MCA Technical ReportsAccountability Programs : Minnesota Department of Education

MCA Technical Reports

MCA Technical Reports

This section contains background and technical information about the construction of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) and the data it generates. For summary data from the MCA, go to the Data Downloads section.

Alignment Study of MCA-II with State Standards in Mathematics  148Kb (9/8/08)
    
Alignment Study of MCA-II with State Standards in Reading  135Kb (9/8/08)
    
Alignment Study of MCA-II with State Standards in Science  296Kb (10/23/08)
    
Group Comparisons Tool: Mathematics  116Kb (8/15/08)
     A workbook to compare group to state achievement across consecutive years
Group Comparisons Tool: Reading  109Kb (10/12/07)
     A workbook to compare group to state achievement across consecutive years
Minnesota Technical Manual - MCA-II, 2007  856Kb (12/10/07)
     Outlines general information about the construction of the assessments, statistical analysis of the results and the meaning of the scores
Minnesota Technical Manual, Appendices - MCA-II, 2007  4Mb (12/6/07)
     Accompanies Minnesota Technical Manual-MCA-II, 2007. Provides additional details, sources and clarifications on assessment processs
Minnesota Yearbook - MCA-II, 2007  2Mb (12/6/07)
     Accompanies Minnesota Technical Manual-MCA-II, 2007. Provides detailed statistics on various assessments for a given academic year
State Means and Standard Deviations for Reading & Mathematics: 2008  253Kb (7/24/08)
     These tables can help educators interpret the performance of their students on the spring 2008 Reading and Mathematics MCA-IIs. Tables include state means and standard deviations for total test, content strands and substrands, and item types.
State Means and Standard Deviations for Science: 2008  50Kb (9/22/08)
    
State Means and Standard Deviations: 2006  258Kb (2/20/07)
    
State Means and Standard Deviations: 2007  260Kb (10/1/07)
    
Technical Manual for Minnesota's Title I and Title III Assessments: 2007-2008  1Mb (9/19/08)
     Outlines general information about the construction of the assessments, statistical analysis of the results and the meaning of the scores.
Yearbook for Minnesota's Title I and Title III Assessments: 2007-2008  5Mb (9/22/08)
    

Raw Score to Scale Score Tables


Each file listed below refers to a “Raw Score to Scale Score Table.” The tables illustrate the relationship between types of scores.

Raw Score:  The raw score is the number of points the student earned on the test.
Scale Score:  The scale score is a conversion of the raw score which permits comparisons of scores across years but within the same test.
Level:  There are four levels: Does Not Meet Standards, Partially Meets Standards, Meets Standards and Exceeds Standards.
Percentile Rank:  A number, expressed as a percent, that represents where an individual student’s score falls among all students taking the test.


Raw to Scale Score Tables: Mathematics & Reading MCA-II (2008) PDF Version 78Kb (10/28/08) Native Version 114Kb (10/28/08)
    
Raw to Scale Score Tables: Science MCA-II (2008) PDF Version 34Kb (10/27/08) Native Version 29Kb (10/27/08)
    

Standard Setting Technical Reports

Standard Setting Technical Report: Mathematics & Reading MCA-II (2006) PDF Version 4Mb (9/11/08)
     This report describes the process used to set the four achievement levels which categorize performance on the Reading and Mathematics MCA-IIs.
Standard Setting Technical Report: Science MCA-II and MTAS (2008) PDF Version 2Mb (9/22/08)
     This report describes the standard setting process for Science MCA-II and Minnesota Test of Academic Skills (MTAS).