MSDE details MCAP timelines and data‑suppression rules as public reports return to pre‑pandemic schedule

Maryland State Department of Education staff updated the board on spring 2023 MCAP administration, reporting timelines and privacy protections, saying the state will return to a more typical release calendar now that standards setting is complete.

MSDE said preliminary machine‑scored results will be available to educators in April during the assessment window, and the 'every student, every attempt' student‑level file — the comprehensive dataset used for accountability and reporting — will be distributed to LEAs and the state beginning in late July. Public releases are planned for mid‑August (state summary) and September (ISRs and public dashboards), with the Maryland School Report Card posting in December. Individual student reports (ISRs) will be distributed to families by LEAs after LEAs receive them; LEAs have 30 days to forward ISRs to families.

On data privacy, MSDE explained it applies disclosure‑limitation strategies required by ESSA and FERPA, including setting a minimum subgroup size (minimum n=10 as documented in Maryland’s 2018 ESSA plan) and top/bottom coding to mask percentages ≤5% or ≥95% that risk re‑identification. MSDE said these protections apply to LEA and school‑level public reporting but not to state‑level aggregates; it noted Maryland’s minimum is smaller than many states and that wider pandemic‑era performance gaps made suppression more visible in 2022–23.

MSDE also described planned reporting tools (school content rosters, evidence‑statement analyses and simulation tools) that LEAs will use to model hypothetical proficiency gains and resource allocations. The department said it will engage stakeholders before changing suppression rules and any expansion of public disaggregations would require broader engagement and possibly changes to disclosure methods.

Ending: the board agreed the department should make reporting timelines and guidance prominent on MSDE sites and continue outreach to LEAs about using preliminary data during summer planning; no changes to suppression policy were adopted at the meeting.