At Farmington Area Public Schools, we are committed to providing our students with personalized learning experiences. To best achieve this, we regularly assess students’ growth. Various classroom and standardized assessments aid teachers in providing for individual instructional needs and identifying class trends. We strive to consider the whole picture when serving our students. Having multiple types of assessments helps provide a fuller picture of each student's needs.
Farmington Area Public Schools administer three sets of large scale standardized assessments: the Minnesota State Accountability tests, FastBridge, and the NWEA MAP tests. We highly encourage you to read more about what each assessment provides for your student(s), and have provided a chart for this purpose.
Parents and guardians do have the right to request their student(s) not participate in a scheduled assessment. If you wish your child not to take one or more of the planned assessments, please make sure you understand the role of the assessment and complete the appropriate form.
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MCA/MTAS
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FastBridge |
NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)
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Why is the assessment administered?
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- Federally mandated
- Shows school and district accountability
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- Screening is State mandated as part of READ Act
- Measures foundational reading skills
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- Provides diagnostic instructional data for individual students and groups of students
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| Who is assessed? |
- Students in grades 3 - 8 and once in high school for each subject.
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How are the results used?
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- Report student progress toward Minnesota's academic standards
- Provides a state-wide comparison
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- K - 3 students are screened to determine if they're on track with literacy development
- Instructional decision-making
- Monitor individual student growth
- Provides a national comparison
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- Instructional decision-making
- Monitor individual student growth
- Course placement
- Projection to College/Career Readiness for middle grades
- Provides a national comparison
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When are results available?
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- Official results released in August
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- Individual results are available immediately
- Summary reports are available to staff within 24 hours
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- Individual results are available immediately
- Summary reports are available to staff within 24 hours
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What is the impact of not participating in the assessment?
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Per MDE’s Parent/Guardian Guide and Refusal for Student Participation in Statewide Testing, a “statewide assessment is just one measure of your student’s achievement, but your student’s participation is important to understand how effectively the education at your student’s school is aligned to the academic standards.
- Students who receive a college-ready score on the high school MCA are not required to take a remedial, noncredit course at a Minnesota State college or university in the corresponding subject area, potentially saving the student time and money.
- Parents and the general public use assessment information to compare schools and make decisions about where to purchase a home or to enroll their children.
- Educators and policy makers use information from assessments to make decisions about resources and support provided.
- School performance results that are publicly released and used by families and communities, are negatively impacted if students do not participate in assessments.
- In Minnesota’s implementation of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, a student not participating in the statewide assessments will not receive an individual score and will be counted as “not proficient” for the purpose of school and district accountability, including opportunities for support and recognition.”
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Participating in READ Act screening helps families see a snapshot of their student’s learning at multiple time points so
they can advocate for their success in school. After administering the screener, schools must give parents of each
student who is not reading at or above grade level timely information about:
1) the student’s reading proficiency as measured by the screener
2) reading-related services currently being provided to the student and the student’s progress; and
3) strategies for parents to use at home in helping their student succeed in becoming grade-level proficient in
reading in English and in their native language |
- While there is no public impact of not participating in the NWEA assessment, this will limit the information available to students and teachers regarding student growth in math and reading.
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| How do we communicate a desire to not participate in testing? |
Please complete the MCA/MTAS Non-Participation Form and return it to your learner’s school as soon as possible. Schools will do their best to honor all requests, but testing dates and administrative deadlines vary by school. |
Please complete the FastBridge Non-Participation Form and return it to your learner’s school as soon as possible. Schools will do their best to honor all requests, but testing dates and administrative deadlines vary by school. |
Please complete the NWEA Non-Participation Form and return it to your learner’s school before testing begins. Schools will do their best to honor all requests, but testing dates and administrative deadlines vary by school. |
Please note: Anytime a student is withheld from participating in an assessment by parent request, there will not be any instructional programming provided for the student while the rest of the class is taking the test(s).