The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) has launched its Montana Alternative Student Testing (MAST) Pilot Program initiative to seek “through year” assessments as federally allowed by the U.S. Department of Education (USED) under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015.
“Through Year” assessments are multiple statewide interim assessments during the course of the academic year that result in a single summative score (34 CFR 200.2(b)(10)(ii)).
The vision of the MAST Pilot is to implement “through year” assessments across the state that can eventually replace the traditional end-of-year state summative assessments and to satisfy the following federal testing, accountability, and reporting criteria under ESEA-ESSA:
- State testing (ESEA-ESSA Section 1111(b)) measure student proficiency and progress on state content standards over time.
- Accountability (ESEA-ESSA Section 1111(c)) address educational needs and direct resources.
- Reporting (ESEA-ESSA Section 1111(h)) provide transparent information on these achievement indicators and to support education information processes.
To learn more about this initiative follow these links and to learn more about the OPI’s existing end-of-year state summative assessments, visit the OPI Statewide Testing Page.