This
article used to be part of my page entitled "How
to Get a Job as a Measured Progress Test Scorer."Measured Progress Special Ed Portfolio Scoring:
MCAS-Alternate & Illinois Alternate Scoring Opportunities
by Timothy
Horrigan
Copyright © 2006-2007
Timothy Horrigan
This
article used to be part of my page entitled "How
to Get a Job as a Measured Progress Test Scorer."
The original URLs for the MCAS and IAA info were:
http://www.timothyhorrigan.com/tempjob_measuredprogress.html#mcas
http://www.timothyhorrigan.com/tempjob_measuredprogress.html#iaa
Most of Measured Progress's tests are conventional #2-pencil tests, but they also do special education portfolio (or "Sped") testing. And they have to hire people to score those portfolios. Here is some info on the Massachusetts and Illinois tests.
This is a much more complicated process than scoring a regular test. The portfolios are thick packets of papers, writings, photographs and even videos. (In Massachusetts, at least, the videos ostensibly still have to be on old-fashioned analog VHS cassettes: the schools and the scoring centers have not yet caught up with the age of digital video cameras and DVDs.) The MCAS-Alt scoring process is also much more frustrating than the regular test, since the "Sped" kids are being evaluated by the exact same standards as the regular kids of the same age. The problem with this practice (even though the Massachusetts Department of Education has written some eloquent explanations of why this is a good idea) is that by definition the students wouldn't even be on the special ed track if they were capable of meeting the conventional academic standards. Hardly anyone actually passes the MCAS-Alt test.
MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) Scoring
Measured Progress recently regained the Massachusetts MCAS contract. (They lost it in the late 1990s after being blamed for a scandal where some multiple choice questions turned out not to have exactly one correct choice. However, when in due time the contract came back up for bid again, they won it back.)
More info about Measured Progress's MCAS programs is available at: http://www.mcasservicecenter.com
Regular MCAS scoring is (apparently) mostly being done at the flagship Dover, NH facility. This is just barely within commuting distance from Boston's northern suburbs. When Measured Progress was competing for the MCAS contract, they made some perfunctory marketing efforts to interest Massachusetts residents in crossing the state line to work at the scoring center. Now that the the contract has been won, such efforts are no longer necessary.
The Alternate Assessment (i.e., the Special Ed test) is scored in Massachusetts, usually at a temporary facility in Marlboro, MA. Alternate Assessment scoring is much more complicated than regular scoring, because each student will have a very elaborate portfolio detailing what she has learned during the scoring year.
The application deadline is April 27, 2007 (the last Friday of the month). You could apply via a web form — or you could mail or fax in a paper application. Supposedly, applicants will be contacted by May 11, 2007, which is only two weeks after the deadline. There will be three weeks of scoring:
July 2-6, 2007 (with Wednesday, July 4 off)
July 9-13, 2007
July 16-20, 2007 (unless they run out of work for you to do)
Click below for:
PDF application (not a Fill-In PDF, sorry!)
To be eligible, you should be be a licensed Massachusetts teacher, preferably "Sped" certified. "Related service providers" are also eligible. The pay is not very high: $120/ scoring day (roughly $15/hr.) Training days are even less lucrative: $75/day, which is about as much as you would make spending the day behind a cash register. However, continuing education credits are available. Moreover, you do get mileage ($0.31/miles) as well as overnight accomodation if you happen to live more than 50 miles from the scoring center.) And you would of course have the honor of being a member of the prestigious MCAS-Alt Scoring Institute!
Measured Progress's Crystal Tenney is in charge of incoming applications. Her contact info is:
Measured Progress Attn: Crystal Tenney 100 Education Way Dover, NH 03820 Email: CTenney@measuredprogress.org Tel: (866) 296-2737 Fax: (866) 283-2197
The application asks if you have read several official MCAS documents. These are available on the web at:
Or you can download them by clicking on the links below:
(Note: The various files range from approximately 300kB to almost 3MB in size)
PDF version of 2007 Educators Manual
PDF versions of various chapters of Resource Guide to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks for Students with Significant Disabilities
Here is a link to an official explanation of how the scoring process works, dealing mostly with the mechanics of the paperwork. This appears to be a PowerPoint file from the training phase of the 2006-2007 scoring project.
Finally, here is a link to very brief official introduction to the Alt-MCAS exam (once again, in both PDF and PowerPoint versions):
It is also worth noting that current-status Massachusetts teachers are not eligible (for contractual reasons) to be hired as regular Measured Progress test scorers.
Illinois Alternate Assessment (IAA) Scoring
Measured Progress has had the Illinois Alternate Assessment contract for several years. This program is very similar to the Alternate MCAS: portfolios are put together to assess the progress of special education students (and/or students with limited language skills) who are unable to do the regular Number-Two Pencil tests. Once the portfolios come back, "Sped" teachers are hired part-time to score them. (This does seem like a bit of a closed system to me.) Measured Progress tests students in the subject areas of Reading, Mathematics, and Science. (There is a separate writing test, which is administered by Pearson Assessment.)
Teachers start putting the portfolios together every year in early September, and finish in early February. The deadline for sending the 2--6-2007 portfolios back was February 16, 2007, which is the third Friday in February.
Scoring takes place a few weeks after the portfolios come in. In 2006 and 2007, there were IAA scoring centers in Arlington Heights (a Chicago suburb) and Bloomington.
To work as a scorer, you must be a SPED-certified educator (preferably from Illinois.) You must work at least 16 hr/week for at least 80 hr total (unless of course you get terminated mid-project or the company runs out of work for you to do before you hit 80 hours.) You have to do all the work onsite, but the centers will be open every day but Sunday. Measured Progress's job postings don't say what the pay scale is. (If you look at the previous section, you will see that the Alternate MCAS in Massachusetts scorers get paid $15/hr for the same type of work. So perhaps we can infer that the IAA pay rate is in that ballpark somewhere. Or perhaps not!)
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