2015-2016 Minnesota Career and College
Readiness (CCR) Summary Report for the
Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA)
Overview
According to Minnesota state statues enacted in 2013, and amended in 2014,
Minnesota students’ career and college readiness (CCR) is required to be assessed.
For information regarding the practices and procedures for the calculation of the
progress scores prior to the 2015-2016 testing year, refer to the “2014-2015 Technical
Manual for Minnesota’s Title I and Title III Assessments” document. Beginning in 2016
CCR progress scores will be reported in individual student reports (ISR) and District and
School Student Results (DSR/SSR) for reading and mathematics. CCR progress scores
will be reported for grades 3-8 in reading and mathematics while CCR scores, the same
scale scores as MCA-III accountability scale scores, will be reported for reading and
mathematics in grades 10 and 11, respectively. According to Minnesota Statute
120B.30, the computation of CCR progress scores may include off-grade items in both
reading and mathematics for grades 3-8. Scores for grades 3-8 will demonstrate
students’ CCR progress which indicates whether or not students are on track to pass a
college entrance exam by the end of grade 11 in reading and mathematics. Career and
college readiness as defined by Minnesota Statue 120B.30 is:
“For purposes of statewide accountability, “career and college ready” means a
high school graduate has the knowledge, skills, and competencies to
successfully pursue a career pathway, including postsecondary credit leading to
a degree, diploma, certificate, or industry-recognized credential and employment.
Students who are career and college ready are able to successfully complete
credit-bearing coursework at a two or four-year college or university or other
credit-bearing postsecondary program without need for remediation.”
For each subject and grade, from grades 3 to 8, student progress scores will be
compared to a goal progress score. The goal progress score represents a score for a
student who is considered on track to demonstrate career and college readiness on a
subject specific college admissions test at the end of grade 11.For reading grade 10
and mathematics grade 11 a subject specific MCA-III score which exceeds the CCR
goal score also represents a student who is on track to demonstrate career and college
readiness on a subject specific college admissions test at the end of grade 11.
For reading and mathematics grades 3 to 8 CCR progress scores are calculated from
both the subject specific items administered on the MCA-III as well as subject specific
items from an expanded item pool. The expanded item pool contains off-grade items.
Student CCR scores for reading grade 10 and mathematics grade 11 are equivalent to
their respective subject and grade scale scores from the MCA-III accountability
assessment. For any given specific grade in grades 3-8, the expanded off-grade item
pool contains items from the same grade the student is in as well as items above or
below 2 grade levels. As an example, a student who is in grade 5 could be administered
any combination of items in the expanded off-grade item pool from grades 3,4,5,6, and
7 while a student in grade 3 could be administered any combination of items in the
expanded off-grade item pool from grades 3,4, and 5.
The remainder of the summary document provides a summary of the methods utilized
to provide CCR progress scores for the students who participated in Minnesota
accountability assessments in the testing year 2015-2016.
CCR Progress Score Scaling
Minnesota uses pattern scoring for the CCR progress scores for grades 3-8 reading and
mathematics. The pattern scoring depends on both the on-grade and off-grade items
administered to students; therefore, student ability estimates are directly estimated
based on the items they were administered during the assessment and their responses
to those administered items. For reading grade 10 and mathematics grade 11 the MCAIII scale scores are used for CCR purposes, so a discussion of the scaling procedures
for these grades can be referenced in the MCA-III technical manual. For grades 3-8 the
progress scores are derived via a chain of transformations. More specifically—for
grades 3-8 reading and mathematics—the progress scores are derived from the ability
estimates from the on-grade and off-grade items taken during the MCA-III assessment.
The first transformation produces a vertically scaled theta which is then transformed into
a vertically-scaled progress score (PS):
𝜃𝜃𝑂𝑂+𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂 → 𝜃𝜃𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 → 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃.
The vertically-scaled theta can be specified as:
𝜃𝜃𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 = 𝜃𝜃𝑂𝑂+𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂 × 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝐺𝐺 + 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝑡𝑡𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝐺𝐺
where 𝜃𝜃𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 is the vertically-scaled theta, 𝜃𝜃𝑂𝑂+𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑂 is the on- and off-grade theta, 𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑆𝑒𝑒𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝐺𝐺 is
the grade-specific vertical-scaling slope, and 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 𝐺𝐺 is the grade-specific vertical
scaling intercept. The grade specific vertical-scaling slope and intercept can be
referenced in Table 1.
Academic Year 2015–2016
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Table 1. On+Off-Grade Theta to Vertically Scaled Theta Transformation Constants
Subject
Grade
Slope
Intercept
Math
3
0.9960
-1.1584
Math
4
0.9700
-0.5665
Math
5
1.0000
0.0000
Math
6
1.0434
0.4986
Math
7
1.0924
0.9202
Math
8
1.2028
1.4085
Reading
3
0.962538
-1.073905
Reading
4
1.019095
-0.563830
Reading
5
1.000000
0.000000
Reading
6
0.993229
0.383747
Reading
7
1.010005
0.771721
Reading
8
1.051537
1.013116
The final transformation (from 𝜃𝜃𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 to the vertically scaled progress score) can be
calculated as:
𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 = 2500 + 100 × 𝜃𝜃𝑉𝑉𝑉𝑉 ,
and then rounded to the nearest integer.
Lower (LOSS) and upper bounds (HOSS) of the progress scores for each grade can be
referenced in Table 2. As paper accommodated forms do not have the off-grade
section, these forms use on-grade theta to calculate the progress scores.
