Table of Contents

MCAS 2.0 Test Coordinators Handbook

Mark Racine Updated by Mark Racine

What should I do BEFORE day 1?

  1. Print out ALL testing tickets and prepare each session. 
  2. Instruct your teachers to watch the training video (modules to assist with tasks during testing)
  3. Identify any missing students and add them to their testing session.

What should I do ON testing day?

  1. Start each session.
  2. Provide students with their testing tickets.
  3. Provide teachers with the testing instruction booklets (mailed to schools).Assist students with unlocking their test if they log out of the assessment.
  4. Breathe…it will only get easier!

Who should I contact if I have problems?

Testing Irregularities - MCAS Service Center: 800-737-5103 

Miscellaneous Testing Questions - mcas@bostonpublicschools.org (BPS) or mcas@measuredprogress.org (DESE)

Technical Questions/Issues - OIIT Help Desk: x9200

How do I create an account for a teacher?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action2.
  2. Under Setup, click Select an Action and choose Users
  3. Click Select Tasks and select Create/Edit Users
  4. Click Start
  5. Select your school as the Organization and choose a Role: 
  • School Institution Test Coordinator - gives access to create test sessions, manage rosters, start & stop tests, etc. Recommended for principals and other school administrators.
  • Test Administrator - gives access to start/stop a test session, view rosters. Recommended for homeroom teachers who are administering the MCAS test.
  • Technology Coordinator - gives access to create proctor caching servers. Please note that OIIT has already created servers in each school and it is not recommended that you change any of these settings.

For a full matrix of the user permissions, click here.

  1. Enter their first name, last name, email, and username. We recommend using the employee email address as the username. The active begin and end dates can be left blank.
  2. Click Create and the site will email the person with login information and ask them to create a password when they first login.

How do I create a new test session?

(aka making our MCAS bins!)

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action. 
  2. Under Testing, click Sessions.
  3. Click Select Tasks and select Create/Edit Sessions and then click Start.
  4. Give your session a unique name that your teachers will be able to identify. For example, “3/14 - C - ELA”
  5. Select a school and the test you are administering.
  6. Enter a scheduled start date, time, and location. This information is just for your own records and does not need to be exact.
  7. In the bottom section, there is a select box to view classes or students. if you have divided your students by class already, you can select the class name and all of the students in that class will be added. If you have not divided by class, select the “students” and the entire list of students will appear so you can select which students will be in this section.
  8. Click Create and repeat for each session.
  9. In the Reports screen, you can click the “Students not assigned to session” to download a list of students that have not been added to a session.

How do I prepare test sessions? 

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and click the Testing section and select Sessions.
  2. Click the down-arrow on the Search button and select Show all results to see all of your sessions.
  3. Check off the sessions that are testing today. You can also click the column headers to sort the list by name or start date. Click Go to students in sessions>> at the top of the page in the blue bar.
  4. When you are ready to prepare the session, click on the word “Prepare” almost in the middle of your screen. Once you have done this, the test session should read “Ready”. 
  5. At this time, you should review the student names and accommodations assigned to each student in each test session.  Test Coordinators can “move students between test sessions” after having prepared the session and can also change the accommodations assigned to individual students in order to correct them.  This cannot be done after having “Started” the test session.

How do I start the sessions for today?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and click the Testing section and select Sessions.
  2. Click the down-arrow on the Search button and select Show all results to see all of your sessions.
  3. Check off the sessions that are testing today. You can also click the column headers to sort the list by name or start date. Click Go to students in sessions>> at the top of the page in the blue bar.
  4. When you are ready to start the session, select the session on the left side and click the “Prepare” button and then click the “Star Session” button. This should be done the morning of the test but does not have to be done at a specific time or at the exact moment the students are starting the test.
  5. Follow the instructions in the Test Administrator’s handbook and guide students to the login screen to login with their testing tickets. The Unit you are administering should be unlocked before the students can begin testing. On the student list at the bottom, there is a “Refresh” button at the top; click this as students are logging in to see each student’s status.
  • Ready - The student has not logged in/started yet.
  • Active - The student is currently taking the test.
  • Exited - The student has logged out or finished the session. You will need to check the student’s name off and click “Resume Test” to allow them back in to the same session.
  • Resumed - The student can log back into the test.
  • Completed/Marked Complete - The student has finished the entire test or the administrator/teacher has manually completed the test for the student.
  1. At the end of each day, the units that were administered should be locked. When all units are complete, click the “Stop” button at the top of the screen to complete the test.

