State of Montana Newsroom
Superintendent Arntzen Encourages Participation in the Second Year of the Montana Alternative Student Testing Pilot Program
HELENA – Superintendent Arntzen is seeking school districts to participate in the second year of the Montana Alternative Student Testing (MAST) pilot program. The second year of MAST will be open to grades 3-8 in math and English Language Arts (ELA), or reading. The Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI) is currently seeking a Field-Testing Flexibility Waiver for the Montana Assessment System from the US Department of Education (DOE). This waiver request ensures that students, teachers, and district leaders participating in the MAST pilot program are not overburdened with double testing during the 2023-2024 school year.
“The MAST pilot program is designed by Montana for Montana,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “I have said many times that the federally mandated end-of-the-year testing simply does not accurately measure teaching and learning. We are the only state in the nation that is leading the way by piloting a new and innovative system of assessment that links student learning directly to the teaching of our content standards.”
More than 30 school districts and nearly 5,000 students participated in the first year of the MAST pilot program. OPI has set a goal of at least 40 districts and 2000 students per grade per subject. Districts must be registered by June 8, 2023, at noon. To register, please send an email with the approximate number of students per grade level (3,4,5,6,7,8) and subject (Math, ELA) to Samantha.walsh@mt.gov.
OPI will host two question-and-answer sessions via Zoom for districts on:
- June 1, 2023, at 9:00 AM
- June 6, 2023, at 9:00 AM
The 2023-2024 MAST testing administration windows are:
- Testlet Window #1: October 23rd – November 10th, 2023
- Testlet Window #2: November 27th – December 15th, 2023
- Testlet Window #3: January 29th – February 16th, 2024
- Testlet Window #4: March 11th – March 29th, 2024