In the upcoming weeks, sophomores and juniors will be taking the MCA tests. Many students who take the test don’t really think about it at all, others may spend some time studying, and preparing for the state testing. There is the option to OPT out of the MCA’s with a form that includes a parent signature. Everyone has their different opinions on MCA’s if they benefit the person or it’s just a bother to the student and pointless.
Juniors and Sophomores are mandatory to take the MCA’s unless they choose to opt out. The reading MCA is administered to 3rd-8th- grade students and 10th- grade students . The mathematics MCA is taken by students in grades 3-8 and 11th grade. Students in fifth and eighth grade also take the biology MCA test.
For high school students freshman and seniors do not take the MCAs, but sophomores take the reading MCA, and science is dependent on whether or not you had biology. Juniors take the mathematics MCA.
Hunter Louks, a junior at OHS who is not taking the MCA, feels like it’s not informative and shares, “I feel like it doesn’t really show how I progress through the years—it says it helps show your progress, but it really doesn’t.”
The MCA stands for the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, which is an annual state test. The MCAs measure how well students are learning the Minnesota Academic Standards in reading, math, and science.
From the Minnesota Department of Education website, it states “Comments and suggestions, and feedback for improvements for the Minnesota statewide assessments are valuable to the growth and effectiveness of the testing program. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and our service providers continually work to improve testing procedures for future administrations.”
It is mandatory for students to take the MCAs by state and federal law. The purpose of them is to measure how well students meet the standards, and for schools to be able to compare with different districts on how well they are doing in teaching the curriculum.
Assistant Principal, Hollie Jeska, states that
The MCAs are typically taken in the springtime at school during the day. Jeska explained, “Teachers will break it down for two days in English classes and in science, they will wait until May 7 to take the test, because in class, they would prefer to get through some additional content before students take the MCA.”
Normally, if you are taking the class for the same subject you have to test in, the student will take that MCA test in their classroom. Students who don’t have the class will take the test in the foundation room. Math is on April 14, reading on April 21, and science on April 28.
A junior at OHS, Allison Johnson, who is taking the math MCA on April 14 at 9:52 am, in the foundation room since she doesn’t have a history class right now states, “I feel like it’s just not a fun test that people don’t want to do.”
The MCA measures the students’ knowledge and proficiency in the subject test they have to take. The MCA is a good practice for a standardized test before going into college.
Jeska said, “It can help you move through entry-level courses here, our concurrent classes, or our college in the school classes required to sometimes have an MCA score or take an Accuplacer.”
Principal Kory Kath on the S’more newsletter has a slide show for OHS students to read and prepare for the MCA. In the slide show, it shares that “If you plan to take a dual credit course at OHS where you can earn college credits and if you don’t meet the GPA or class rank requirement, you could potentially qualify with a good MCA score.”
Students will take the MCA on their computer with a series of multiple choice questions they will answer. Near the end of the school year, the people who took the test will get the scores back and learn how well or bad they did in each section.
“The standardized test is not the exact picture for every student.” Said by Jeska
Many students choose to opt out of the MCA’s at Owatonna High School. When students choose to opt out of the test, it counts as a zero making the school’s scores go down. Jeska also states, “I think that people think that in Owatonna, opting out of the MCA is just what we do;that is not the norm across the state. We have one of the highest numbers of opt-outs.”
When being asked what he thinks the purpose of MCA is, Louks says, “It benefits the school with funding.”
Anunda Buttera, a junior at OHS, explains, “In the year 2025, the junior class, so the graduating class of 2026, had the highest opt-out rate in probably all the time in history because it was a stay-at-home day for sophomores and juniors. Most juniors opted out, and so they decided this year that they were going to put it on a school day, so not as many people would opt out of the MCA.”