Table 2. Progress Score Lower (LOSS) and Upper (HOSS) Bounds
Subject
Math
Math
Math
Math
Math
Math
Reading
Reading
Reading
Reading
Reading
Reading
Grade
3
4
5
6
7
8
3
4
5
6
7
8
LOSS
2085
2152
2200
2237
2264
2280
2104
2138
2200
2240
2274
2286
HOSS
2683
2734
2800
2863
2920
3002
2681
2749
2800
2836
2880
2917
CCR Benchmark Scores
In order to establish the CCR goals and goal progress scores, benchmarks were
developed using predictive models using a single cohort of students for MCA grade 8
Academic Year 2015–2016
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and high school while data from two cohorts were used to establish the benchmark
scores for the lower grades. For reading grade 10 and mathematics grade 11, a set of
predictive models identified the CCR goals by predicting performance on a nationally
recognized college entrance exam from CCR subject specific MCA-III scores. Linking
was therefore conducted by linking students’ scale scores on the reading grade 10 and
mathematics grade 11 MCA-III to their subject specific scores on a nationally
recognized college entrance exam which was administered to students in spring 2015.
For grade 8, goal progress scores were developed by linking student progress scores
on the grade 8 MCA-III to a nationally recognized “pre” college entrance exam. This
linking allowed student scores in grade 8 reading and math to be linked to the precollege entrance exam. For grade 8, goal progress scores correspond to a 50 percent
or higher probability of success at meeting the college readiness benchmarks on a
nationally recognized college entrance exam. Grades 3-7 were linked to the grade
above (e.g. 3 linked to 4 and 7 linked to 8). For grades 3 through 7, each link was
developed by identifying a score at which students have a 50 percent or greater
probability of success at meeting the college readiness benchmarks on the next grade’s
goal progress score.
The CCR goal scores were developed with college performance in mind. A student who
earns at least the CCR goal score in reading or mathematics is expected to be able to
successfully complete coursework in their respective subject without remediation.
Students with MCA scores in reading or mathematics which appear below the CCR goal
score may need remediation prior to enrolling in a college credit-bearing course in the
same subject at a two or four-year college or university. Similarly, students in grades 3-8
who have progress scores at least the goal progress score are expected to be on track to
meet grade level expectations in the next grade’s coursework. Table 3 presents the
approved goal progress scores for grades 3-8 in reading and mathematics. Table 4
presents the approved CCR goal scores for grade 10 reading and grade 11 mathematics.
Table 3. Goal Progress Scores for Grades 3-8 Reading and Mathematics
Grade
Goal Progress Score:
Goal Progress Score:
Reading
Mathematics
3
2410
2401
4
2465
2466
5
2529
2531
6
2574
2582
7
2613
2623
8
2641
2678
Table 4. CCR Goal Scores for Reading Grade 10 and Mathematics Grade 11
Grade
CCR Goal Score:
CCR Goal Score:
Reading
Mathematics
10
1058
--11
--1152
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Performance Summaries
Progress score distribution summaries for reading and mathematics grades 3-8 from the
2016 MCA-III administration are provided are in Table 5. CCR score distribution
summaries for Reading grade 10 and Mathematics grade 11 for the 2016 MCA-III
administration are provided in Table 6. Distribution summaries provide the minimum,
maximum, mean, and standard deviation of the progress scores and CCR for each
respective grade and subject.
Table 5. Minimum, Maximum, Mean, and Standard Deviation of Progress Scores
N
Subject
Grade
Min
Max
Mean
SD
65139
2104
2681
2388.72
114.46
Reading
3
63906
2138
2749
2449.80
119.27
Reading
4
62871
2200
2800
2504.81
115.06
Reading
5
63397
2240
2836
2546.04
115.73
Reading
6
62463
2274
2880
2577.85
107.89
Reading
7
61151
2286
2917
2605.95
119.00
Reading
8
65282
2085
2683
2377.14
112.21
Math
3
64082
2152
2734
2443.89
109.98
Math
4
62975
2200
2800
2505.54
115.07
Math
5
63417
2237
2863
2555.19
122.56
Math
6
62373
2264
2920
2595.51
125.98
Math
7
61026
2280
3002
2646.15
141.09
Math
8
Table 6. Minimum, Maximum, Mean, and Standard Deviation of CCR Scores
N
Subject
Grade
Min
Max
Mean
60245
1013
1094
1051.58
Reading
10
55975
1102
1195
1147.47
Math
11
SD
15.07
17.00
Students can also be dichotomized by their on-track status. Table 7 provides a
summary of the number and percentage of students who were identified as on-track
from grades 3-8 in reading and mathematics while Table 8 provides a summary of the
number and percentage of students who were identified as CCR ready.
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Table 7. Percentage of Students Identified as On-Track
Number of
Number of OnSubject
Grade
Students
Track Students
29862
Reading
3
65139
30469
Reading
4
63906
28169
Reading
5
62871
27469
Reading
6
63397
24861
Reading
7
62463
24243
Reading
8
61151
28908
Math
3
65282
29035
Math
4
64082
28196
Math
5
62975
28805
Math
6
63417
28380
Math
7
62373
27230
Math
8
61026
Percentage of Ontrack Students
45.84
47.68
44.80
43.33
39.80
39.64
44.28
45.31
44.77
45.42
45.50
44.62
Table 8. Percentage of Students Identified as CCR Ready
Number of
Number of CCRSubject
Grade
Students
Ready Students
22199
Reading
10
60245
23547
Math
11
55975
Percentage of CCRReady Students
36.85
42.07
Academic Year 2015–2016
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