The Research and Assessment division provides information and assistance to District Assessment Coordinators (DACs), the school district's main contact for the administration of state assessments. Documents in this section include testing calendars, general policies and procedures, and information to help DACs edit and use test data. Additional resources including Achievement level descriptors, item samplers, information on registering for advisory panels and test specifications are available in the Testing Resources section under Educator Excellence; see MDE related resources for the link. 

Communication
Research and Assessment regularly communicates with DACs and other interested district staff through a weekly newsletter, the Pretest Workshops, and an annual summer assessment conference.  To sign up to receive the weekly newsletter, complete the Assessment Newsletter Sign-up Form, available below. If you have a question about any of the statewide assessments, please contact the person that serves your area code.

Assessment Contacts by Area Code

Area Code	Name and Email Link	Phone
218	Julie Nielsen-Fuhrmann	651-582-8837
320, 507	Lisa Grasdalen	651-582-8485
612	Jennifer Burton	651-582-8622
651, 763, 952	Tracy Cerda	651-582-8692

Procedures Manual for the Minnesota Assessments
The Procedures Manual provides information about the Minnesota assessments, roles and responsibilities, and test administration practices, policies, and procedures. The 2011-2012 Procedures Manual has been posted to the Minnesota Assessments web portal under General Resources; choose Minnesota Assessments under Related Offisite Resources.

Transition to New Assessment Vendor
American Institutes for Research (AIR) has been awarded the contract to administer the Minnesota assessments, starting with the November 2011 Reading and Mathematics GRAD retests and the Written Composition GRAD paper retest. To prepare to administer the 2011-2012 online assessments, schools will need to download AIR's secure browser.  See the Minnesota Assessments web portal to download the secure browser and access item samplers and manuals.

Pearson will continue to provide the following services during the current school year: the November BST Reading and Mathematics retests and the shipment of April BST administration materials. Pearson's Perspective for Educators and Families will be available until February 2012.

Document Download:

• Assessment Newsletter and New DAC Sign-up Form 
  Form to sign up for the weekly Assessment Update newsletter, OR to update District Assessment Coordinator information. Note: If you have Adobe Reader 8 or higher, you can complete this form online, save and email it as an attachment. Otherwise print, complete and fax the form to 651-582-8874.
• Ordering Tests for Non-Public School Students: A User Guide 
  
• Student Identification Validation User Agreement for Non-Public School Users 
  
• Superintendent Authorization Form for Test WES 
  Form to authorize access to Test WES. (Note: If you need this form in the earlier .doc file format for Word 2003, please send a request to mde.testwes@state.mn.us)