The Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment first began in the early 2000s as a way to measure student performance in the areas of math, reading, and science compared to the Minnesota Academic Standards. For the state, it provides a way for administrators to see how students are performing in schools statewide. For students and teachers, it can be a frenzy trying to cram in enough information and preparation for students to perform well. With these major tests coming up on April 28th, we went and asked BHS students how they felt about the test.
Sophomore Aiden Ruiz felt we should replace the MCAs with class-specific finals while freshman Venessah Brito said “they’re okay, just a long process”, and often worries about how the results might affect her academically.
With all the stress involved with wanting to do well, you might ask yourself, what can I do to prepare myself?
When it comes to ELA, Mrs. Chastain, an English teacher at BHS, says that just simply reading something is a good thing to do. Along with reading, annotating is also very helpful. Another tip from Mrs. C is to practice grammar by going on websites like ‘No Red Ink’. For the math MCA, Mrs. Christensen, a math teacher here at BHS had a couple tips that will put you on the path to success: “pay attention to the content you learn in class”, and try using the practice MCA tests in your A-H Connect.