Update on MCAS 2.0: May Board of Ed meeting

The backup is here
Sagan: will do as a review of the assessment committee meeting
"very interesting time"
coming to the end of statewide testing this year and we just got the deadline for the RFP for the next test
on schedule, but it's a very aggressive one
"fewer issues this year than last year" with online testing
also had fewer schools taking it online this year than last year
any change in test refusal? No change
still appears to be a very small number
70% PARCC 30% MCAS
"won't be a state number" as a one time thing
"nothing we can do about it"
Two bids for next text: one from AIR, one from Measured Progress
update of curriculum frameworks : 300 applicants to be on the committee
seems to be going extremely well
"how do we manage the level in the next generation test?"
will hear what you're changing, what you're not changing
district technology preparedness
too early to be alarmed at responses to E-rate (MA districts have requested a total of $48.6M)
Sagan: need to think of summer schedule

Wulfson: would be remiss if didn't express appreciation to educators across the state in working through test and standards
budget for assessment: Legislature level funded
"is not going to be sufficient to do everything we want it to do in a high quality way"
wait until after vendor selection and come up with a hard contract

Sagan: parallel negotiation with PARCC regarding rights
Stewart: intellectual property component (see here for why this is relevant)
Commissioner has said it will allow us to retain control over material
Wulfson passes to someone else...intellectual property
exist right now collectively among the member states in the consortium
has been established through the life of the consortium
there are layers to it: materials that were developed through Race to the Top funding: those questions will be available and available publicly
some questions developed with each state's contract with Pearson
"it would be difficult for states to individually police questions"
as we move out of consortium this will change
need to develop a licensing agreement
will be buying content from PARCC; want to be sure that we are developing questions
"a little nuanced"
Wulfson: use of intellectual property, and logistical use
costs associated with all of that as well
Stewart: I understood that it was phasing out
Wulfson: PARCC consortium continues to exist, there are member states who want to be full-fledged members who want to offer full test
separately, states are discussing what kind of governance they want to have going forward
and how will they deal with affiliated members like us who may not want to take the full test
PARCC, Inc: serves as project manager: each state has a contract with PARCC, Inc
both contracts will be expiring the end of this testing cycle
will have a direct relationship with the PARCC vendor contractor
will be subsumed in the licensing agreement that all affiliated states will negotiate
Stewart: state data privacy : anything changing?
anything state can do to help districts with this?
Chester: we insist on industry standards
provide technical assistance and standards to districts
districts ultimately house a lot of data
Wulfson: section on student data privacy in last week's Commissioner's update
Sagan: industry standard isn't always good enough in this day and age
"let's come back to this"
Sagan now polling Board on how they want to handle this over the summer
Chester suggests an assessment subcommittee this summer
Chester "confident" we'll be able to have test ready for next year