In 2020, The Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards in English Language Arts were revised. The Reading Alternate Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (Alt MCA), the statewide alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities (SCD), will begin assessing these new standards in the spring of 2026. In collaboration with a committee of Minnesota educators, MDE has drafted the Reading Alt MCA Test Specifications to assist with the development of the new assessments. The draft specifications are posted on the Test Specifications page of the MDE website.
We invite you to review the proposed selected standards, extended benchmarks, access points and item specifications and provide feedback through this survey. Your feedback is important to help us revise and improve the test specifications draft and to create the best assessment possible for students with SCD. Your individual responses will be combined with other participants' responses by MDE program staff and shared only as an anonymous group response; no personally identifiable information will be included. If you have any questions about the survey, how your responses will be used, or how Statewide Testing will maintain the confidentiality of your responses, please contact Lauren Walker (lauren.walker@state.mn.us) or Stacie Stensrud (stacie.stensrud@state.mn.us).
Your participation in the survey is completely voluntary and you may exit the survey at any time. We realize it may take an hour or more to read the test specifications and provide comments, and we greatly appreciate your time and effort. Keep in mind that positive comments are helpful as well. We will collect feedback through September 3, 2021.
Thank you for your interest and participation.
Lauren Walker and Stacie Stensrud
Alternate Assessment Specialists
lauren.walker@state.mn.us, stacie.stensrud@state.mn.us