How do I lock or unlock a session?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and select the Testing > Students in Sessions section.
  2. Type the name of the session that you are administering in the Session List on the left side and click on your session.
  3. Your session should load with the students on the bottom of the page.
  4. If you see a green start button, click that first.
  5. If your session has already started, you should see the 3-4 units for that session listed with grey bars below each.
  6. On the left side of the grey bar, click the unlock slider to unlock the day’s unit. Students will now be able to login.
  7. You can also unlock or lock specific students by scrolling to their name in the list and clicking the down arrow next to the ready button for that unit. Select unlock/lock test and that student will be able to start that unit.

How do I load the testing app?

Chromebook

  1. Turn the Chromebook on but instruct the students NOT to login normally.
  2. Click the Apps button on the bottom left and select TestNav.
  3. The MCAS app will load and the students can select Massachusetts.
  4. Once the login screen loads, the students should login with their ID and password from the testing ticket (NOT their BPS ID/password).

If the Chromebook does NOT have the Apps icon and is a donated/privately funded Chromebook, it will not work for MCAS.

Macs & PCs

  1. Open the TestNav app from the Applications menu. The Testnav app can be downloaded at downloads.testnav.com but it is not recommended that you download the app on the morning of the test.
  2. The MCAS app will load and the students can select Massachusetts.
  3. Once the login screen loads, the students should login with their ID and password from the testing ticket (NOT their BPS ID/password).
Option #2
  1. Open Firefox
  2. Enter the URL that is located on the student’s testing tickets.
  3. Once the login screen loads, the students should login with their ID and password from the testing ticket (NOT their BPS ID/password).

How do I complete a test for a student that couldn’t finish?

Students will be automatically marked as “Complete” upon finishing all units for their session. If a student could not finish one or more units by the end of the testing window, they will need to be manually marked complete by the test coordinator.

  1. Before deciding to manually mark a student complete, please reach out to the MCAS team (MCAS@bostonpublicschools.org) to discuss. The MCAS team can also consult with DESE for you if there are unusual testing circumstances.
  2. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and select the Testing > Students in Sessions section.
  3. Type the name of the session that you are administering in the Session List on the left side and click on your session.
  4. Find the student that is unable to finish the test and check off their name.
  5. Scroll to the top, click Select Tasks, and choose Mark Students Complete.
  6. Check off the unit(s) that the student was unable to complete and click Mark Complete. 

How do I add a missing student to a session?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and click the Testing section and select Sessions.
  2. Click the down-arrow on the Search button and select Show all results to see all of your sessions.
  3. Check off the sessions that you need to add a student to.
  4. Click the Select Tasks drop-down and choose Add/Remove Students in Sessions.
  5. Select the session on the left side and begin typing the student name in the search box. You can add multiple students this way, too.
  6. Click Save when you are done.

How do I print the testing tickets?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and click the Testing section and select Students in Sessions.
  2. Type the name of the session in the Session List on the left side.
  3. Select the session that you are printing the testing tickets for.
  4. A Download Resources button will appear on the top right side. Click this button and select a format to print.
  • If printing for a class: We recommend the Grid View or Detail View - 4 per page
  • If printing for just one student: We recommend Detail View - 1 per page OR manually writing the ID and password on a post-it note so you don’t have to print.
  • If printing for a teacher: We recommend printing the List View for the classroom teacher to have available in case a testing ticket is lost.

How do I unlock a student that has exited?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and click the Testing section and select Students in Sessions.
  2. Type the name of your session in the box on the left side to load your session.
  3. Scroll through the student list to find the student that has exited; they will show as red.
  4. Click the drop down on the Exited button and select Resume.
  5. Instruct the student to login again using their testing ticket username and password.

 

How Can I Identify Missing Students?

  1. Login to https://mcas.pearsonaccessnext.com/customer/index.action and click the Reports section and select Operational Reports.
  2. Check off Students & Registrations.
  3. Select Students with Online Test but not assigned to Session.
  4. Select your school under Organization but leave the Test blank to see all sessions.
  5. Click display report to view the students or click Download CSV to download a spreadsheet.
  6. Follow the instructions to add a student to a test session.

How do I troubleshoot a Chromebook?

  1. We always recommend starting with a hard reset, which means holding down the power button long enough for the Chromebook to power off. Once it is off, release the power key and then press it again to turn it on.
  2. If this does not correct the issue, you may try a full reset, which resets the entire Chromebook to the factory settings. Follow these instructions to factory reset a Chromebook.

What do I need to know about Proctor Caching?

Nothing! OIIT is taking care of all Proctor Caching for your school. Proctor caching is the process where the testing content is downloaded to your school server and your student devices will automatically pull the test content from the server, instead of through the Internet. Students still need to be connected to the wifi but this will result in a faster, and more reliable testing experience.

What about the “update cache” button? We use this to update the cache with your testing content so there’s no harm if you push this button.

How did we do?

MAP Troubleshooting

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