just to the Science Alt MCA,
there's a recording up on the Testing 123 page and on the handout,
that is linked with this document, you'll be able to find that information
This is an example of the Alternate Assessment Chat and Connect series.
This one was one that happened on the 21st,
but the topics give you a little bit of an idea.
We usually have some topics to share that Lauren and I have prepared slides for,
but we always start with your questions and feedback.
So this is the place, that's very informal.
You get a chance to talk with Lauren and I and sometimes we have some other MDE
staff join us.
Depending on the topic. You can network with other districts.
It happens every third Tuesday of the month from October through May from 4:00
to 5:00 PM.
It's all virtual and you can register at the link in the handout.
And once you register, you're registered for all of the chat and
connects for that year.
We do have universal supports and accommodations resources.
These came out about two years ago.
And so we have a Guidance for Uuniversal Supports and Accommodations that walks
you through all of the important details.
But there's also an infographic, and this is more for MCA,
but there's also a lot of these things are available or things to think about
for Alternate MCA, especially the online when you're talking
about the things that are embedded in the test, not everything's the same,
but it gives you a place to look at.
So if you find something on this list that you think might be good at an IEP
meeting, that you're discussing options for
students, for supports and accommodations, then it's a great place to go look at the
guidance document,
Look that up, check to see if the description fits what
you thought the accommodation or support was,
who the students are that this really is a good option for.
And the other guidance around administration and anything you need to
think about.
There's a QR code to access this or there's also the path right here and
there'll be a link in the resources last slide we have in that handout.
Another thing that we updated this year was the Decision Making Process for
Minnesota Alternate Assessments.
So that Decision Making Tool and Eligibility Requirements was updated and
we have a new flow chart.
So if you're using the old one, make sure your district updates to this,
The context of it did not change, we just brought out a little bit more
clarity and we have a definition now of students with significant cognitive
disabilities.
So hopefully it's a little clearer for your IEP teams to decide who is able to
take the alternative assessments.
And then last thing is we always have Educator Review Committees and this is a
flyer for that.
The QR code or the path is here.
There's also a link in the handout.
Lots of great reasons to join us for a review committee.
We have two different types.
One is a review committee that looks at items.
And so these are items that we have been developing like for this summer.
We're we're in the process right now of developing those items with Pearson.
We have a committee of teachers that looks at them during this Educator Review
Committee and tells us changes that should be made to the passages for
reading, for the phenomenon, for the items, for the scenarios,
for math.
They also help us decide like are the graphics,
the images fit and are supportive for students and clear enough.
Is the language OK?
Is there a different way to access it or give more support to students?
So you get teachers get lots of input into what the items actually end up
looking at.
So we take that input and then we again revise some of the items if needed before
we actually put them on the field test for the next spring.
So the items that you look at this summer of 25 will be on the spring 26
assessments.
And then the other committee is the Data Review Committee.
And those are teachers that come and join us to look at any of the field test items
that were given in spring of 25.
This summer they will look at those and they will look at the data for how
students answered and see if it's the way we would expect students to answer,
especially when we talk about those low, middle and high complexity items.
Did the students we would expect to answer those correctly,
answer them correctly?
We do not get a chance to revise any items at this point,
but it's the teachers in this group that get to help recommend whether the items
should be made available for the operational bank of items to go on a
future test.
And some of the benefits are that you get to network with other teachers.
You learn a lot more about assessment and how things are developed,
more about the extended benchmarks and access points.
You are also paid an honorarium or if you're teaching,
you get substitute reimbursement.
But all of our committees happen in the summer.
So typically people are paid the honorarium because they're not actively
teaching then.
And you also get to continuing education units for your time that's spent with us.
Most of our committees are a day and 1/2 and they're all virtual except,
any of our review committees like this are.
This last slide is just to let you know some of the links to some of the
resources we talked about and so that you can find those in the handout.
Lauren, I just want to really thank you for
taking the time to watch this video. This is our contact information,
our e-mail, and the phone number that rings right to
my phone.
So if you ever have any questions or feedback or things that you'd like to
know, please reach out to us.
And again, thank you and we hope you have a great
testing season.