The Assessment and Accountability Working Group gained insight on the background of the GRAD exam, how standards and benchmarks are developed, as well as the requirements in current statute related to graduation requirements at its recent meeting. There was also a very brief description of the Access Report, which was the 2009-2010 effort to reform Minnesota’s Graduation Assessments.
The group began to identify the problems and benefits of the current GRAD testing, and to some degree all state MCA testing. This effort will continue by email and during the next meeting on August 20. Working Group Co-Chair and MREA Exec Director, Fred Nolan will begin a blog on Assessment and Accountability on the MREA website later this month and welcomes your input on the problems and benefits of the current GRAD Assessments (11th math, 10th reading, and 9th writing).