The Montana Alternative Student Testing (MAST) Pilot Program is an initiative taken by the Office of Public Instruction (OPI) to radically modernize, improve, and ease federally mandated end-of-year student assessments. The Federal Government requires that all school systems conduct student assessments with a single massive end-of-year assessment which occurs each spring.

The MAST program is developing pathways to modernize the traditional testing system while preserving local control, easing the burdens on teachers and administrators, and ensuring that the federally mandated summative assessment can provide both flexibility and actionable data. The OPI is developing future pilots through contracts with New Meridian, the Center for Assessment, and Education First. The goal of the MAST Program is to provide a complete methodology for developing a summative assessment system more amenable to our school system, and that will pass federal peer review.

The MAST program includes several phases of piloting, peer review, analysis, and study. Ultimately, the program will develop a peer-reviewed defensibility proposal for the Federal Government that will:

  • utilize a through-course model of student testing
  • break up the single end-of-year-summative into an autumn, winter, and spring assessment
  • measure student growth, development, and maintain scholastic standards that we Montanans can be proud of

Pathways of Development

There are several pathways under investigation and development right now within the MAST program. These are the two primary pathways of development for the OPI at this time.

  • The OPI is seeking a Federal Grants for State Assessments (CGSA) grant program. The state of Montana is working with Education First and New Meridian to seek the grant and develop stakeholder input for testing methodology. The development will include piloting of a new assessment design, and further development in response to feedback. New Meridian will be implementing a pilot of the new assessment system for federal feedback while Education First supports states that are seeking grants for funding alternative assessment systems. The serendipitous alignment of goals with Education First, New Meridian, and the Federal Grant system has created a team of brilliant education specialists who are all aligned in improving the assessment system in our great state. The Montana OPI has received letters of support in recognition of these efforts from:
  • Stakeholder input is critical to the development of a summative assessment system. It is the duty and responsibility of the OPI to seek public input as the OPI exists to serve the Montana Community. With that in mind, the state of Montana has contracted with the Center for Assessment to develop a Theory of Action through input from Montana Administrators, Montanan Teachers, Montanan Students, Montanan Parents, and other Montanan Community Leaders. Specific consideration has been given to representatives from tribal schools, rural schools, and the AA schools in our state.

 

 

Montana Office of Public Instruction logo

Team

  • New Meridian

  • Education First

  • The OPI

    • Deputy Superintendent Sharyl Allen.
    • Dr. Trenin Bayless
    • Ashley McGrath
    • Dr. Julie Murgel

  • The Center for Assessment

Why Change the Current System?

The current system of summative assessment is provided by Smarter Balanced systems and through a coalition of several states including Washington and California. The current system provides very little flexibility to teachers and requires a centralized top-down model of control. The summative assessment utilizes a single end-of-year assessment that does not accurately reflect student growth, and only marginally reflects the rich local cultures across our state.

The Montana OPI is working to develop an improved assessment system that will accurately reflect the needs of our students, teachers, and administrators while providing useful flexibility in terms of administration. The OPI will utilize a new assessment model that supports through-course test design. That is, rather than a single massive end-of-year test, the student assessment will be broken up over the course of the year. A through-course design benefits students, teachers, parents, and administrators by providing actionable data at the beginning of the school year and by providing a meaningful model of student growth. There is significant cultural variation in the state of Montana, therefore it is superior to utilize an assessment model that provides nuance rather than a single all-encompassing number at the end of the school year.

 

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