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House Research home > Minnesota Government in Brief > Government Functions and Services: Education
Public high school students in the class of 2010 and later must pass the MCAs (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) or GRAD (Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma) tests in reading (administered in grade 10) and math (administered in grade 11) in order to graduate, except that students enrolled in grade 8 in any school year from the 2005-2006 to 2009-2010 school year who do not pass the 11th grade math GRAD test may receive a high school diploma if they meet other criteria. The GRAD tests replaced the basic skills reading and math tests as the graduation-required assessment. Students must also take and pass a written composition test, first administered in grade 9. Unlike the earlier basic skills tests (BSTs), the MCAs are standards-based exams.
For 8th grade public school students beginning with the class of 2010
| School Year |
Percent of Students Tested |
Number of Students |
||||
|
Math |
Reading |
Math |
Reading |
|||
| MCA | GRAD | MCA | GRAD | |||
| 2009-10 | 43 | 57.8 | 75 | 78.1 | 26,157 | 13,865 |
| 2008-09 | 42 | 57.3 | 74 | 77.6 | 26,592 | 14,436 |
| 2007-08 | 34 | NA | 71 | 75.1 | NA | 16,249 |
| 2006-07 | 32 | NA | 62 | NA | NA | NA |
| 2005-06 | 30 | NA | 65 | NA | NA | NA |
NA: Not available
Source: Department of Education
To satisfy federal No Children Left Behind Act (NCLB) requirements and measure annual student progress in meeting state academic standards requirements, students entering grade 8 in the 2005-2006 school year and later needed to pass MCAs in grade 10 reading and grade 11 math. In 2007 the law was changed to allow students who did not pass the annually administered MCAs to retake the GRAD portion of the MCAs. Minnesota administers the MCAs annually to comply with NCLB requirements.
The GRAD portions of the MCAs fulfill Minnesota's graduation requirement for an assessment and are administered multiple times during the school year. Grade 10 students first needed to pass the MCA or the GRAD retest in reading in the 2007-2008 school year and the MCA and the GRAD retest in math in the 2008-2009 school year.
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Originally published January 2011.