Every year during April, the state of Minnesota requires students to take the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs). Students are tested on their knowledge in the subjects of math, reading and science. The tests serve the purpose of seeing where different schools are in levels of knowledge and observing student progress while moving forward with students in their learning.
According to Park math teacher Kristen Johnson, the set of questions that is asked on the MCA tests corresponds with state standards. She said the MCA evaluates students’ understanding of those objectives and ensures students reach those expectations.
“From a teacher and school perspective, the MCA test is questions that are aligned to the standards that the state has set, and the standards are what should be taught in the classroom,” Johnson said. “The MCA test is testing those learning targets (because they want to see those standards met), and trying to make sure that all students are getting those learning targets and they’re getting to that bubble. That’s what the expectation is in terms of graduation, hav(ing) that knowledge.”
Junior Olivia Roush said the MCA test does not do an accurate job taking into account the student learning done throughout high school because students aren’t given an adequate amount of time to prepare. Roush said the ACT is a more precise standardized test because students go into the test with more studying done.
“The ACT is more representative (of knowledge learned in high school) because it’s expected of juniors and we study for it more, rather (than) the MCAS (which) got sprung on us, so we didn’t really have time to prepare,” Roush said. “Also it’s only one test, so it’s a small snapshot of what we learn.”
According to Johnson, the MCA test impacts Park as a community because it is one statistic portraying how good of a school district Park is. She said people partly base their decisions on whether or not to send their kids through Park schools from those statistics.
“Why (the MCA) matters to the community is the state posts these scores, and then people use that, good, bad or otherwise, to make decisions about how good a school district is, or if I want to send my student to the school based on that one snapshot,” Johnson said. “Again, it’s not really a good, clear picture of everything that happens, but it is a data point that is used.”
According to junior Sachi Huynh, she took the MCA test because she knew it could benefit the school district, and she wanted the grade boost for her GPA. She said she made a greater effort to do well on the math MCA than the science MCA because the math test was more incentivized by her teacher.
“I did (the MCA) because there’s an incentive to my grade, and also, apparently, it helps out the school. The math test is the one I tried harder on because there was an incentive to my grade, but science, since there wasn’t, it wasn’t too big of a deal if I skipped a few questions because I know it didn’t matter to my grade,” Huynh said.
Johnson said Park teachers make it a goal to strongly encourage students to take the MCA test. According to her, when a student chooses to opt out of testing, it counts as a fail for Park, which is a poor reflection on the district.
“(If a student opts out of taking the MCA), the state of Minnesota, because they want to discourage districts and/or students from opting out of it, essentially treats it as a zero,” Johnson said. “So, if a student opts out and doesn’t take it, then the (state) penalizes that — that’s why the teachers and the districts have been really emphasizing having students take the test, so we get a clear picture of what truly is an accurate reflection of students understanding, and not having it being lowered by putting in essentially zeros for students that aren’t taking the test.”
According to Huynh, she contemplated opting out of taking the MCA, but she found the incentives of food and grade boosts to be worth it.
“I have considered (opting out of the MCA) but not fully because I might as well just take it (if) I’m going to be in the class. Also, there is a pizza party for the class with the highest percentage of students who take the test, so I wanted that too,” Huynh said. “Mr. Ahlquist also said that if you did well, you get a 2 percent grade boost, so I wanted to take the MCA to get that.”
Roush said she deems MCA testing unnecessary and time-draining. According to her, knowing juniors are already expected to take other standardized tests such as AP (Advanced Placement) and IB (International Baccalaureate) exams, the MCA feels like an excess.
“Overall, I don’t find (the MCAs) to be worth my time. It just feels like more state testing, and we already have APs as juniors and some people have IBs, so it doesn’t feel worth it at all,” Roush said.
