Maryland State Asessement (MSA) Reading and Mathematics Test Administration
Grades 3 – 8 in Reading and Mathematics: March 12-21, 2012;
(Make-up Testing) March 22-28, 2012
The early years of a child’s education are very crucial.
These years of education are geared towards building a solid ground of
educational understanding. As children advance to middle school they are then
prepared for the more rigorous work ahead in high school. If you are a parent
or educator, the term MSA (Maryland School Assessment) is probably not foreign
to you. Every student will take Maryland School Assessments (MSAs) as part of
the elementary and middle school experience. These statewide assessments are
one of the many measures to gage how well a child is learning. The MSAs, paired
with other measures (like homework, class work, quizzes, and projects), provide
parents and educators with information about students’ academic progress so
that every student has the adequate support and opportunity to succeed.
Aspects of the Test:
- Multiple-choice questions and questions requiring written responses.
-
Measures basic as well as higher level skills
-
Students test for approximately 90 minutes each day. There
are four days of testing––two days for reading and two days for math.
- The testing vendor send scores for individual students to local school systems. The school systems then distribute the scores to parents
The MSA scores show how well students learned the reading
and mathematics skills in the State Curriculum. (A "norm-referenced"
score is also provided to show how students performed compared to other
students across the nation.)
The reading section takes place over two days with 90 minute
sections per day. Each testing session withing is broken into smaller time
blocks. Tests for all grades evaluate general, informational, and literary
reading processes.
The Reading section of the MSA has 2 types of questions:
- Selected Response Items (SR) -- offers students (usually) four answer choices
- Brief Constructed Response Items (BCR) -- requires students to write answers consisting of a sentences or paragraphs
MATHEMATICS
As with the reading test, the math test takes place over two
days. Testing takes approximately 90 minutes each day; each testing session
being broken into smaller time blocks.
And as with the reading test, the math sections have various
kinds of questions. In addition to the Selected Response Items and the Brief
Constructed Response Items that all students receive, the math section poses
additional forms of questions to students depending on the grade level being
tested. Students in grades 5 through 8 also get Extended Constructed Response
Items (ECR) that require students to write a longer, more complete answer. 7th
and 8th graders will have Student-Produced Responses (SPR) which require them
to record all answers on a grid by shading in the circles that correspond to
the numbers of their answers.
The state provides calculators for students, though some
sections allow the use of calculators and others do not. The state also
provides scrap paper, graph paper and a dual scale ruler (or two separate
rulers) for all grades 3 through 8, a protractor for grades 5 through 8, and a
compass for grades 7 and 8.
SCORING & ASSESSMENT
The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that
every state measure reading, math, and science achievement at the elementary,
middle, and high school levels. Maryland fulfills NCLB by reporting MSA and HSA
scores to the U.S. Department of Education. For more information about NCLB, go
to www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml.
Statewide tests are useful for:
- guiding school-wide curriculum development efforts
- creating or modifying classroom lesson plans
- understanding a child’s academic progress
- developing individualized strategies for that child
- providing information on where a child may need extra support.
PARENT CONCERNS
How will I know how my child did on an assessment? All parents receive a Home Report with their child’s scores.
Contact your child’s school or the Local Accountability Coordinator for the
local school system to find out when your child's Home Report will be sent. For
a list of local school system websites, go to www.MarylandPublicSchools.org/MSDE/schoolsystems.
Where can I find out how my child’s school is doing on
statewide assessments? Information about the progress of particular schools,
counties, and the state are doing is printed in an annual “report card” (the
Maryland School Performance Report). This online report provides an Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) chart for each school that demonstrates whether or not a
school made all of its performance goals. To find your child’s school
information, go to www.MdReportCard.org and use the navigation bar at the top.
Note: Parents are sent a Home Report with their child’s MSA
scores from the local school system. Reading and math scores are made available
over the summer. Science scores are available the following September. For more
information about the MSAs go to www.MdReportCard.org or www.MdK12.org.
FAMILY SUPPORT
The Take 15 for the Family and Take 15 for the Health of It
initiatives are just one way MSDE helps families become more engaged in education. Daily tips and ideas of activities to do at home,
as well as tips on how to talk to your child about a variety of health-related topics can be found online at
www.marylandpublicschools.org/msde/programs/familylit/take15health. Check out
http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/msde/ for other helpful sources and
updates.
Ready at Five, in partnership with MSDE, has an online
series called Parent Tips that has information about how parents can help build
a child’s skills and abilities, which can be found at www.ReadyatFive.org Maryland’s Early Childhood Curriculum Project
provides information and resources to child care and other nonpublic early
childhood programs for disabilities, birth through 6 years old. For information
about materials and how you can be assured that your child is learning
the skills needed to start kindergarten on the right foot,
go to
www.MarylandPublicSchools.org/MSDE/divisions/child_care/preschool_curriculum.
The Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) includes a
kindergarten-level assessment, which teachers complete for each student, as well as a set of indicators of what children
should know and be able to do. The information collected allows teachers to
plan instruction that will help develop the skills, behaviors, and abilities
necessary to meet kindergarten expectations and move on to the first grade. For
more information about the MMSR, go to www.MdSchoolReadiness.org.
For more information about MSDE’s various programs, go to www.MarylandPublicSchools.org/MSDE/divisions/studentschoolsvcs.
For information about specific programs and initiatives in
place locally, contact your local school system or your child’s school. A list
of local school system websites can be found at
www.MarylandPublicSchools.org/MSDE/schoolsystems.
Additional information about parent involvement can be found
at www.Mdpta.org or www.mdpirc.org.
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